The Library has 6 sections:
Within each of these, the books are organised using the Dewey Decimal system. Melvil Dewey, for whom it is named, decided that all the world of knowledge could be divided into ten categories:
000- General Information and Computer Sciences
100- Philosophy
200- Religion
300- Social Sciences
400- Language
500- Natural Sciences
600- Applied Sciences
700- Art and Architecture
800- Literature and Rhetoric
900- Geography and History
These ten can be further divided into ten more. For example, the 900 section:
900- Geography & History
910- Geography & travel
920- Biography, genealogy, insignia
930- History of the ancient world (to ca. 499 A.D.)
940- History of Europe (ca. 500 A.D.- )
950- History of Asia
960- History of Africa
970- History of North America and the Caribbean
980- History of South America
990- History of other regions
And each of those can be divided into ten more... and ten more.. and you get the picture. Basically, the large numbers cover general topics, and the longer a number gets, the more specific the information it has.
So you can find:
The General collection and reference collection are organised with this system: by the Dewey number, and then alphabetically by the first three letters of the author's last name or the title of the book if there's no author.
Fiction, however, is organised differently.
West Indian fiction is given the letters "WI F" on its tag and shelved in the West Indian Fiction collection. General Fiction is simply given an "F" instead of a Dewey number to make it easier to find and shelved in the Fiction collection.
In either case, both are also given the last three letters of the author's surname (or first three letters of the book's title if there's no author)and this is used to order them. This is why books in a series may not be shelved together if the series has different authors.
- Non- Fiction Collection
- Fiction Collection
- West Indian Fiction Collection
- Reference Collection
- Special Reserve Collection
- Periodicals
Within each of these, the books are organised using the Dewey Decimal system. Melvil Dewey, for whom it is named, decided that all the world of knowledge could be divided into ten categories:
000- General Information and Computer Sciences
100- Philosophy
200- Religion
300- Social Sciences
400- Language
500- Natural Sciences
600- Applied Sciences
700- Art and Architecture
800- Literature and Rhetoric
900- Geography and History
These ten can be further divided into ten more. For example, the 900 section:
900- Geography & History
910- Geography & travel
920- Biography, genealogy, insignia
930- History of the ancient world (to ca. 499 A.D.)
940- History of Europe (ca. 500 A.D.- )
950- History of Asia
960- History of Africa
970- History of North America and the Caribbean
980- History of South America
990- History of other regions
And each of those can be divided into ten more... and ten more.. and you get the picture. Basically, the large numbers cover general topics, and the longer a number gets, the more specific the information it has.
So you can find:
- a book on History with the number 900,
- a book on History of the Caribbean with the number 970 or 972,
- a book on the history of the West Indies in 972.9,
- a book on the History of Trinidad and Tobago under 972.983
The General collection and reference collection are organised with this system: by the Dewey number, and then alphabetically by the first three letters of the author's last name or the title of the book if there's no author.
Fiction, however, is organised differently.
West Indian fiction is given the letters "WI F" on its tag and shelved in the West Indian Fiction collection. General Fiction is simply given an "F" instead of a Dewey number to make it easier to find and shelved in the Fiction collection.
In either case, both are also given the last three letters of the author's surname (or first three letters of the book's title if there's no author)and this is used to order them. This is why books in a series may not be shelved together if the series has different authors.
