Missing books are generally the responsibility of the search student, but if you are helping a patron locate something, these hints could be useful.

Before leaving the department to look for a book, look it up in Aleph and confirm that it is not currently checked out, declared lost, etc.

Here are some places to look for missing books that aren't where they should be:

• Check the sorting shelves and carts in the Circulation department.

• Check the sorting shelves on the floor that the book should be on.

• Check the folio shelves (if the book is stacks), and the stacks (if the book is a folio).

• Check the entire shelf that the book should be on, along with the shelves above and below it.

• Consider the various ways that a call number might be misread, and check in those locations. For example, if a call number starts with PA 481, check the following places:

  • P 481 and PB 481

  • PA 48.1, PA 4801, PA841, etc

  • Be aware that an I can easily be misread as a 1, an O for a 0, etc.

• Check the reference stacks