| Dalhousie University's library catalogue is called Novanet. A catalogue is just a huge database of all of the materials that the library has to offer, both print and electronic: books, journals, articles, videos, newspapers, theses, government documents and much, much more. |
| Novanet is not just the library catalogue for Dalhousie University, Novanet is the library catalogue for all of the universities and community colleges in Nova Scotia, as well as Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. This sharing of the catalogue means that a tremendous number of books, journals, documents, audio-visual materials and many other resources are available to you. |
| Think of Novanet as: Nova (for Nova Scotia) and net (a network of library catalogues) |
| Dalhousie students, faculty, and staff may use any of the Novanet libraries – you can visit in person and use library resources, and sign-out loanable materials using your library card (your DalCard). |
| Materials from Novanet Libraries can also be borrowed using the Novanet Express Service. Books and photocopies can be requested through the catalogue and will then be delivered to your home library. There is no charge for this service. |
| The Dalhousie Libraries and the other Novanet Libraries use Library of Congress call numbers to organize books and other materials on library shelves. Essentially, letters are used to represent broad subject areas, as shown in the table below: |
| A -- GENERAL WORKS: YEARBOOKS, ENCYCLOPEDIAS, DICTIONARIES B – PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGY, RELIGION C – HISTORY: CIVILIZATION, ARCHAEOLOGY, BIOGRAPHY D -- WORLD HISTORY AND HISTORY OF EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, ETC. E -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS F -- HISTORY OF THE AMERICAS G – GEOGRAPHY, ANTHROPOLOGY, GENDER, RECREATION H – ECONOMICS, COMMERCE, SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL WORK, PLANNING J -- POLITICAL SCIENCE K -- LAW L -- EDUCATION M -- MUSIC N -- FINE ARTS, ARCHITECTURE P -- LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Q – MATH, COMPUTING, SCIENCES R -- MEDICINE S -- AGRICULTURE T – TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING U -- MILITARY SCIENCE V -- NAVAL SCIENCE Z – BIBLIOGRAPHY, LIBRARY SCIENCE, INFORMATION RESOURCES |
This short video explains how to read a Library of Congress call number.