Locating material in the library

The Library's books are in two different classification schemes: the alphabetical Library of Congress Classification (newer material) and the Seeley's numerical in-house system (older material - see below for the full classification scheme). These run in two separate sequences.

If the classmark of the book you are looking for begins with a letter (eg. A, BX), then it will be in the Library of Congress sequence. If the classmark begins with a number (eg. 24.3), it will be in the other sequence. Brief outlines of both schemes can be found at the end of the stacks.

Closed stack material

Most books are on open access in the library; however, some material is shelved in closed stacks. On the catalogue, these items will be listed as 'Closed stacks - Ask staff', and may be requested at the issue desk.

Pamphlets: If the classmark begins with PAM, then the item is a pamphlet. Pamphlets can only be used in the library. The most frequently used items are held at the desk; others are stored in the basement and will be fetched on request.

Theses: The Seeley holds a reference-only collection of MPhil and prize-winning undergraduate dissertations, all catalogued online. Please ask at the desk if you wish to consult one of these titles.

Special Subject source material

Special Subject source material is shelved in the Special Subject Room. Items may only be borrowed from 2.30pm until 10.30am the next day (or from Friday afternoon to Monday morning).

Ebooks and ejournals

There are links to ebooks and ejournals on the Newton catalogue. They can also be accessed through the University Library's eresources@cambridge page. Some electronic sources can only be accessed using a Raven password.

DVDs and videos

See the Audio-visual collection page.

Seeley In-House Classification

Older material is classified into an in-house scheme. The first element denotes a subject or regional designation and the second number is a topical subdivision, e.g., 30.11 = American Civil War; the third element is simply a running number assigned to the book on its arrival (so duplicate copies of the same title may have separate locations if they arrived at different times).

The full classification scheme is as follows:-

Reference

1. Cambridge and other reference works
2. Atlases, maps and other reference works
3. Essays, etc
4. Ancient History
5. European History (general)
6. Medieval European History
7. Modern European History
8. Eastern and African History
9. Theses
10. British Economic and Social History
11. Social and Political Thought
12. International Affairs
13. British History
14. Official Publications
15. Periodicals
16. Learned Societies
17. not used
18. Palaeography
19. History of Sciences
20. Military History
21. Pamphlets
22. Theology
23. Not used
24. Art and Literature
25. not used
26. not used
27. not used
28. not used
29. not used
30. American History

PAM. Pamphlet Collection