Most academic libraries use the Library of Congress Classification system, not the Dewey Decimal System, which you may have used at your public or high school library.

Now you must locate that call number in the library. Your first task is to find the floor your call number is on. Look at the Location field. In most cases, the display in WebCat includes the floor, as illustrated. However, the Location field may not give you a specific floor. The first letter in the call number directs you to the appropriate floor. See the chart below.

When locating an item on the shelf, look at each line of the call number separately. Once you've found the area the first letters refers to, go to the number in the second line and so on. Look carefully at the labels on the end of the rows of shelves, they tell you what is located in that row.