College of Coastal Georgia Libraries and all libraries within the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia use the Library of Congress Classification System to catalog or organize materials. You'll find helpful charts throughout the library to help you navigate the system, or you can ask a librarian for help.
A General Works
B Philosophy-Religion-Psychology
C Auxiliary Sciences of History (Civilization)
D World History
E American History (U.S.)
F History of the Americas (local U.S. history, Latin American history)
G Geography and Anthropology
H Social Sciences
J Political Science
K Law
M Music
N Fine Arts
P Language and Linguistics
Q Science and math
R Medicine
S Agriculture
T Technology
U Military Science
V Naval Science
Z Bibliography and Library Science
Most Georgia Public Libraries use the Dewey Decimal System to categorize their books and other library materials.
Biography – Biographies are in their own section, and they are alphabetized by the SUBJECT’s last name (not the author’s). So a book about John F. Kennedy will be under BIO KEN, for example.
Fiction – Fiction books are shelved in alphabetical order by the AUTHOR’s last name, and then by the book title. So author Omar Tyree’s books will be under FIC TYR, and then his book titles would be in alphabetical order.
Nonfiction – Every class (or subject) of book is assigned a category number (a whole number, such as 800) and a cutter number or numbers (numbers to the right of the decimal point). These are the numbers you see on the spine of a library book, and they are referred to as the “Call Number.” There are ten classes, which are further divided into ten more subcategories, and each of those subcategories contains ten subdivisions. The ten main classes of the Dewey Decimal System are:
Juvenile or Young Adult – Materials for teens and pre-teens are usually called Juvenile (JUV) or Young Adult (YA). You might see a JUV on the spine or YA. These books typically are in the same area of the library. They are also divided by Nonfiction, Fiction and Biography, and shelved the same way as the adult books.
Easy – The books for the youngest patrons are called Easy books, and they are shelved in alphabetical order by the author’s last name.