Select a section:	Find Resources	Library Services	Research Assistance	Collections	About the Library

Shelving Locations

Items in the Library catalog display a location code, a call number, and an availability status:

The LOCATION code tells you where to look in the Library for the individual item by its call number. See our List of Location Codes for a complete list of location codes and their brief Library locations.

The following explains locations and materials included in each LOCATION code.

• The Oviatt Library shelves books using the Library of Congress Classification system for its call numbers, which is a combination of letters and numbers. The call number serves as an address for the book and reflects the subject matter of the publication.
• Location codes for books found in the Library Catalog will reflect whether they are on the open shelves (Floor2, Floor3, Floor4) or at other locations in the Library. Detailed information about locations is below.
• Books with the STORED location code are kept in the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) and must be retrieved by clicking the Request button while displaying the book record in the Library Catalog.
  • Periodicals and Microforms will be delivered to the Service Desk, 4th floor, East Wing. All other materials will be delivered to the Circulation Desk, first floor, Lobby. Please allow about 10 minutes for this process.
  • If you do not have a CSUN photo ID card with an activated barcode, the Circulation Desk staff will assist you with your item request from storage.

Approximately half of the Library's book and periodical collection is shelved in the open stacks on the second, third, and fourth floors of the Oviatt Library:

Items	Location	Code
Books A-L	Second Floor	Floor2
Books N-Z	Third Floor	Floor3
Periodicals A-Z	Fourth Floor	Floor4

Other location codes in the Library catalog direct you to specific Library locations and service units to find materials. Always use the location code to take you to the area in the Library where an item is shelved.

Locations

ASRS

Automated Storage and Retrieval System, See Stored, Storage

ATLAS

Atlases are part of the Reference Room collection and are located in atlas cases on the western wall of the Reference Room, just before the entrance to the West Wing.

ELECTRONIC BOOK, ELECTRONIC JOURNAL

This copy or title is available electronically. For access, click on the URL provided with the record for the individual publication. Some electronic publications are available to all; many are available only to CSUN students, faculty, and staff with a 14 digit barcode.

FOLIO, OVERSIZE

These are oversized books shelved together from A-Z following the end of the regular sized book shelving on floors 2 or 3, near the elevators.

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

Publications with the GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS location code are shelved in the northwest corner of the Reference Room on the first floor, as are Federal and state tax forms. However, most United States government publications and California state publications are incorporated into the Library's book, periodical, microform, and electronic collections and are located with these collections. Assistance in locating government publications is available at the Reference Desk.

MICROFILM, MICROFILM BOOK, MICRO DOC, MICROFICHE, MICROCARD, MICRO, MICRO BOOK

Microform materials are located in the Reserve, Periodicals & Microform room on the fourth floor east wing. They are housed by format in cabinets on the east side of the area. Request stored microforms through the catalog. Pick up and view these items at the fourth floor east wing service counter.

MUSIC & MEDIA

These items are located in the Music & Media unit on the second floor, east wing. Audio books, circulating videos and DVDs, music scores and books on music are shelved in open stacks in the room. Music CDs are shelved in open-access CD cabinets. Reserve materials for music classes, and all videos and DVDs on reserve for courses are located behind the service desk. The Instructional Video and DVD collection (formerly called the Media Library) is available for student viewing in the area. CSUN faculty members may arrange to book and borrow titles from the Instructional Video and DVD collection and/or schedule them to broadcast to campus classrooms using the University Video Network (UVN).

NAT CTR ON DEAFNESS

The library of the National Center on Deafness (NCOD) is located in Jeanne Chisholm Hall. The NCOD Library operates separately from the University Library, and while NCOD materials are shown in the University Library's catalog, you must go to the NCOD Library to access them.

PERIODICALS, BOUND PERIODICALS, STORED PERIODICALS

Bound Periodicals from 1990 to the present are located in the open stacks on the fourth floor. Current issues of periodicals, magazines, and newspapers are located in the Reserve, Periodicals & Microform Room, fourth floor east. Most bound periodicals dated before 1990 display the word STORED in front of their location code; you may request them from the ASRS using the online catalog and your 14 digit barcode. They will be delivered to the Periodicals service desk on the fourth floor east for your use.

READING ROOM

The Reading Room Collection, located in the second floor west wing, contains outstanding or classical works in all subjects.

REFERENCE ROOM

Reference Books are located in the Reference Room, in the core of the Library on the main floor. Reference items do not circulate out of the Library.

RESERVE ROOM, RESERVE DESK

The Reserve Book Room is located in the fourth floor east in the Reserve, Periodicals & Microform unit. Library-owned materials and instructors' personal copies are placed on reserve for the use of particular classes. RESERVE ROOM items are shelved in open stacks, while RESERVE DESK items must be requested at the desk. Most reserve items have limited loan periods, and some cannot leave the area. TCC Reserve is in the Teacher Curriculum Center, lower level.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, URBAN ARCHIVES

These materials are in Special Collections, the University Archives, or the Urban Archives Center. These materials never circulate, and many of them require you to make an in-person request for retrieval from storage. To access any of these materials, you must go to the Special Collections Room, second floor west, between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays to make arrangements for viewing.

STORED, STORAGE

Most bound periodicals dated prior to 1990 and other less used materials are stored in the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS). You may request most of these materials by using the request option in the catalog and supplying your 14 digit barcode. Users without barcodes may request STORED items at the Circulation Desk. STORED books will be available at the Circulation Desk within about 10 minutes of the submission of your request. STORED PERIODICALS and STORED MICROFORMS will be available in about 10 minutes at the Periodicals Desk, fourth floor east wing. Request STORED SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, STORED UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, and STORED URBAN ARCHIVES in person in the Special Collections Room, second floor west, weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

TCC, TCC JUVENILE COLLECTION, TCC RESERVE

The Teacher Curriculum Center is located in the lower level. Access is through the Library using the stairs behind and to the east of the Reference Desk. Books and other materials used by teachers of grades K-12 are located here, as are TCC RESERVES and the Juvenile book collection.

NEW TITLES

New books are displayed for approximately 2-3 weeks on special shelving located at the entrances to floors 2 and 3. Books A-L are displayed on Floor 2, and Books N-Z are displayed on Floor 3. After two or three weeks, new books are removed for shelving in the stacks at their regular location, and the new book display is replenished. A new title list of all resources is updated monthly.

Reshelving

Please do not reshelve materials you have taken down from the shelves. Leave books for reshelving on the brown shelves found at the end of every stack range, or on your table or desk top. Return Reserve, Arts, TCC, Special Collections, UAC, or STORED materials to the service desk where you checked them out.

• Every weekday, and again on Sunday, a crew of shelvers puts back in place the books that have been used and left for reshelving in the open stacks. The shelvers check each area at least once a day, collecting books from the brown shelves, desk and table tops, photocopiers, and elsewhere. Shelving in each of the separate collection and service areas is also completed on a daily basis.
• In addition to the daily reshelving of books and other items that have been used and left on upper floors, shelvers are responsible for sorting and returning to the stacks or storage items which have been checked out and returned. At the center of each floor there is a parking area for booktrucks filled with these returned books ready to be reshelved. When returns are heavy, this process may take more than one day; however, 24 hours from returned to reshelved is typical.
• Throughout the semester, shelvers keep good order in the stacks by carefully comparing call numbers on adjacent volumes, and rearranging books as necessary to keep them in order. This vital task, known as shelf reading, helps to assure that you can readily find an item on the shelf.
• If you are looking for a book which is not in its proper place on the shelf, and it has a catalog status of "IN LIBRARY", it might be waiting to be reshelved. Check the brown shelves or the parked booktrucks on the appropriate floor. Also don't forget to check next to photocopiers, especially for periodical volumes.
• If more than 24 hours has passed and the book is still not on the shelf where it belongs, request a search or hold through the catalog or at the Circulation Desk on the main floor.