The Library is home to a wide range of physical resources including books, journals, DVDs, audiobooks, reports, theses, maps, resource packs and even puppets. Although most resources are readily accessible on open shelves some are kept in closed-access stores or behind the Service Desk.
Our standard student loan period is 3 weeks. Books with '7 day loan' stickers on the spine may be borrowed for a week at a time. Books labelled reference only may not be borrowed. Most of the children's resources in the Teaching Resources Collection may be borrowed for 12 weeks at a time (find out more about the Teaching Resources Collection in the Special Collections tab above).
Books are arranged on the shelves by subject using a numerical classification scheme called Dewey Decimal Classification (or just 'Dewey')*. Stickers on the spine of each book display the Dewey shelfmark, followed by the first three letters of the author's surname (also known as the 'suffix').Books are arranged on the shelves firstly in Dewey order and then in author order. Books with no suffix (e.g. with no named author) are shelved together at the start of each shelfmark.
Read more about how Dewey works in our What To Expect From The Library guide, in the section called How the Library is Organised. We've also produced a PowerPoint presentation called How To Find A Book on the Shelves.
In our Library there are signs on each shelving bay indicating the range of shelfmarks on each bay, as well as individual subject guidance.
*Except for items in our Lincolnshire Collection, which are classified using a system called Bliss Classification.
Below is a list of the main shelfmarks relating to English & Drama. All are on the first floor of the Library.
| Shelfmark | Subject |
| 792 | Drama and theatre |
| 792.02 | History of drama and theatre |
| 801 | Literary theory |
| 808.2 | The rhetoric of drama |
| 808.2 | The rhetoric of fiction |
| 809.1 | History and criticism of poetry |
| 809.2 | History and criticism of drama |
| 809.3 | History and criticism of fiction |
| 810 | American literature |
| 811 | American poetry |
| 812 | American drama |
| 813 | American fiction |
| 820 | English literature |
| 821 | English poetry |
| 822 | English drama |
| 822.33 | Shakespeare |
| 823 | English fiction |
| 830 | German literature |
| 840 | French literature |
| 850 | Italian literature |
| 860 | Spanish literature |
| 870-899 | Other literatures from around the world, including, at 891.7, Russian literature |
For works of literature with shelfmarks ranging from 810 to 899, digits after the main number and a decimal point denote the period in which the work was written.
NB. Although books by a certain author are always located together, books about that same author are not located together. For example, all books by Charles Dickens are at 823.8 DIC, but a book written about Charles Dickens by Michael Slater will be at 823.8 SLA and a book written about Charles Dickens by Rod Mengham will be at 823.8 MEN. (The shelfmark 823.8 denotes Victorian British fiction.)
Further guidance on these subdivisions for American and English literature is available on the end of each shelving bay.
Our DVD collection is located on the first floor of the Library, at the far end of the shelves, and includes a wide range of feature films and film & TV adaptations of books and plays. There is no charge for audio-visual loans, most of which can be borrowed for up to three weeks at a time.
Children's films and film adaptations of children's books are kept on the ground floor in the Teaching Resources Collection.
All images ©Bishop Grosseteste University.