Back to: How to Find Information

Browsing the shelves of a library or a bookstore can be a very pleasing experience. We can see the books, touch them and leaf through them. Normally, books are in some sort of order, and we can see other books that are related in some way with those we are holding. If you are at a bookstore, often they will let you take a cup of coffee (without spilling it!) while you look at the books. Therefore, it is very unfortunate that browsing the shelves of a bookstore or library has always been the absolutely worst way to find information! This doesn't mean that browsing is a bad way to find information, it's that when you browse, you are almost guaranteed to miss many materials that may interest you.

San Diego City College Learing Recource City retrieve a book From Wikimedia Commons

Why?

There are several reasons. First, any book with an even semi-complex subject (i.e. other than the works of Shakespeare or an English dictionary) could easily be shelved in several places. For example, a description of the architecture of Rome could easily be shelved under buildings of Rome, or under architecture; the memoirs of a man who was an Italian soldier and politician could also be located in many places. If you are interested in immigration, there may be sociological aspects, economic aspects, political aspects to this topic, and each will be shelved in different places.

Other reasons are more mechanical, One book may contain two or more works, e.g. one book may contain a novel by Petronius Arbiter plus a play by Seneca. No matter where it is on the shelf, e.g. under Petronius, then you cannot find it under Seneca. Also, almost every library has materials shelved separately for various reasons. So, you may be browsing the shelves in one spot, but missing the shelves in the Reference collection, or there may be a special science library and you happen to be looking at a very small sampling of the science books on your topic, or there may be special arrangements of books for all sorts of reasons. (AUR has a separately shelved "Loeb Classical Library" area)

An additional problem is that most libraries lack the space to shelve everything in their collections, and they have been forced to store many of their materials. These cannot be browsed at all. It is also obvious that you cannot see digital materials when you only browse the shelves, and there are some excellent materials online today. These are just a few of the reasons why browsing the shelves is not the best way to find information.

How do I avoid this problem?

By searching the catalogs and databases and using them well. In this way, if you search Seneca, you will find the record for the book where his work is shelved under Petronius, or you can find all the different aspects of immigration. The AUR Library Catalog is specially designed to help you find both electronic materials and items in other Roman libraries as well.

So, go ahead and browse the shelves, but realize what you are doing!

The remainder of this section will discuss how best to search catalogs and databases.

Continue with: Professional Research Guides