My reading list – what does it all mean?

 

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OK. You’ve arrived at University, and now you need to get started on your course work (bah!).  You’ve probably got a reading list of things you need to get hold of (and read!).  But what does all the stuff on your reading list mean, and how does it help you find what you need?

Let’s imagine these books are on your reading list -

Housecroft, C.E. and Constable, E.C. (2006). Chemistry – an introduction to organic, inorganic and physical chemistry. 3rd ed. Pearson. 

Berthoud, R. and Gershuny, J. eds (2000). Seven years in the lives of British families. Policy Press.

Stallings, W. (2007). Data and computer communications. 8th ed. Prentice Hall.

Sounds like an unusual course!  And, of course, your reading lists won’t be multicoloured like this one –  but here’s what it all means -

Who wrote the book (authors) 

Who edited the book (editors – shortened to eds)

When the book was published (publication year)
What the book is called (book title)

How many times the book has been revised and republished (edition number)

Who published the book (publisher)

These who, what and when details of a book are called the bibliographic details. You can use all this information to find the item you need by searching on author and / or word from the title in the library catalogue.  Check the edition or publication year in the catalogue against the ones on your list – and you’re on your way! 

To find the book on the shelf, use the class number you find in the catalogue e.g. 301.42 BER.  In the class number, the number represents the subject of the book and the letters are the first three letters of the author’s surname.  All our books are organised numerically by the class numbers – on Level 3 of the library (apart from 3 hour loan items which are behind the service desk). A label on the spine of each book gives the class number for that item.

If you can’t find what you want, or it all goes a bit wrong, you can use the catalogue help pages, ask in the library, email libhelp@hw.ac.uk, phone ext 3582 or get in touch using our  IM/chat service.

Miss Dewey