Finding Books in Bobcat | Finding Books on the Shelf

Finding Books in BobCat

You can search for books in BobCat by using specific subject words and phrases or specific titles. The following examples provide some useful search strategies for locating primary source material and secondary material on Ancient Israel.

Primary Sources:


• For the versions of the bible, try:
  s=bible o.t.
  or
  t=bible. english. new international
  

   

• For concordances to the bible, try:
  s=bible -- concordances, english

   

• For other primary sources, try:
  s=history, ancient -- sources

Secondary Sources:


• For commentaries on the bible, try:
  s=bible -- commentaries

   

• For general works on society and civilization in Ancient Israel and the Ancient Near East, try:
  s=near east -- civilization
  s=middle east -- civilization -- To 622
  

  s=near east -- antiquities
  

  s=cities and towns, ancient
  

  s=oriental literature
  s=near eastern literature
  

   

• For information on individual countries, try:
  s=israel -- antiquities
  s=egypt -- antiquities
  

 

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Boolean Searching:

You can also combine individual words from the subject headings above with a subject word search:

sw=literature and sw=antiquities
sw=israel and sw=archaeology


If you know the author of a book, but not the full title, you can search by combining an author word search with a title or subject word.

 

aw=gordon and tw=ugaritic

 

Books in the Bobst Library are arranged according to the Library of Congress classification system. This system is used in most research libraries to organize their collection. Library of Congress call numbers begin with one or two letters, which indicate the book's general content.

View the call number table for an overview of the Library of Congress system. Key areas for the study of Ancient Israel have been highlighted.
Once you have the call number, you need to locate the floor on which the title is shelved.

The letter(s) at the beginning of a call number determine the floor on which the item will be shelved. This example shows a call number beginning with BS, which falls between B and C on the 4th floor.

For more information, consult the LC Classification Outline at the General and Humanities Reference Desk (REF1 / Desk Z696 .U42 1986) or ask a reference librarian.