Library catalogue

“ The extent to which the work of dissecting and "indexing" the contents of books of a miscellaneous nature is to be carried out in a library catalogue depends largely on the nature and purpose of the library, though a limit must be set to it in any case. It would be unusual to index the proceedings or transactions of a society, or the contents of reviews, or other periodical publications, however valuable they might be. ”

“ The moral to be pointed out is that the catalog must be good as a first requisite to a library. In the words of the old comparison, the catalog is the key to the otherwise hidden material buried in books. In a library of any size, the best desk attendant in the world is almost helpless, or at best constantly handicapped, without a convenient and rational classification of the volumes of the collection and the bibliographical aid of a catalogue. The born bibliographer is as rare as the born teacher or poet. ”

“ The very old libraries occasionally use a slip catalogue; the Bodleian and British Museum, for example, paste slips into volumes or guard books resembling large scrap-books in approximate alphabetical order, and other libraries use similar methods. The system is a good one in many respects; the public understands and likes it; but the catalogue runs to so many large volumes that its accommodation would be a serious matter for the ordinary library; and the congestion of entries, with loss of all but approximate alphabetical order at most letters of the alphabet, will be obvious. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Sufficient information only is required to help us to find the right book and the right edition. How far this should be given will be discussed [6] in a later chapter. It is necessary for us, however, to remember that when the catalogue is printed and away from the library it becomes to some extent a bibliography, and therefore when a library contains rare or unique books it is usual, for love of the cause, to describe these fully, as if the catalogue was a bibliography. ”

“ Again, those who go to a library to read upon a given subject generally know what authors they want; and an alphabetical catalogue settles the question whether the library does or does not contain the required work of the author wanted. We believe that of those who go into a place where books are collected, whether to read, buy, borrow, (or even steal) , nineteen out of twenty know what author they want; and to them an alphabetical catalogue is all-sufficient." [3] ”

“ 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. ”

“ Cataloguing.—The catalogue of the department should aim at the maximum of fulness and be in as many forms as are necessary to bring out the entire resources of the department; there should be no retrenchment of time or labour in producing the best here, as a small collection of books adequately catalogued will give greater service than a larger one catalogued poorly. It is not an unfair paradox to say that the smaller (within reason) a reference library is the more detailed should be its catalogue. ”

“ For the purposes of the library, it is quite unnecessary to reprint or consolidate your supplements, because your library copy of the catalogue will always be kept up to date. If the library is a lending one, the subscribers will probably insist upon having new catalogues, as the supplements become too numerous; but this is only an additional instance of the advantages of a printed catalogue.
A printed catalogue should never be added to in manuscript, as this causes the greatest confusion; and, moreover, it is not necessary. It is quite possible to keep up a catalogue in print for many years ”

“ He is then expected to select and purchase the books as well as produce a printed catalogue of them within a few weeks: the conception being that a library can be selected, arranged, and listed in bulk as goods are bought, displayed, and ticketed in a shop, and in as short a time. The cataloguing, then, has perforce to be delegated to an assistant, who possibly has no training whatever. For this reason and others the catalogue of a new public library can seldom be taken as representing the knowledge or ability of the librarian as a cataloguer. ”

“ While the catalogue of such a library is passing through the press, new books are received, the titles of which it is impossible, in the ordinary manner of printing, to incorporate with the body of the work. Recourse must then be had to a supplement. In no other way can the acquisitions of the library be made known to the public. If the number of supplements be multiplied, as they have been in the library of Congress, the student may be obliged to grope his weary way through ten catalogues, instead of one, in order to ascertain whether the book which he seeks be in the library. ”

“ Those who want either to consult a book, of which they only know the subject, or to find what books on a particular subject are in the library, can obtain this information (as far as it can be collected from a title-page, which is all that can be expected in a catalogue) more easily from an index of matters to an alphabetical catalogue than by any other means. Here also nothing is left to discretion as far [193] as concerns order. Entries, being short cross-references, are in a great measure avoided ”

