Books: A guide to locating books in the library


All Library resources, whether in print or electronic format are listed in the catalog. Look there to see the holdings for Crerar, and all of the University of Chicago holdings. If you are having difficulty using the catalog or you want to confirm the availability or location of a book, please contact the Reference desk at 773-702-7715.

Print Books
Electronic Books
What if the book is off the shelf?
What if you don't own a book I need?
Help with remote access

Print books

There are six areas in the John Crerar Library where you can find books in the biomedical sciences. In four areas, books will have a Library of Congress number and a location. Most books you need will be shelved on the second floor by the call numbers QH (Natural History/General Biology) to R (Medicine). A guide to the call numbers by floor is available.

These are all of the areas where you could find a biomedical book:

Science Stacks (Sci stacks) QH - R = second floor (see example)

Science Stacks (Sci stacks) TN - Z locate on the Lower Level. All other LC ranges (except QH-R) shelve on the third floor. The catalog will not specify on which floor the material is located. See a call number guide are ask for help at the Reference Desk.(see example)

Reference (SciRef) = first floor, west of the Reference counter (see example)

Reserve (SciRes) = first floor, behind the Circulation/ Reserves counter (see example) For more information on Reserves, click here.

Dewey Decimal Classification = lower level. Take the stairs at the west end of the building, and turn left. Note: You cannot access the Dewey collection from the lower level next to the USITE Crerar Lab. Books are arranged in compact shelving. If you need help operating the shelving please go to the Circulation/Reserves counter. (see example)

Electronic books

Electronic textbooks, like their print counterparts, are listed individually in the catalog. Most online medical textbooks licensed by the library are available through the the following resources. Theses resources are found through the Database Finder, http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/dbfinder.

AccessMedicine - contains the latest editions of clinical medicine texts (Harrison’s Online, Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery, etc.) and offers the Lange Basic Science and Lange Current Clinical Science Series for on-going study, review, and reference.

MD Consult - contains the full text of over 50 medical reference texts, as well as full text of the Clinics Series.

Stat!Ref - integrates core full text titles (The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, Williams Obstetrics, Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, etc.) with evidence-based resources, including ACP’s PIER (American College of Physician’s Physician Information & Education Resource).

Springer eBooks - contains hundreds of texts in medicine published by Springer beginning in 2005. The Crerar Library News page has detailed instructions on accessing this content: http://crerar.typepad.com/crerar_library_news/2007/03/springer_ebooks.html.

NCBI's Bookshelf - In collaboration with authors and publishers, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is adapting, biomedical books for the web. Both the list of books available and the search box are book available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=Books. The Library does not subscribe to this resource, as it is freely available on the web to anyone.

What if the book is off the shelf?

If you've looked for a book that that is supposed to be on the shelf ("not charged") try these steps: If the book is checked out place a recall to have it returned.

Look in the re-shelving areas behind the Circulation/Reserves counter and on the book trucks at the top of the stairwells on the second or third floors, depending on call number.

Look in both photocopier rooms on each floor

Check at the Reference Desk to be certain of your information

Stop at the Circulation Desk and fill out a Search Form. (We'll do the looking from this point on.) Or click on the "Not on Shelf" link in the book's catalog record to fill out an online request form.Searches take between 1-5 working days.

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If you have any questions about resources or services available to the biomedical sciences community please contact Deb Werner, Biomedical Reference Librarian or Christa Modschiedler, Biomedical Bibliographer & Reference Librarian. You may also email the Crerar Reference Staff.

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