PUBLIC POLICY: Browse in the Library

Library of Congress call numbers group books by topic. One example of browsing the collection by call number: Media & Visual Culture Studies is multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary, there is no one call number range that covers all materials pertaining to Visual & Media Studies. The following are some you might find useful.

• HE8689-8700: Radio and television broadcasting (industry)
• N - Visual arts
• NA - Architecture
• NB - Sculpture
• NC - Drawing, Design, Illustration
• ND - Painting
• NE - Print media
• NK - Decorative arts
• NX - Arts in general
• P87-96: Communication and Mass Media
• PN1990-1992: Broadcasting, Non-broadcast video media
• PN1993-1999: Motion pictures
• PN4699-5650: Journalism
• TR - Photography

Explore the full range of the Library of Congress Classification. 

You might be interested in critiques of the limits of Library of Congress Classification as well:

• Berman, Sanford. Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1993.  
• Drabinski, Emily.  Queering the Catalog: Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, Vol. 83, No. 2 (April 2013), pp. 94-111.
• Olson, Hope A. Difference, Culture, and Change: The Untapped Potential of LCSH.  The LCSH Century: One Hundred Years With the Library of Congress Subject Headings System. Ed. Alva T. Stone. New York: Routledge, 2013. 53-72.

Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT and Other Symbols for More Effective Searching

theat* AND (classical OR antiquity)=Using the AND operater narrows your search to only results that mention both keywords.  Use the OR operator to search for variants or synonyms of the same keyword.  The asterisk (*) is a wildcard symbol that is used to catch variant endings of a word (individuality, individualism, as well as individual).

“trojan women” AND motherhood=Use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase.