Thesis/Dissertation Search Tutorial

Frequently, I receive search requests from Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to look for theses/dissertations and usually they are really out of place.

Here is a guide on how to search for theses/dissertations:

In our library, they are cataloged under the AS call number range, more specifically as AS36 .N64 if it is a dissertation, AS36 .N65 if it is a thesis.  Underneath this call number, there will be the academic department in an abbreviated form (i.e. Hist for History, Educ. for Education, and so on), and then there will be a year (i.e. 12 for 2012) and then a dash and another number denoting the number order it issued especially if there are multiple theses/dissertations awarded for a particular year.  The completed call number might look like this: AS36 .N64 Music 06-05 (only vertically of course and on the spine of the book).  On the top of the spine, there should be the student’s last name, although this may vary on binding practices over the years as well as if they had to obtain another copy because it went missing or was lost/stolen.

Seems fairly easy to shelve right?  Well, wrong on you for thinking that because there is a multitude of ways that it could be miss-shelved.  See below for a list of common miss-shelving mistakes rating for the most-likely to the rarer:

      1.   Theses are shelved with the dissertations and vice versa.  As if the color isn’t a key indicator (theses are usually green and dissertations black), I guess the 5 can become a 4 in some folks’ minds.

      2.  Sometimes they are shelved at the beginning of the dissertations because folks are just confused on how to shelve them or patrons are trying to help out by reshelving them.

      3.  If it is an oversized one (they are all shelved together not in the ff’s), they will most likely be miss-shelved lying flat on the shelf.

      4.  The years and order number at the bottom of the call number confuses everyone. Today I found one that was at the beginning of the Music range rather than toward the end where it ought to have been.  Call number: AS36 .N64 Music 06-05 and a bunch of others were crammed at the beginning, which happens to be in the 1970s if I remember correctly.

      5.  Education theses/dissertations frequently find themselves shelved with the English and vice versa.  Why? Well…I have no idea, same with the P.E. and the Psychology and the Political Science ones; along with the HHP, Hist. and the H.Ec’s.  Maybe the same beginning letter messes with folks’ heads.

      6.   Of course they might be randomly shelved within the theses/dissertations (usually numerically correct with the year published), so if all else fails, shelf-read, or at least look for your missing thesis/dissertation by the last name.

Thus, ends the tutorial of searching for theses/dissertations.  I hope this helps in looking for them and I haven’t left anyone completely confused and lost.

Happy Hunting!

The Next Shelf Over

Frequently books are found on a shelf above, below, to the left, or the right of where it ought to be.  These books sometimes are shelved right by the cutter, but wrong by the number and the call number initial letter.

Such is the case for the books listed below:

PN2286 .B67 1986 shelved as PN2287 .B67 1986 right next to a PN2287 .B6

GT4965 .G35 2002 shelved as GT4935 .G35 2002 right next to a GT4935 .G53 (oddly enough).

Happy Searching!

E’s and Decimals

Another heavily used part of our collection is the E185s, otherwise known as African American history and boy are there a lot of them!  They range from 185-185.98 and beyond. 

Common miss-shelving errors in this section can be found in the E184s, or immigration history as well as a lot of decimal errors such as E185.615 can often be found with the E185.61, E185.86, or E185.68 for example.

Other less common errors are once again the cutter confusion and letter miss-reads within the cutters and rest of the call number.  One from last week that one of my students found, was E185.86 .C58214 1998 found shelved as E185.68 .B58214 1998. 

One time I found one with both a decimal miss-shelve as well as a letter mix up within the cutter as well so it was a combo doozy of a find!

A best search analysis since these can be found anywhere within this call number range, which in our library takes up about a row and a half, is shelf-reading.  I know it’s not everyone’s favorite, but it can be anywhere within this range.

Good luck and happy searching!

There is something about 4874

This weekend I got a search request for the call number PN4874 .T444 A3 1998B.  After about 30 min of searching in the 4784’s and the 4871’s sure that this item was miss-shelved as most of the others I’ve had to search for in this range.  Lo and behold! It was where it should have been.

I’m left to assume that perhaps either the patron didn’t know how to search our call number system or 4874 mesmerized the patron as it almost did me.  There are a few other spots like this in the stacks, but that is for another post.

Happy Searching!

R-RA-RAWR!

The common miss-shelvings of the R call number range is that they are either in another R section (i.e. R in an RA: a common occurrence), or the decimals are just ignored or folks don’t know their numbers like they should. 

Such is the case with the one I found this past weekend:
The search was for R727.4 .P375 2012 and it was found shelved as if it were R727.3 .P375 2012.
Sometimes I even find that a missing item is miss-shelved in the wrong letter and has a decimal miss-shelving error. 

Then again less often than not, folks have number placement problems within the R’s too (i.e. a RA448.5 in a RA484.5); however, I haven’t had much of an issue with this since they moved from the basement to the 9th floor.

Happy Searching!

Random Miss-shelving Woes

Today while I was searching, I found some crazy random miss-shelving errors.       

In our library the call number beginning with S (agricultural history and agricultural sciences) are shelved with the D’s and E’s (World and American history).  Today I found an S in with the E’s.   This further stresses my point of searching all of the different letters on a floor and not just within the beginning letter.  Examples: if  S, U, V, D, E are shelved on a floor and you are looking for a DB don’t just look for it in the wide range of Ds, look in the S’s, U’s, V’s, and E’s too.  Even though a DB would end up in an SB or even an E is a rare occurrence, it has been happening a lot lately.

Further stressing my point of looking in other letters if shelved together on a floor.  See the below picture for the craziness of miss-shelving: 

As you can see there are NA's and PN's mixed in with the LB's.  While the PN's are shelved on another floor (seems as if someone was using them and then just put them back on the shelve...but beginning letters aside, at least they are numerically in order).  NA's and LB's are shelved on the same floor, so it is very important to look in every letter category on a floor.

Happy searching! 

Cutter Scramble

Lately there have been a lot of miss-shelved items that are miss-shelved through their cutters.  I’m not sure what that’s all about, but here are some examples of the latest searches I’ve found this way:

Missing book: HN90.S6 O76 2007 was found shelved between HN90.P8 Z64 2008 and HN90.R3 A5.  The only thing I can think of is that whoever shelved it ignored the “S” and got their alphabet wrong with their O’s and P’s.  O comes after N, not P folks.  Or conversely someone could have decided S comes before R.  We will never know.

The other missing item: BX4827.B57 M48 2010 was found shelved between BX4827.B57 B86 1985 and BX4827 .B57 C36 1999.  Not sure where the logic falls under here other than maybe someone became confused with all the B’s floating around in this call number range, or it could be the dim lighting in this section combined with faded type on the label.  Either way, this book was a couple shelves away from its proper location.

Moral of the story is always check/shelf-read everything within the section because folks get confused with cutters.

Happy Searching!