Call Number: Help

Call numbers are used at Yale to organize books and other materials by subject or shelf location. Two types of call numbers are available for searching in the OPAC: Library of Congress (LC) call numbers and local Yale call numbers. The Call Number (LC) and Call Number (Local) search options retrieve catalog records by each of these call number types.

Enter the call number (may or may not contain alphabetical characters) starting with the first character, and include all punctuation and spaces. Results are displayed in a Brief Title List and are browsable, forward and backward.

Complete or partial call numbers may be entered:

• E 184.I6 .M117 1996: this is a complete Library of Congress call number for Angela's ashes: a memoir
• Mb 60: this is a partial local Yale call number for catalog records relating to a certain subject, in this case slavery in America.

Search limits are not available for Call Number searches. Boolean operators (and, or, not) do not function in Call Number searches. Do not include the Yale Library location initials in a call number search, e.g., SML (for Sterling Memorial Library) QD501.

Search Strategies:

• Case does not matter.  Searching for pq will get you the same results as searching for PQ.
• Punctuation and spacing do matter. In general, punctuation and spacing of call numbers should be entered as they appear in catalog records.
• In searches for call numbers containing a decimal extension, the . (period) must be included (e.g., TK5103.59)
• In searches for call numbers containing a "double cutter" (that is, more than one letter/number combination appears after the class number), a space must be included before the second letter, (e.g., PS508.W73 W67).
• In searches for call numbers which contain a date, a space should be included before the date. (e.g., SF426.C65 1991). 
• Complete or partial call numbers may be entered.  If a search for a known number does not produce satisfactory results, try entering only the first part of the call number. Always include at least one numeric character in the search term. Searches on partial call numbers that lack numeric characters may not bring you to a point in the browse list that is close to the subject of interest.  Instead of searching under "P" or "PQ" try "PQ139." Searches are automatically truncated; do not use the question mark (?) for truncation.

Call Number Search Examples: