Four rounds for a library crowd: the Library of Alexandria, a decimal system for books, the ten main classes, and libraries and Library Week.
Read the full guide
National Library Week trivia questions
Libraries and Library Week asks the month, the sponsor, the first theme and when Australia and the United Kingdom joined in, with four questions on libraries in general.
The classification rounds
For the classification, The ten main classes is a quick round: match a subject to its hundreds. A decimal system for books covers the pamphlet of 1876 and how a number is built. The Library of Alexandria has the first catalog and the scholar who measured the Earth.
Tips
Trivia questions for librarians: read The ten main classes aloud with no choices and let the staff shout the numbers.
Questions and answers
Are these librarian trivia questions and answers for a staff day?
They suit one. Two rounds are on the decimal classification, one is on the Library of Alexandria and one is on Library Week. Each answer shows its reason and the article it was read in.
What are some easy library trivia questions?
In which month is National Library Week held in the United States? Which numbers hold literature in the decimal classification? In which year did Melvil Dewey first publish it? The answers are April, the 800s and 1876.
When is National Library Week?
In the United States it falls in April, typically the second full week, and is sponsored by the American Library Association. The quiz gives no date for a single year.
How were the answers checked?
Each was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article linked under it: Library of Alexandria, Dewey Decimal Classification, Library or National Library Week. This site is not affiliated with any library association or with the publisher of the classification.
Callimachus wrote a work sometimes considered the first library catalog in the world. What was it called?Answer: The Pinakes. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
In which temple of Alexandria was a "daughter library" set up under Ptolemy III?Answer: The Serapeum. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
The Library of Alexandria itself was probably not built until the reign of which king?Answer: Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
The Library of Alexandria was part of a larger research institution dedicated to the Muses. What was it called?Answer: The Mouseion. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
On what were the books of the Library of Alexandria written?Answer: Papyrus scrolls. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
Ptolemy III borrowed the original manuscripts of three playwrights from Athens. How much precious metal did the Athenians demand as a guarantee?Answer: Fifteen talents. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
Under Ptolemy II, what was done with any books found on ships that came into the port of Alexandria?Answer: They were taken to the Library and copied. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
Which Athenian ruler was said to have founded the first major public library, in the sixth century BC?Answer: Pisistratus. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
Which scholar is said to have produced between 3,500 and 4,000 books, more than any other known writer of antiquity?Answer: Didymus. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
Which scholar of the Library of Alexandria worked out the circumference of the Earth?Answer: Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
Zenodotus of Ephesus worked at the Library of Alexandria to standardize the works of which poet?Answer: Homer. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
Zenodotus put words in alphabetical order, but his system looked at how much of each word?Answer: Only the first letter. Source: Wikipedia: Library of Alexandria
A decimal system for books 10
At which college library was Melvil Dewey working when he developed his classification in 1873?Answer: Amherst College. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
How long was the index of the 14th edition of Dewey's classification, published in 1942?Answer: Over 1,900 pages. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
How long was the pamphlet in which Melvil Dewey first described his library classification?Answer: 44 pages. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
In a library's decimal classification, 330 is economics. What is 330.94, which adds the notation for Europe?Answer: European economy. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
In which year did Melvil Dewey first publish his library classification?Answer: 1876. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
In which year was the first electronic version of Dewey's library classification created?Answer: 1993. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Melvil Dewey's classification gave library books a "relative location". What did that replace?Answer: Permanent shelf locations. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Since 1895 an abridged edition of Dewey's classification has been made for libraries with how many titles or fewer?Answer: 20,000. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Through how many major editions had Melvil Dewey's library classification been revised when the latest was printed in 2011?Answer: 23. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Which national library began printing Dewey numbers on nearly all of its catalog cards in 1930?Answer: The Library of Congress. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
The ten main classes 9
The 600s of the library decimal classification hold which subject?Answer: Technology. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
A book numbered in the 300s by a library's decimal system is about what?Answer: Social sciences. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
A library that uses the decimal classification shelves history and geography under which numbers?Answer: The 900s. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
In the decimal classification many libraries use, which subject has the 400s?Answer: Language. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
In the decimal classification of books, which subject has the 800s?Answer: Literature. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Library decimal numbers: which hundred is "Pure science"?Answer: The 500s. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Where does the library decimal system put "Arts and recreation"?Answer: The 700s. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Which class of the library decimal classification holds computer science, information and general works?Answer: The 000s. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Which two subjects share the 100s on a library's decimal shelves?Answer: Philosophy and psychology. Source: Wikipedia: Dewey Decimal Classification
Libraries and Library Week 10
As what one-day event was Libraries Week revived in the United Kingdom in 2012?Answer: National Libraries Day. Source: Wikipedia: National Library Week
In a large library, what is a series of shelves called?Answer: A bay. Source: Wikipedia: Library
In which century did private libraries of written books appear in classical Greece?Answer: The 5th century BC. Source: Wikipedia: Library
In which year did the National Book Committee develop the idea of National Library Week?Answer: 1957. Source: Wikipedia: National Library Week
In which year was the first Australian Library Week held?Answer: 1968. Source: Wikipedia: National Library Week
National Library Week falls in which month for American libraries?Answer: April. Source: Wikipedia: National Library Week
What was the theme of the first sponsored National Library Week?Answer: Wake Up and Read! Source: Wikipedia: National Library Week
Which body sponsors National Library Week in the United States?Answer: The American Library Association. Source: Wikipedia: National Library Week
Which French word names a multimedia library?Answer: Médiathèque. Source: Wikipedia: Library
Which movement in American public libraries, begun in the 19th century, called for teaching people to use the library?Answer: The library instruction movement. Source: Wikipedia: Library
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Questions and wrong choices are our own. Each explanation restates, in our own sentences, a fact from the English Wikipedia article named and linked beside the question (https://en.wikipedia.org, text under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license): Library of Alexandria, Dewey Decimal Classification, Library and National Library Week. The text of each article was fetched on October 2 or 3, 2026, and on October 3, 2026 the passage that states each fact was read in it before the question was kept. Left out on purpose: circulation and budget figures, the count of libraries that use a system (it changes), court cases and criticism of the classification, living people, and what other trivia sets on this site already ask (the Latin word behind library, the steel magnate who paid for libraries, the new library at Alexandria, Boston's public library). This site is not affiliated with the publisher of the Dewey Decimal Classification or with any library association. Levels are our estimate: easy is fair for any table, medium suits people who know the subject, hard will stump most tables. Each question also carries the date its article was read (checkedOn). Licence: own work