Answered By: Heidi Anoszko
Last Updated: Nov 18, 2025     Views: 687

Search for books

To find books and other resources such as videos, maps, and music recordings in the UWM Libraries' collections, use Search@UW. You can search for a specific book by title or author, or search terms (keywords).

After you identify a book you’d like to use, click on the title to view details.

search result with the hyperlinked book title highlighted by a red rectangle

In the 'Get It' or 'View It' section of the record you will find information that will help you access the book:

Location

Look under the "Location Items" section of the book record to see where the book is held.

  • Most books you can check out have the location 'MKE Main Collection', 'Music- Main Collection', or 'Curriculum Collection'
  • Books with the locations 'Special Collections,' 'Archives Collection,' 'American Geographical Society Library,' and 'Reference Collection' are held in special areas of the library. You may not be able to check out these items or you may need staff assistance to use them. 
  • eBooks do not have physical locations. Click the link under the 'View Online' section of the Search@UW record to view the book online.

See the Building Maps page or Ask a Librarian for help if you are unsure where to go. 

Read a call number (a book's shelf location)

Books are grouped by subjects and assigned a unique 'call number' that will acts as its address on the shelf. Follow the steps in the chart below to read and locate a book by call number. 

Example Call Number: JK 723 .H6 J64 2004
Call Number Section How to Read It
JK

Read the 1st Letter(s) in alphabetical order:

A, B, C.... D, DB, DJ, DJK... J, JC, JK

The letter(s) will tell you which floor of the library the book is located on (opens library locations guide)
723

Read the 2nd line as a whole number:

1, 2, 3...45...100, 110, 111...723...2000...2433
.H6

The 3rd line is a combination of letters and numbers. Read the letter alphabetically, and read the number as a decimal 

D.25, .D3423, .D46 ... .H234, .H45, .H6

(Sometimes there’s a 4th or 5th line of letters and numbers. This is a Cutter number. Read the letter alphabetically and the the number as a decimal even if there is no period.)
2004 Date of publication (not all call numbers have this)

Find a book on the shelf

The call number provides the location or "address" of each book on the shelf.

Follow these steps when you're looking for a book on the shelf.

  1. Find the correct letter combination. L comes before LA on the shelves.
  2. Look for the number - be sure to look for the whole number. 19 comes before 23 and 23 comes before 2340 (two thousand three hundred forty).
  3. In the last line, first locate the letter and then the decimal. .M371 will come before .M38

This image shows the order in which some sample call numbers would appear: L 19. M322, LA 23. M38, LA 2340. M371, LA 2340. M38

Checking Out Books

You can check it out at the circulation desk on the 1st floor of the Library (in the Learning Commons).

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Chat with UWM Libraries

 
Chat with a librarian during Research Help Desk hours. After hours the chatbot is available to navigate Frequently Asked Questions. Have a non-library question? See Contact UWM and Campus IT Support.