Books & E-Books
The Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library contains books that support the educational programs of Queens College. They are organized by subject according to the Library of Congress classification system (see call number tutorial). Books that circulate (i.e., that you can borrow) are located on Rosenthal Library levels 4 and 5, art books are on 6. Music books are located in the Music Library. Reference books such as dictionaries and encyclopedias are located on level 3.
The CUNY Catalog usually contains the following information about books:
- Author
- Title
- Place of publication
- Publisher
- Copyright and publication date
Books can also contain a title page, introduction, table of contents, and an index, which can be useful in determining what the book is about.

The above book has the follwing details:
Dickens, Charles - book author
Bleak House - book title
New York: Barnes & Noble, 2005 - place of publication, publisher and the year.
An e-book is an electronic book that can be accessed over the Internet and then read on the computer screen or downloaded to a handheld device. This library subscribes to collections of e-books (i.e., netLibrary and Ebrary), and their titles can be accessed from the CUNY Catalog, just like our other books.
Books can be located through our catalog, using the CUNY Catalog. All books and other materials receive a call number, a unique address to help you locate the item in this library.
Books are good resources for almost any topic, except those that require up-to-the-minute research. Since they take some time to publish, they do not always have the very latest information. However, due to their length, they are a good resource to consult if you wish to explore a topic in some depth.