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Astronomy: Books & eBooks

Access during COVID-19

All Oberlin College students, faculty and staff may come into the science library and access the collection - books, current periodicals, bound journals, DVDs, and textbooks on reserve. Students, please make an appointment at the science library reservation page. Faculty and staff can enter the library by swiping or tapping your OCID at the library entrance, anytime between 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri.  All borrowers with a library card or OCID may request items through OBIS (see how); we will get the item from the shelves and have it ready for contactless pick up.  Off-campus borrowers, please contact slibrary@oberlin.edu and we will arrange to get items to you.

OBIS

Search OBIS

Find books, e-books, videos, scores, and recordings at Oberlin by title, author, subject, keyword, or other options. 

OhioLINK



Can't find a book at Oberlin? Find and request materials held at 120 OhioLINK libraries. Requested items are delivered to the circulation desk on the first floor of Mudd Center, typically within 3-5 business days. The OhioLINK catalog describes over 46 million items, including books, periodicals, maps, music scores and audiovisual materials.  

 

InterLibrary Loan (ILL)

Can't find what you need?  For books, try OhioLINK. For books not available through OhioLINK and for other types of materials, use Interlibrary Loan (ILL).  ILL lets you borrow materials from non-OhioLINK libraries, including print books, scanned journal articles, musical scores, videos, theses/dissertations, and more. 

Contact ill@oberlin.edu with questions.

Reading Call Numbers

There are two major call number systems used in the libraries: the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification schemes. The first line of a call number, as it appears on a physical item, is a broad subject classification. The subsequent lines are combinations of letters and numbers that organize items into narrower, related categories.

Library of Congress  Dewey Decimal
QC   Alphabetically 
911  Whole number
523.013  Whole number, followed by decimal
 
G43  Alphabetically, then decimals
(may be followed by another letter)
.B734P  Alphabetically, then decimals 
2019  Publication Date, shelves chronologically e.g., 523.013 .B734P shelves before 523.013 .B81M 

See How to Read Call Numbers from the University of Berkeley Library for more details about LC call numbers.
 

Recent Additions to the Library

Please see New in the Science Library, a list arranged in broad subject categories and updated with every delivery of newly cataloged books for the Science Library.    

eBooks

In addition to the print books in the science library, there are tens of thousands of digital format e-books accessible through OBIS.  Just click on the E-Books tab to limit your search to books online.
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