The FLOOR and the CALL NUMBER as indicated below in red boxes on the "record" are how you get started. Library staff will be happy to help you navigate if you are new to this, please ask us.
From the above, we see that the book is on the third floor. Now let's look at the call number:
V 415. P1 D57 1998
This number has three parts, each of which you will need in order to find the book:
- V: Every call number starts with one or two letters (in this case, just one: V). V comes before VA, which comes before VB, etc., in alphabetical order, all of which come after anything that starts with U. These represent broad subject areas (for example, V is the letter for general naval science).
- 415: Next comes a number. These are in order 1,2,3,4,5...however high it goes (some will go up to the thousands). V415 will be long after V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, etc., falling between V414 and V416. This represents a more specific topic (for instance, V415 tells us this book is specifically about the US Naval Academy)
- P1 D57 1998: Next comes a mix of letters and numbers. Unlike the above, these are strictly in alphabetical order: P1 comes before P11, which comes before P12, which comes before P2, etc. Unlike the above, this doesn't necessarily tell us about the subject of the book, but we still need it to find this specific book out of all the other books with the call number V415.