Thank you to Shari Salisbury at the University of Texas San Antonio for granting permission to use her guide http://libguides.utsa.edu/ceramics as a template.
The SJSU Library uses the Library of Congress classification system to assign call numbers to books so that you can find them on the shelves.
Browsing for ceramics/pottery books can be a challenge! They may be in several different places in the Library. Most ceramics books will be found under NK. Many books on glazes will be under TP because they are about chemical processes. Technical aspects of pottery making may be found under TT. If you are looking for books about Native American pottery, such as Zuni or Moche pottery, you may find them under call numbers E or F (History of the Americas).
N Visual arts
NA Architecture
NB Sculpture
NC Drawing. Design. Illustration
ND Painting
NE Print media
NK Decorative arts (most Ceramics books are here)
NX Arts in general
TP Chemical technology (includes some Ceramics/Pottery, esp. glazes)
TR Photography
TT Handicrafts. Arts and crafts (Pottery)
Example: NK3780 .C663 2000 is the call number for the book:
Ten Thousand Years of Pottery by Oxford Art Online enables access and cross-search functionality to Grove and Oxford reference content in one location. Provides access to Grove Art Online, The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. Includes image partnerships with ARTstor, the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Images for College Teaching, Art Resource, Artists Rights Society and numerous international art galleries and artists.
Global Clay by
For over 25,000 years, humans across the globe have shaped, decorated, and fired clay. Despite great differences in location and time, universal themes appear in the world's ceramic traditions, including religious influences, human and animal representations, and mortuary pottery. In Global Clay: Themes in World Ceramic Traditions, noted pottery scholar John A. Burrison explores the recurring artistic themes that tie humanity together, explaining how and why those themes appear again and again in worldwide ceramic traditions. The book is richly illustrated with over 200 full-color, cross-cultural illustrations of ceramics from prehistory to the present. Providing an introduction to different styles of folk pottery, extensive suggestions for further reading, and reflections on the future of traditional pottery around the world, Global Clay is sure to become a classic for all who love art and pottery and all who are intrigued by the human commonalities revealed through art.
Click on a title to check its availability.
The Art of the Islamic Tile by 
Ceramic Figures: A Directory of Artists by 
The Ceramic Narrative by 