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What you are looking for can make a difference in where you should look. Different types of sources offer different information.
Books:
Books take about a year to be published. They will not include the latest studies and research. Textbooks and encyclopedias are good for basic information. Further editions of books demonstrate that a source has been updated to reflect new information and may be a standard source in the field. Are there newer editions available?
Reference Books:
Reference books, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, collect accepted facts from the established literature. In health and science, they can be huge and may take years to put together. Therefore, they do not contain the most current information, although they may mention studies that were recent at the the time of publication. But they are a good one-stop-shop to start by learning the basics of a topic.
Journals:
The latest research is published in journals. It can be difficult to find basic information in journals. Nowadays, most journals have a web site that allows viewing of the table of contents and summaries of articles. The majority of Journals today are collected electronically however we continue to preserve our older journals in paper and mircoformats. All Print Library Journals and Magazines except "Current Periodicals" are now located in the library basement.
Magazines:
Magazines contain the latest basic information. It can be difficult to obtain researched information from magazines. Most magazines today are electronic however we do continue to preserve our older magazines in paper and microformats.All Print Library Journals and Magazines except "Current Periodicals" are now located in the library basement.
Library of Congress Classification is a system used by most academic libraries to categorize books and library materials by topic. Public libraries usually use the Dewey Decimal system. Indiana University and Purdue University Libraries both use the Dewey Decimal system, too.
The Library follows LOC rules to put the "call number" on the spine of the book. The call number tells where to shelve the book.
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Materials of interest to Religion Researchers are located in locations throughout the library but can mainly be found under:
BL: Religion
BM: Judaism
BP: Islam, Bahaism, Theosophy
BR: Christianity
BS: The Bible
BT: Doctrinal Theology
BV: Practical Theology
BX: Christian Denominations
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