Catalog

“ The prime object of a library catalog or directory to books for use resolves itself into a matter of the economy of time and of attention. Where there are only two or three books in a man's library there is obviously little need of catalog. ”

“ The catalog is a portable showcase and from it the customer makes selection, often without seeing the article itself. These facts make it essential that goods be displayed invitingly and in good taste. An article well displayed requires few words to sell it.
Place a girl of plain features, but handsomely dressed, in the midst of beautiful colors and lights, and a dozen millionaires will want to marry her—an extreme illustration of the power of attractive display, emphasizing the necessity of “playing up” the ordinary to create the desire of possession. ”

“ It is easy to see that with printed cards and expert service, catalog cards can be fuller in information, can be critically annotated, perhaps, can be made more often for analyticals, subject and author, and that the use of the catalog by the library assistant can be much more constant and more discriminating. ”

“ A catalog is a name list of concrete or specific objects as distinguished from classes of objects; a list of plants in a botanical garden, of mineral specimens in a museum or books in a library, but a list of kinds of plants, minerals or books apart from concrete specimens is not. ”

“ There is danger that not enough cataloging research work will be done when the cataloging is done in the department library, because many of the important catalog and bibliographical aids are not accessible outside the catalog department—for example, the depository or union catalog of printed cards. ”

“ If a dictionary catalog is made it will prove to be most helpful to the serious students. For the average reader, the person who wishes to get a recent book, the latest novel, etc., prepare lists of additions from month to month, post them up in some convenient place in the library, and put them in a binder to be left on desk or table in the delivery room. ”

“ The preparation of the catalog for printing was principally the work of the staff of the Cumulative Section of the Cataloging Division of the Copyright Office. Mr. Walls reviewed all entries after they were transcribed from the record books and assisted in editing them by adding in brackets, whenever he could do so without additional research, explanatory information in those cases in which the titles are not fully self-explanatory. Except for these bracketed phrases the information appearing in the entries in the catalog is that on record in the Copyright Office. ”

“ A manila catalog card tells us that the material may be found outside of the city, whereas by stamping the name of the library in the place of the call number on a white card, we indicate that the material is in town. Subject entries only are made for material of this sort.
There are many indexes already in existence which will supplement the catalog and call to the attention of the worker available material. One of the most valuable sources of all is found in the experts of the neighborhood. The librarian is too prone to think that all the most useful knowledge is in books or printed form. ”

“ Author card. (Reduced; actual size, 71⁄2 x 121⁄2 cm.)
Preserve this catalog with great care. It is the key to the records in shelf-list and accession book. In a small library the public may very properly use it. As soon as possible, if your library is to be quite large and much used, prepare for public use a duplicate of it, omitting all those entries in the original which are of use only to the librarian.
The average reader more often remembers the titles of books than their authors. ”

“ We have now got the first two parts of our catalogue entry, and in the order from which there [Pg 39] can be no deviation. Our next step is to decide how much further information is to be given. A catalogue of a library has been defined as a list of the titles of books which it contains, and that it (the catalogue) must not be expected to give any further description of a book than the author gives, or ought to give, on the title-page, and the publisher in the imprint, or colophon. ”

“ Borrowers' register, best kept on cards. See chapter on charging systems.
Catalog cards. These are of two sizes and many thicknesses. Select what suits you. See Library Bureau catalog.
Catalog case. See Library Bureau catalog. For a very small library a few japanned tin trays will serve. But your catalog will grow faster than you suppose.
Cole size card; a sheet marked in such a way as to give one at a glance the proper letter to use in indicating the size of any book placed on it. See Library Bureau catalog. In a very small library not needed. ”

“ Another result would probably follow very quickly—more men would go into the library schools. I am told that the detail of cataloging seems to a man too much like making tatting, and one can easily understand that a person competent and eager to handle large matters or to fill an active administrative post would fret over anything involving as much minutiæ as the making of catalog cards. ”

“ The catalogue slips can then be arranged under towns and printers, so that any one wishing to study the productions of a particular town or printer can at once obtain all the books of the particular class in the library. If he knows his books by the author’s name, they can be found from the general catalogue of the library. In private collections, the number of books is, as a rule, so small that they can be arranged in any order without trouble. ”

“ No code of cataloguing could be adopted in all points by every one, because the libraries for study and the libraries for reading have different objects, and those which combine the two do so in different proportions. Again, the preparation of a catalogue must vary as it is to be manuscript or printed, and, if the latter, as it is to be merely an index to the library, giving in the shortest possible compass clues by which the public can find books, or is to attempt to furnish more information on various points, or finally is to be made with a certain regard to what may be called style. ”

“ The advantages of a printed catalogue he states under five heads: " (1) that it is in less danger of partial or total destruction than a manuscript volume or drawers of cards;" " (2) that it can be consulted out of the library;" " (3) that it can be consulted in other libraries;" " (4) that it is easier to read than the best manuscript volume, and very much easier to consult. A card presents to the eye only one title at a time, whereas a printed catalogue generally [55] has all an author's works on a single page. ”