“ Some public libraries are used so much for scholarly or antiquarian research that their catalogues need to approximate that of a university library; others are of so popular a nature that they hardly need a catalogue at all. The needs of a certain community may require the very full analysis of certain books, whereas elsewhere these could do very well with less analysis, or possibly none at all. The selection of subject headings may have to be made with due regard to the use that a catalogue is likely to receive. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The economy to each particular library, in the expense of plates for its catalogue, will be in proportion to the number of books, which it may contain in common with any other library, whose catalogue has been already stereotyped on this plan. The title of the same book, in the same edition, will, of course, be cast but once, and will thenceforward serve for the catalogue of every library possessing that book, which may enter into the arrangement. ”

“ A catalogue is properly defined as an explanatory, logically-arranged inventory and key to the books and their contents, and differs from a bibliography in being confined to the books in a given library. For its production wide knowledge both of cataloguing rules and of general subjects is required, and experience in ordinary reference work is essential. The staff, therefore, to whom the cataloguing is entrusted should be highly trained and well educated ”

“ The open access system has destroyed the most immediate necessity for the printed catalogue—the choosing of books from a stock which readers were unable to examine—and few libraries which publish such a catalogue can hope to recoup even a substantial part of the cost from sales. One or two libraries have a selected printed catalogue, which contains the 10,000-20,000 invariable books in the library—the classics in all branches of literature [246] which readers have a right to expect to find on the shelves—and depend upon MS. catalogues for the stock as a whole. ”

“ Hence every one of the Memoirs or papers in the acts of academies; every one of the articles in scientific journals or collections, whatever they may be, should have its separate place in the catalogue. Thus, for instance, all the letters in Hanschius' Collection should be entered in their proper places under the writers' names. It is only by carrying this principle to the fullest extent that a catalogue can be called complete, and a library, more particularly of books relating to science, made as useful as it is capable of being. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For instance, it is something appalling to conjecture what would be the size of the British Museum Catalogue if subject references were included in the general alphabet. In the case of a large library it will be more convenient to have an index of subjects forming a separate alphabet by itself, and this cannot be made until the catalogue of authors is completed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This appointment was made in the days when it was the common fashion to regard the work of compiling a library catalogue as within the capacity of any intelligent person; whereas there are, in fact, many rules to be observed, and much practical experience is necessary if the p. 50thousand and one pitfalls which beset the path of the cataloguer are to be avoided. The catalogue [50a] was on much more ambitious lines than its predecessors, and the compiler claimed to “have carefully copied the title pages, retaining their abbreviations, antique spelling, inaccuracies, or other peculiarities.” ”

“ A catalogue of this library is now very much wanted. Originally constructed on a defective plan, and continued by the publication of a large number of supplements, it is now almost useless; and as the library increases, it becomes daily more so. The preparation of an alphabetical catalogue has in this way become a matter of absolute necessity for the library itself; while it affords the best opportunity for commencing an arrangement, by which the various libraries of the country will be brought into a mutually beneficial connexion with each other, on the plan proposed by Professor Jewett. ”

“ That the person who not only does not know but does not even know how to search should be primarily provided for." Therefore this idea of suiting the needs [Pg 21] of the particular public using the library must never be overlooked by the cataloguer.
Besides considering what are likely to be the needs of the majority of the readers who will use the library to be catalogued, we must decide what is the maximum amount of information that the catalogue should afford them, also which form will give the most of this information with the least trouble and delay to the inquirer. ”

“ If a library contains many magazines or journals, transactions of societies, or astronomical and other observations, it will be well to keep these distinct from the general catalogue; but if they are few, they can be included in the general alphabet. ”

“ This is an unsuitable variety for a public library, and should not be used for cataloguing purposes.
The British Museum public catalogue consists of large guard books, in which printed or manuscript slips of book entries are mounted on the tough cartridge paper leaves, so as to leave space for additions. When a page becomes congested, the slips can be lifted by means of a paper-knife, as they are secured only at the ends, another leaf can be inserted on the adjoining guard, and the old and additional slips can be redistributed over the whole of the newly created space. ”

“ A mistake in print will of course remain for ever in the copies of the catalogue outside the library, but it can easily be corrected in the library copy either in manuscript or by reprinting the single title in which the mistake occurs. The card catalogue cannot be used outside the library, and the catalogue in the library can be as easily corrected whether it be printed and pasted down on pages or arranged on cards. ”