MPL’s Non-Fiction Collection

Last week, we looked at how to find a book in the Macedon Public Library’s fiction section. This week, we’d like to spend a little time explaining the non-fiction book section. Here’s where you’ll find it:

Non-fiction covers a broad range of topics, from A to Z, but they aren’t shelved alphabetically, like the fiction books. Instead, MPL uses the Dewey Decimal Classification, a venerable and well-respected system that was developed way back in 1876.

Each book in the system is assigned a triple-digit (or more) number, based on topic. The topics are as follows:

• 000 – Computer science, information and general works
• 100 – Philosophy and psychology
• 200 – Religion
• 300 – Social sciences
• 400 – Language
• 500 – Pure science
• 600 – Technology
• 700 – Arts and recreation
• 800 – Literature
• 900 – History and geography

Of course, these are very general topics, so to make it more exact, the three digits are usually followed by several other numbers, to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. Here are some examples:

• 130.135: books about dreaming
• 220.221: books about the Old Testament
• 510.516: books on geometry
• 640.649: books on child rearing
• 710.712: books on landscape architecture
• 930.937: books on the ancient history of Italy

Following the numbers will be three letters, which are the first three letters in the first author’s last name. So, for example, Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson’s new book on weight loss management, Maintain, has a call number of 613.2 THO. Fodor’s Esssential Spain, meanwhile, is given the number 914.6 FOD 2026. Note that this has a year as part of the call number, too. That’s because Fodor publishes a new edition of this travel guide every year.

One last note to help your search: short numbers come before long numbers. So, for example, here’s the order that you might find for books in the gardening section:

• 635 HAT: Cardening with Colour, by Lance Hattatt
• 635 REI: Weedless Gardening, by Lee Reich
• 635.08 PAN: The Geriatric Gardener, by Duane Pancoast
• 635:96 CHA: Raised-Bed Gardening, by Teri Dunn Chase
• 635.968 EDI: 365 Days of Garden Color, by Philip Edinger

Note how the last book has three numbers after the decimal point. That will come after all the books that have two numbers after the decimal, which come after those with no number after the decimal.

If this seems challenging, feel free to ask for help from a librarian. You can find call numbers when you look up the books in the online catalog.

We hope this helps make sense out of what may seem at first to be a confusing system. Give it a try—you will get the hang of it quickly!