“ African and black studies; women’s studies; performing arts; and education and children’s books. A majority of the entries are accompanied by annotations that describe the organization of a catalog, its library classification and subject indexing system, and special features. Two indexes: subjects; libraries. Although Nelson omits some important catalogs published before 1960 and includes a few serial bibliographies that are not library catalogs, it is the best guide to published library catalogs (most of which have been superseded by publicly accessible OPACs) . ”

“ At present a Universal Catalogue is a Utopian Catalogue. I have the greatest respect for those who have advocated it as an undertaking immediately practicable. I have no doubt that the twentieth century will speak of them as men before their age. But they are before it. Their project is at present intricate, indefinite, intangible. They want a base of operations. As Sir Henry Cole himself discerned when he made his not altogether fortunate experiment of printing a specimen article from the Museum Catalogue, this catalogue supplies such a base. ”

“ And in planning a manuscript catalogue, it should be remembered that a small library may grow into a large one, and that if the catalogue is made in the best way at first there will be no need of alteration.
If a book’s title-page is lost, and it is impossible to ascertain what it was from other copies or other editions, or from catalogues or bibliographies, use the half-title or the running title, stating the fact; if it has neither, manufacture a title, within brackets. Such an entry will require many references. ”

“ Entering these only under the form-heading Catalogues belongs to the dark ages of cataloguing. Put the catalogue of a library under the library's name."
I cannot understand why a system of arranging catalogues under a general heading, where they are most likely to be sought for, should be stigmatized as belonging to the dark ages. It is impossible [126] to imagine a worse heading for an auction catalogue than the name of the auctioneer. His name is seldom quoted, and more often forgotten. ”

“ A small one not requiring a large catalogue can use larger type in printing, though a small library and a small income often go together, when strict economy has to be exercised. Again there is the question of including the books of the reference department in the catalogue, making it a general one, which adds to its bulk and cost. ”

“ There is, however, a great want of a general catalogue or general index to the vast collections of the British Museum. [231] The production of such a work would cause so large an expenditure of labour that perhaps we can scarcely expect it to be produced; but I venture to think that something might be done to bring the very miscellaneous collection of catalogues into some more uniform system than it is at present. ”

“ The purpose of the catalogue has a bearing upon the nature of the stationery required. A catalogue cannot be written into a book like an inventory; each item—even books by the same author or upon the same subject—must be upon a separate paper slip or card cut uniformly to any size fixed upon. Paper slips serve quite well for manuscript, or "copy" as it is termed, for the printer, but tough cards of good quality are needed for a catalogue on cards to be handled by many persons. It is a good plan in any case first to prepare the catalogue upon slips or cards for office use ”

“ Assuming the catalogue to be completed, the question remains for decision whether it shall be printed. In most cases this question is easily determined with reference to the circumstances of the individual library; but in one instance the nation claims a voice in the matter. It is hardly necessary to say that we refer to the Catalogue of the British Museum, the theme of forty years' controversy. Every one will admit the intrinsic superiority of a catalogue in print over a catalogue in MS. The question is, whether the advantage may not be bought too dear. ”

“ Much time is lost in looking up the same things over and over again, sometimes by one assistant, and sometimes by another. Lists jotted roughly down while material is being looked up, or directly after, may be copied by typewriter on catalog cards and filed alphabetically in a special tray of the catalog case, where they will be quickly available for the next call. ”

“ It is invariably a surprise to the management, as well as the workers, to find how much reading [Pg 56] matter for the home reading box is available in the plant itself.
Every business man receives quantities of catalogs and other business and technical literature, and sample copies of publications, sent in the effort to get new subscribers. These are glanced at by the man receiving them, and then and there usually thrown into the waste-basket. A catalog is the best literary effort of the concern it represents, and usually contains valuable instruction. ”

“ Overlapping covers are favored only when the covers are stiff enough to support the catalog’s weight when standing on edge. Titles should be printed on the exposed backs of the catalogs, reading from top downward. The date of publication should appear on the title-page. 84An index card of standard size (three by five inches) , containing the title and character of the contents, should be inclosed in every catalog.
EXAMPLE 178
EXAMPLE 179
Facing pages that show effective results obtained in a simple way. ”

“ The value of a good catalogue does not depend upon its extent or size any more than does that of a good book, but rather upon the exactness of the method by which the information given is digested and concentrated. There are library catalogues so elaborately compiled and imposing in appearance that they might be, and often are, considered to be most excellent productions, whereas those who use them find them little more than a medley of book-titles—pedantic without being learned. ”

“ A most commendable feature of modern cataloguing is the explanatory notes and other annotations appended to catalogue entries. These are for the most part to be found in the lists of additions to libraries published monthly, quarterly, or annually; such publications lending themselves readily to this descriptive form of cataloguing. The classified catalogue has also the advantage over the dictionary form for this purpose, because, rarely having more than a single entry for each book, the question as to where the note is to go does not arise. ”

“ No one style of catalogue, however, will answer all of these questions, but the one that will answer most of them with the least trouble and loss of time to the user is that known as the dictionary catalogue. It consists of an arrangement of author, subject, and (to a limited extent) title entries in a single alphabetical sequence, and is by far the most popular form. It is neither economical nor the most logical, but its [Pg 23] convenience for ready reference compensates for these defects. ”