At the NMSU Library we use the Library of Congress system to organize and categorize all our books, periodicals and other materials. A Library of Congress call number begins with letters and is followed by a combination of numbers and letters. These help you locate books and other items in the library because they tell you in which library and on what floor certain call numbers are located. Think of a call number as a book's address, or where the book resides on the shelf. Check out our online location chart.
Some items have special locations.
Reference books, microfiche and film, current periodicals and government documents are all kept in special locations. The Special Location Chart indicates all the special locations in the library. The first letter of a call number represents a general area of study. The second letter of the call number is a subset of that general area of study. Look at our example, NA101.A54 The N section includes all of the Fine Arts.