Part 5: Making Sense of the Stacks, 500s

FYI: Pre-school Story Times resume this week: Wednesdays 10:30 am to 11:15 am.
And New Mexico Legal Aid is available Sept 5 at the Ruidoso Senior Center, from 10 am to 2:30pm, on a first-come basis with a lunch hour at noon.  For more information, please call 1-866-416-1920.  They will help with Social Security, Landlord/tenant, TANF, or unemployment denials.  New Mexico Legal Aid will assess every case for free but cannot guarantee representation.

500s: Natural Sciences & Mathematics

As mentioned last week, topics are squirrelly in the 500s and 600s. If I want a book on squirrels, do I look in 590s for wild animals, 630s for pets, 640s for recipes, or 790s for hunting?

I have mentioned this book before, but it is an example of the primary subject matter putting a book in a different location.  The Crack in the Edge of the World is a history about San Francisco's geology.  The history part explains its location at 979.461, even though the geology topic might lead you to look for it in 550s, Earth Sciences, or the San Francisco topic might suggest 917.94.

If you are interested in brushing up your math skills, the 510s have several titles to practice or introduce math concepts, i.e. Calculus.  However, if you are focused on the PSATs, SATs, ACTs, GED, or GRE, these test preparation books are in 378.

 

If you are looking for books to explore the night sky's constellations or meteor showers, check 520s.

If you are ready to ponder the Big Bang, String Theory, or why the sky is blue, join Stephen Hawking and Brian Greene in Physics, 530s.

When I searched the catalog for Chemistry, the results included a 150 on the psychology of fearing modern chemicals, a 612 for the prescriptions that might make us smarter, and a 644 on the chemistry of sugar in modern American diets.  Luckily, AP Chemistry and an Oxford dictionary on chemicals are waiting in the 540s.

Tim Flannery introduced me to the history of Australia.  Here at Ruidoso Public Library, he shares Earth's natural history in the 550s. 

 Lucy, the book on Australopithecus, is then in the 560s, also known as Paleontology.

Biology and Life sciences are in the 570s, so find Charles Darwin here.

Plants (in nature, not your garden) are in the 580s.

And finally, animals (again, in nature, not on the farm or in your pocket) are in the 590s, including insects.

                                    

How are these posts doing?  Am I helping at all?  Let me know if you prefer the earlier format with fewer pictures or have other suggestions to improve the second half of this series.  Thank you, dear readers!