Finding Support in the Stacks: Call Number Ranges for Sensitive Topics

Academic librarians take pride in our willingness to address all questions posed by patrons and point them to the resources they need. This post explores a variety of resources on sensitive topics such as mental health, addiction, and finances that are easily accessible within the CMU Libraries collection. Specifically, I will focus on which Library of Congress Call Number ranges these works are located within. If you are interested in learning more about Library of Congress Call Numbers, feel free to watch the video linked here. 

The first sensitive topic focuses on mental illness linked to interpersonal violence. Giersch et al., in “Intimate Partner Violence”, reports that 35.6% of women and 28.5% of men have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, often leading to depression, PTSD, and anxiety. These figures do not include mental illness resulting from parental abuse or neglect. CMU Libraries holds a variety of mental health-related works such as Helen Kennerly’s book, Overcoming Childhood Trauma, and Van Der Kolk and Bessel A’s book, The Body Keeps the Score, located in the Library of Congress Call Number range RC552-RC569.5 on the Park Library’s 4th floor.  

A second sensitive topic addressed in CMU Libraries collections is addiction. According to the Addiction Center, 27% of college students struggle with addiction in some way. Self-help works on the topic of addiction can primarily be found within the RC552-RC569.5 Library of Congress Call Number range, located on the Park Library’s 4th floor. Some of the books which fall under this category include Frances E. Frankenburg’s  Addictions: Elements, History, Treatments, and Research and Joseph P. Green and Stephen J. Lynn’s Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, and Hypnosis for Smoking Cessation: A Scientifically Informed Intervention.  

To conclude, the third sensitive topic is finances, something which the National Endowment for Financial Education says almost 90% of Americans struggle with. This makes financial support works, which are in the HG179-HG179.5 range on the Park Library’s 2nd floor, even more relevant. Some of the works which are particularly worth noting here include The Wall Street Journal’s Guide to the New Rules of Personal Finance, Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover, and Michael Z Stahl’s Money and Life. These works provide financial advice that continues to be relevant despite their age and, in the case of Stahl’s Money and Life, are specifically written for college students.  

The CMU Libraries provide resources on sensitive topics like these in hopes of making the library a more welcoming and supportive place for all. We hope you find these resources helpful!