How Are Books Arranged in the Library?

Map of Dueitt Middle School Library

Tips For Finding Books

The thing you’ve all been searching for: a condensed version of the Dewey Decimal numbers, focused on topics that kids ask for the most (as observed in my job as a librarian).

Tip: Sometimes a particular topic will be in multiple sections! For instance, if you’re interested in buildings, you might also want to check Architecture, Travel (for historical buildings) or Biographies (for famous architects).

Dewey Decimals for Finding Books

000 Computer Science & General Information

  • 001 UFOs & Big Foot

  • 005 Coding (Scratch, Python, etc.)

  • 030 Encyclopedias & books of facts

  • 032 World records

100 Philosophy & Psychology

  • 130 Ghosts & the paranormal

  • 150 Psychology

  • 158 Self-improvement

  • 170 Ethics, animal rights

  • 180 Eastern philosophy

  • 190 Western philosophy

200 Religion

  • 220 Bible studies

  • 290 Mythology (Greek & Roman myths)

300 Social Sciences

  • 331 Jobs & careers

  • 350 Military (including military vehicles)

  • 378 Colleges, SAT/ACT, etc.

  • 391 Fashion

  • 394 Holidays

  • 398 Fairytales & folklore (Tall Tales)

400 Language

  • 419 Sign language

  • 430 Foreign languages

500 Science

  • 500 Science fair projects & experiments

  • 510 Math

  • 520 Astronomy (stars & planets) — see also 629 SPACE EXPLORATION

  • 530 Physics

  • 540 Chemistry

  • 550 Earth sciences (weather, volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes)

  • 560 Dinosaurs & fossils

  • 580 Plants — see also 635 GARDENING

  • 590 Animals — see also 636 PETS

  • 595 Insects, spiders & worms

  • 597 Lizards & snakes

  • 598 Birds

  • 599 Mammals (lions, tigers, whales, dolphins)

600 Technology

  • 600 Inventions

  • 610 Medicine & health

  • 629 Space exploration (astronauts), cars, trucks, planes, robots.

  • 630 Farming

  • 635 Gardening

  • 636 Pets (dogs, cats, horses, farm animals)

  • 641 Cooking & cookbooks

  • 646 Sewing, clothing, costume design

  • 658 Starting a business (lemonade stands & more)

  • 688.7 Legos

  • 690 Buildings — see also 720 ARCHITECTURE

700 Arts & Recreation

  • 709 Art history

  • 720 Architecture

  • 730 Origami

  • 741.5 Cartoons

  • 743 How to draw

  • 745 Crafts

  • 750 Painting

  • 770 Photography, film & video

  • 780 Music

  • 793 Minecraft

  • 794 Video games

  • 796 Sports (football, baseball, etc.)

800 Literature

  • 811 Poetry

  • 812 Plays

  • 818 Jokes

  • 822 Shakespeare

900 History & Geography

  • 910 Explorers & travel

  • 920 Biographies (may also be in their own BIOGRAPHY section in the library)

  • 930 Ancient history (Greek, Roman, etc.)

  • 940 European history

  • 940.5 World War II

  • 950 Asian history

  • 960 African history

  • 970 US History (also Canada & Mexico), Native American tribes

  • 973.7 US Civil War

  • 980 South American history

You be the librarian...

Girl on ladder organizing books

Do you think you have what it takes to be a library assistant? Try these library games to see if you do?

Library Assistant Game
Shaoes being matched with other similar shapes

Non-Fiction books are numbered from 000 to 999. Books of interest to you can be found by keeping in mind the number ranges assigned to different topics. Study the chart on this page and test yourself to see if you can match the topics with their respective Dewey Decimal Number ranges.

Dewey Decimal Matching Game
hand placing book onto shelf

Librarians need to know to re-shelve books so that they can be found again. Test yourself to see if you have what it takes to re-shelve books.

Test your book reshelving prowess