You can walk down library walk without almost getting hit by a bike. You can get lunch at the Price Center without having to wait in line. You can find a seat on the shuttle. It’s officially summertime at UC San Diego! And while we miss the hustle and bustle of students and the Farmer’s Market, hopefully things have slowed down in your neck of the woods, so you have a little extra time for some fun reading!

The UC San Diego Library collects fiction/memoir/travel/etc books, but they’re kept in call number order by subject.  This post will help you find the “fun” literature in our collections!

If you like browsing/scanning shelves, you have a few options:

• Science & Engineering Library Popular Science Collection
  MythBusters & Top Gear fans can find these popular and general interest science books near the entrance of S&E (in Geisel).

• New Books shelves
  Look for these shelves near service desks in many of our libraries.  They have the most recent books added to our collections. Ask at the Information Desk if you need help finding them.

• Wander around the 7th Floor in Geisel, pick a row, close your eyes, reach out a select a book! Most literature/fiction is shelved in the P call numbers. If you want to hedge your bets, head to PS659 .B472  before closing your eyes and selecting a book!

The other way to find “fun” books is to review reading lists/websites, and then look up a specific book or author in the catalog (http://roger.ucsd.edu).  The catalog will tell you if we have the book, its location and status (available or checked out).

If we don’t have the book or if it’s checked out, you can request a copy through:

Circuit http://circuit.sdsu.edu/
Melvyl http://melvyl.worldcat.org/

Here are some webpages to help you find your next book!

• UCSD Libraries Guide’s What Do I Read Next?
• New Popular Fiction at the UCSD Library (scroll to the very bottom and click on a genre to see the most recent additions to our collection)
• The Guardian’s 100 Greatest Non-fiction Books
• The Chronicle’s Geeks at the Beach
• Books Being Made Into Movies as of Summer 2012
• Summer Reading Flowchart: What Should You Read On Your Break?
• Summer Reading: LGBT Reads 
• What If?: A Visual Bibliography of Selected Alternate History Novels

If you need help at any time, Ask a Librarian!

How do you find your next book to read? If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments!