UNIT 1.
THE LIBRARY
Introduction
In this unit, you will learn how to find information from various sources and how to make and take
notes. You shall also learn why it is important for college students like yourself to develop note
taking / note making skills.
To be a good student, you have to know where and how to find information. The library is a very
good source of information. You will find different types of books in the library. There are fiction
and non-fiction books. Most modern libraries will have computers as well and you may need to
get familiar with locating materials on the computer.
1.1 Filing Systems
You managed to locate a book in the library because books in any library are neatly arranged in a
particular order. There are five mostly used filing systems: Namely:
1. Numerical; where numbers are used.
2. Alpha numerical; where both numerical and alphabetical filings are used
3. Alphabetical; where the alphabetical order is used.
4. Geographical; where location is used.
5. Chronological; the use of dates to file.
1.2 References and Dictionaries
There are two main sections of the library. These are the open access and the closed access. The
closed access is the reference section where you are not allowed to take books out. You are allowed
to read the books in the library. These books are mostly reference books such as encyclopedias
and dictionaries. Encyclopedias are very good sources of information. A set of encyclopedias can
have a set of books with contents arranged in alphabetical order.
1.3 Periodicals
These are publications that are released on regular basis. They may be released daily, weekly,
monthly or annually. These may include newspapers, journals, and magazines. Most libraries have
a section for periodicals and you are encouraged to read them so that you are a well-informed
student.
1.4 Bibliography
A bibliography is a collection of books. Some books are placed in the reference section because
they are few in number and many people would like to borrow them. You are allowed to use such
books within the confines of the library. Some books are in the open access section and you can
borrow these for home reading. The library will have a bibliography list that shows what books
are available in the library. To locate the books found in the bibliography, you may have to use a
catalogue. There are cards in the catalogue box which will have the following information, the
author’s name, the title of the book, the publisher and date of publication as well as the shelf where
the book could be found. There are four main types, namely:
Index Subject Headings: the cards in this case are arranged according to subject title. Let’s say you
are looking for something on teaching methods, you will check under,
“T” to find books on teaching methods.
Author catalogue: If you are using this type of catalogue, you must know the author of the book
because the lists are according to the surname of the author. For example, a book written by Banda.
A will come under “B”.
Title catalogue: The books are arranged according to the title of the book. E.g.,
Education in Zambia will come under “E”.
Index Books contain information on published articles in each year.
Conclusion
In this unit, you have gained the knowledge on how to locate books in the library. Though there
are library assistants who are willing to help you find the information you want, it is important to
know where the reference books are kept and which ones are open access books which you can
borrow for home reading. Encyclopedias are a very good source of information. Every library will
have a bibliography that will show you the titles of books available in that particular library. The
catalogue will help you to locate the book on the particular shelf.
Activity 1
1. Where would you find the books that are available in a library?
2. How is an encyclopedia arranged?
3. What is kept in the reference part of the library?
4. What is the open access part of a library?