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Research > Guides > Cooking > Finding books & more

Finding books and more

Overview

Library materials are arranged using the Dewey Decimal System. The basic call number for cooking books is 641. Books on food and culture are found under the call number 394.

While the neighborhood libraries offer many titles, the bulk of the cooking collection resides at Central Library. Books on cooking (call number 641) are primarily found in the Science & Business room on Central Library's second floor, although books on food and culture (call number 394) are found in the Humanities Room on the third floor. Magazines are found in the Periodicals Room on the second floor.

Not all of the materials at Central Library are on the shelves open to the public; due to a lack of space, some items are in the basement. If you can't find a book that is checked in, request it from a retrieval desk.

Most of the library's cooking collection is available for check-out, with the exception of magazines and reference materials such as encyclopedias, dictionaries and directories, which are non-circulating and must be used in the library. These non-circulating items can be photocopied for 10 cents a page.

Catalog

The Library Catalog allows you to search by subject, author or title for books, periodical titles, videos and other materials owned by Multnomah County Library. You can use the catalog at any Multnomah County Library location or outside the library from a computer with a modem or Web access.

For online help in the Web-based version of the catalog, click on the question mark in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. If you are using the text-based version of the catalog, type a ? and press Enter for online assistance.

Catalog tips

An easy way to locate material in the catalog is to use keyword search. One search will look for words in titles, subjects or contents notes all at the same time. For example, entering the word buffets results in a list of 20 items that contain the word "buffets" in their records.

Each item's record contains detailed information that is useful for locating the item in the library and for finding other things on the same subject. Look for this information in a record:

Status

Status quickly tells you if the item is available at your location and how many copies there are. At the end of the record, you can view detailed information about when the item is due back if it is checked out, which library it is at and whether it is a reference book.

Call number

Call number tells you where the item is located on the shelf.

Subject headings

Subject headings can help you find similar books.

Subject headings

All materials in the library have Library of Congress Subject Headings assigned to them. Subject headings are standardized vocabulary used to group similar items. This makes it easy to find books on the same or similar topics. Becoming familiar with this standardized vocabulary used for subject headings makes researching topics easier.

A subject heading may consist of one or more words. A one-word heading represents a single concept, whereas a multiple-word heading may represent a single concept or multiple concepts:

Subject headings breakdown

Many subject headings are broken down further to specify more detail or multiple concepts:

Cookery subject headings are often broken down even further to specify geographic areas. Here are some examples of subject headings that specify states, regions and countries:

Truncation

Truncation allows you to search for different variations on a root word, stem or fragment of a word. This tool is especially helpful to find both the singular and plural forms of a word. Rather than searching by each variation of a word, truncate the root word with a question mark (?).

For example, searching for buffet? will find buffet or buffets. Searching for cultur? will find culture, cultural, cultures and cultured.

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