Research Guide

If you're in the KY area or not in a hurry, try searching our library catalog. 

Otherwise, try searching WorldCat. This database will tell you the closest library that owns the book you want to find.

If you come across a book you need for your research, and the Library does not own it, request it through Library Loan.

Additionally, students within the United States can request any book owned by ATS and available for check out through library loan. We will pay to ship the book to you, but you are responsible for getting the book back to us and paying any return postage.

The B.L. Fisher Library offers access to thousands of eBooks.

The best way to search for eBooks? Use the eBook search box on the library homepage.

The materials in the B.L. Fisher Library are organized according to the Library of Congress (LC) Classification System so that books/videos on similar subjects are shelved together. Each item is given a subject heading that corresponds to a call number which identifies the location of the item on a shelf. Call numbers consist of letters and numbers, and are arranged on the shelves in alphabetical and numerical order. For example, the call number for the book Nigeria's Christian Revolution by Richard Burgess is BR 1644.5. N53 B87 2008.

BR One or two letters represent a broad subject. These letters are not initials or an abbreviation for the subject. In this case, “BR” are the letters for Christianity.

1644.5 Numbers for a more specific subject within the broad category. In this case, the category is Pentecostalism by region or country.

.N53 The next line is referred to as the cutter number. Some books have two cutters, the first of which breaks down the subject area even further. In this case the "N" refers to Nigeria.

B87 If the call number has a second cutter number, this represents the author or organizations’s name or the title of the work. In this case the author's last name is Burgess.

2008 The date the book was published.

Items are arranged on the shelves from left to right, top to bottom within each section of shelving, according to call numbers. Call numbers are arranged in alphabetical order by class letters, and then numerically, as outlined below:

In general, call numbers are arranged first in alphabetical sequence...

...then in numerical sequence. Read the second line, or the first set of numbers, as a WHOLE number.

...then by a combination of alphabetical and decimal order on the third line. Subsequent lines with both letters and numbers are read alphabetically and then in decimal order; subsequent lines with only numbers are read as whole numbers. For example, correct call number order is shown below for a sampling of items: