Finding Books in the Stacks
To find books within Dartmouth's collection, start with our library catalog - essentially our inventory.
An item's catalog record provides publication info, along with our Location (specific library), Call Number (where it's shelved), as well as the Status (whether it's currently on loan or not).
Lost in the stacks? Maps of Baker-Berry are here.
Ready to borrow the book? Take the book and your campus ID card to the Circulation Desk.
To find books beyond Dartmouth, try a subject bibliography or a large library network catalog, such as WorldCat. Materials not owned by Dartmouth can be requested through interlibrary loan: Interlibrary Loan & BorrowDirect
Library Catalogs
- Dartmouth Library Search (home page)Broad, but imprecise. By default, searches across our library catalog as well as many full-text article & book collections. Excludes searching bibliographic databases (other than our catalog). Also excludes some full-text databases, particularly those we get through Ebsco.
- Dartmouth College Library Catalog - Advanced SearchSearch inventory of our library collection, database and periodical subscriptions, media.
To find books (and more) here at Dartmouth, search our library catalog.
Every item in the library catalog (book, video, journal/magazine title...) is represented by a catalog “record.”
The catalog record:
* Describes the item, i.e. provides the information needed for a citation
* Provides the information necessary to locate the material in the library
* Includes links to related material (Subject Headings)
Because our general collection is so large, browsing the is a far more manageable once you have identified the call numbers of specific titles. Most material falls in the HM-HV range on Berry Level 3 as follows:
- HM (General Sociology)
HM435-554 (History, Theory, & Methodology); HM701-806 (Social systems, structure, & organizations); HM811-821 (Social deviance); HM826-901 (Social institutions & change); HM1001-1281 (Social psychology); - HN (Social history & conditions, Social problems & reform)
- HQ (Sexuality, Human lifespan & Gender)
HQ12-475 (Sexuality); HQ768-799 (Childhood & Adolescence); HQ1060-1064 (Social gerontology); HQ1073 (Death & dying); HQ1088-1090 (Men & Men's Studies); HQ1101-2030 (Women & Feminism); - HS (Societies: secret, benevolent, etc.)
- HT (Communities, Social classes & Race)
HT101-395 (Urban sociology); HT401-485 (Rural sociology); HT 601-1445 (Social classes); HT 1501-1595 (Race & Race relations) - HV (Social pathology, Social & public welfare, Criminology) HV40-4470 (Social services & welfare); HV4480-4630 (Homelessness); HV 4700-4959 (Animal welfare & Anti-vivisection); HV5000-5840 (Substance Abuse); HV6000-7220 (Criminology); HV7231-9960 (Criminal justice administration)
A more detailed summary of the call number system is available from the Library of Congress.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowWorldCat (the OCLC Union Catalog) books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, maps, computer data files, manuscripts, sound recordings and any other type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. The database includes records for material from the 11th century to date. New records are added daily.
WorldCat covers all libraries in the "OCLC" library network. Items not available in the Dartmouth collection can be requested via interlibrary loan or Borrow Direct.