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ENG 255 - Poet, Seeker, Lover, Friend

This is a class guide for Professor Sununu's class

Finding Books using WorldCat Discovery

 

When you find a record for a print book owned by DePauw Libraries, there will be a call number to tell you where to look for the book. Any books in the Roy O. West Library General Collection will be located in the following places:

Call Number or Type of source  Location
Call numbers beginning with A-G and M, Oversize books, & DVDs:  Lower level in the compact shelving room
Call numbers beginning with H-K:  Second floor (K books are in the overlook area of the Reading Room)
Call numbers beginning with L-Z and music scores:  Third floor

If you find a book of interest that we don't own, you can use the blue "Request Item" button you see in the WorldCat Discovery record.

This will initiate an interlibrary loan request. We'll find another library that has a copy and get them to send it to DePauw. You'll probably be able to pick it up in 7-10 days. 

How to find books in the stacks

When you find a call number in WorldCat Discovery, go to the stacks to look for the book. 

  • A-G - call numbers starting with one of these letters are in the Compact Shelving room on the lower level of Roy, in the room below the main staircase (across from the elevator)
  • H-K - H-J books are in the stacks on the second floor; the K books are in the Reading Room overlook on the second floor.
  • L-Z - books are in the stacks on the top floor of Roy.
  • Any books listed as "Oversize" are on the top floor of Roy in a separate section
  • Most Music Library books are on the lower level of the Music Library in the GCPA. 

The shelves have signs on the endcaps telling you what range of call numbers are on that shelf. The books go in order down one shelf, and then back toward you on the facing shelf. 

To read the call numbers, follow the rules below (taken from the U. of Louisville libraries):

  • First letters: one, two or three letters that are arranged alphabetically. So K comes before KF which comes before KFD.
  • First numbers: the first set of numbers are read as whole numbers. So K5 precedes K23 which precedes K452 which precedes K1298.
  • Second letters: are preceded by a decimal point and are arranged alphabetically. So .B comes before .L which comes before .M.
  • Second numbers: are treated as decimals. So .33 comes before .813 which comes before .9. 
  • There may be another letter number combo. If there is these numbers will be read as decimals as well.
  • Year: If there is a string of four digits at the end of the call number it usually signifies the year and should be read as a whole number.

Other book sources

Starting points or recommendations from Professor Sununu

This is the book that Professor Sununu specifically referenced in the assignment prompt, near the bottom of page 1: "For those of you working with Donne, you may include selections in Donald R. Dickson’s edition of John Donne’s Poetry (Norton, 2007) while adding sources you will have found separately." We do not own a copy of this, but the link will take you to the Internet Archive copy - you can make an account and read it for at least an hour (more if nobody else is requesting it). 

Cambridge Companions are good starting points for chapters on biography, context, and broader essays on the author's work. There are not CCs for either Philips or Keats.

These are books that Professor Sununu has recommended in previous semesters. Many of the books available in Roy O. West Library also have an Internet Archive version available. To locate those, search for the book title in WorldCat Discovery and look for the full-text link. Internet Archive is a free site, not a library database, so a book can only be viewed by one person at a time, and you must create an account to "check it out" for one hour (which renews automatically if not requested by another user) and read it online. There is no download or print option.