LIBRARY CATALOGUING
Library Cataloguing
BY
J. HENRY QUINN
_Librarian, Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea; Library
Association Examiner in Cataloguing and
Lecturer in Librarianship, London
School of Economics (Univ.
of London.)_
LONDON:
TRUSLOVE & HANSON, LTD.
1913.
LONDON:
TRUSLOVE AND BRAY, LTD.,
PRINTERS,
WEST NORWOOD, S.E.
PREFACE.
Some years ago I prepared a _Manual of Library Cataloguing_, which met
with more acceptance than was expected, and has been out of print for
some time. Upon considering requests for a new edition, I concluded
that a book upon somewhat different lines would be more likely to meet
the present requirements of librarians and library assistants--this
volume is the result.
No pretence is made that the work is exhaustive or complete, but it is
hoped that it will serve as a practical and useful introduction to the
several codes of cataloguing rules. The statements made in it are not
meant to be dogmatic, but they indicate the lines upon which good and
accurate work is to be accomplished. As the illustrative examples were
chosen from every-day books, and are worked out as simply as possible,
they should be found useful by beginners; especially in preparing for
the examinations of the Library Association in this subject.
I am indebted to my friend Mr. Frank Pacy, City Librarian of
Westminster, for reading my proofs and suggesting many improvements,
although I am sure he would not care to accept responsibility for all
the views expressed or the mode of expressing them.
J. H. Q.
Chelsea,
London, S.W.
July, 1913.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory.
PAGE
The Difficulties of Cataloguing a Library--The Qualities Desirable
in a Cataloguer--The Necessity for Systematic Cataloguing 1
CHAPTER II.
Short History of Modern Cataloguing.
The British Museum Rules--Jewett's Rules--Crestadoro's
Catalogues--Huggins' Liverpool Catalogue--Cutter's Rules--The
Anglo-American Code--Dziatzko's _Instruction_--Dewey's
Classification--The British Museum and other Catalogues 7
CHAPTER III.
Dictionary _versus_ Classified Catalogues.
Form to be fixed--The users of Catalogues--Questions Catalogues are
expected to answer--The Dictionary Catalogue--The Classified
Catalogue--The Alphabetico-Classed Catalogue--Definitions 19
CHAPTER IV.
Single Author Principal-Entry.
Stationery--The Author-Entry--Full Names--Imprint
and Collation--Order of Information
Tabulated--Subject-Entry--Headings--Class-Entry 32
CHAPTER V.
Joint-Authors.
Joint-Authors--Collations--Synonymous
Subject-Headings--Participants in a
Correspondence--References--Man and Wife as Joint Authors 48
CHAPTER VI.
Books by more than Two Authors. Composite Books.
Books by Three Authors--Choice of
Subject-Headings--Cross-References--Books by a
Number of Authors--Ecclesiastical and other Titles
of Honour--The use of Capitals--Editors--Dates of
Publication--Title-Entries--Punctuation--"Indexing" Contents of
Composite Books--Separate Works printed together--Volumes of
Essays by Single Authors 58
CHAPTER VII.
Illustrated Books. Music.
Authors and Illustrators--Translations of Foreign Titles of
Books of Illustrations and of Music--The Cataloguing of
Music--Librettists--"Indexing" Miscellaneous Music--Dates of
Publication 80
CHAPTER VIII.
Publications of Governments, Societies, and Corporate Bodies.
Co-operative Indexes--Publications of Societies--Publishing
Societies--Government Publications--Statutes--Colonial
and Foreign Government Publications--Local Government
Publications--Associations and Institutions--Congresses 95
CHAPTER IX.
Compound Names. Names with Prefixes. Greek and Roman Names.
Rendering of the Names of Foreign Authors--Compound Names--Changed
Names--Foreign Compound Names--Names with Prefixes--Short
Entries--Title-Entries--Foreign Names with Prefixes--Greek and
Latin Authors 110
CHAPTER X.
First Name Entry.
Monarchs--Queens--Order of Arrangement--Princes--Popes--Series
Entries--Saints--Friars--Mediæval Names--Artists, &c. 132
CHAPTER XI.
Noblemen. Oriental Names.
Noblemen--Title _v._ Family Name--Double Subject-Entry--Oriental
Names--Indian Names--Japanese and Chinese Names--Hebrew
Names--Maori Names 148
CHAPTER XII.
Pseudonyms. Married Women.
Pseudonyms _v._ Real Names--The Better-known Name--Methods
of Marking Pseudonyms--Writers who use Two
Names--Phrase-Pseudonyms--Specific Entry--Repetition
Dashes--Use of Capitals for Emphasis--Women's Names Changed
by Marriage--Anonymous Books--The Discovery of Authors of
Anonymous Books--"By the Author of ----"--Names consisting of
Initials only 161
CHAPTER XIII.
The Bible and other Sacred Books. Newspapers, &c.
"Anonyma" continued--The Bible and other Sacred Books--Commentaries
and Concordances--Newspapers and Periodicals--Directories and
Annuals 185
CHAPTER XIV.
Miscellaneous.
Title-Entries--Classics--Specific Subject--Concentration of
Subject--Definite Headings--Popular Terms--Historical
Fiction--Novels in Series--Sequels--Fiction Known by Special
Titles--Books with Changed Titles--Annotations--Form
Entries--Summary Hints 199
CHAPTER XV.
The Printing of Catalogues.
The Preparation of "Copy"--Markings for Type--Styles of Printing in
Various Catalogues--Table of Types--Tenders for Printing--Model
Specification--Reading and Correction of Proofs--Type "Kept
Standing" 217
APPENDIX A.--The Correction of Printer's Proof 236
" B.--A List of Contractions 239
" C.--A List of Pseudonyms with the Real Names 242
INDEX 250
Library Cataloguing.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory.
The difficulties of Cataloguing a Library. The qualities
desirable in a Cataloguer. The necessity for Systematic
Cataloguing.
Among the varied duties of a librarian that of cataloguing his books
is generally supposed by the uninitiated to be one of the easiest. The
popular idea is that books are sent to libraries--public libraries
at any rate--by grateful publishers, when all the librarian has to
do is "to catalogue them," put them up in rows on shelves, and hand
them out to the first person who asks for them. The cataloguing of a
library is ranked with that of any other inventory, and a catalogue
popularly regarded as a mere list, calling for no particular knowledge,
effort, or care in its production. The late Prof. John Fiske opens an
interesting essay on "A Librarian's Work" in his _Darwinism and other
Essays_ (Macmillan, 1879) in these words, which are equally applicable
to any library of any pretension:--
I am very frequently asked what in the world a librarian can
find to do with his time, or am perhaps congratulated on my
connection with Harvard College Library, on the ground that
"being virtually a sinecure office (!) it must leave so much
leisure for private study and work of a literary sort." Those
who put such questions, or offer such congratulations, are
naturally astonished when told that the library affords enough
work to employ all my own time, as well as that of twenty
assistants; and astonishment is apt to rise to bewilderment
when it is added that seventeen of these assistants are
occupied chiefly with "cataloguing;" for, generally, I find,
a library catalogue is assumed to be a thing that is somehow
"made" at a single stroke, as Aladdin's palace was built,
at intervals of ten or a dozen years, or whenever a "new
catalogue" is thought to be needed. "How often do you make a
catalogue?" or "When will your catalogue be completed?" are
questions revealing such transcendent misapprehension of the
case that little but further mystification can be got from the
mere answer, "We are _always_ making a catalogue, and it will
_never_ be finished."
Prof. Fiske then proceeds to describe the difficulties of cataloguing
a library: "just cataloguing a book" not being by any means so
simple a task; and he goes on to demonstrate that the work requires
"considerable judgment and discrimination" besides "a great deal of
slow, plodding research." Perhaps there is no literary labour of the
kind, mere "hewing of wood and drawing of water" though it be, that
so quickly takes the conceit out of those essaying it, they finding
it both "arduous and perplexing." "The peculiarities of titles are,
like the idiosyncrasies of authors, innumerable. Books are in all
languages and treat of subjects as multitudinous as the topics of
human thought." A good cataloguer should be learned in the history
of all literary, scientific, religious, philosophical, economic, and
political movements of all ages and all countries, and especially must
he be abreast of the times in a knowledge of men and things, literary,
scientific, and otherwise. He needs be something of a linguist, should
be exact, orderly, methodical, with fixed ideas and yet an open mind,
painstaking, and persevering. Even with the exercise of all these
attainments and qualities, his work will not be found to be beyond
criticism. No pretence is made to assert that cataloguers as a body
do conform to this ideal; if they did it is probable they would find
more profitable employment. The next best thing to possessing these
qualifications, however, is to have as many as can be attained, and
make up for the rest by knowing where to find information as needed. If
the cataloguer be not "a walking encyclopædia" in himself, he at least
should know how to utilise the printed ones, and all other literature
at his command.
There are many kinds of library catalogues ranging from the mere lists
made by private persons of their own books to the great "Catalogue of
Printed Books in the British Museum," which is so extensive by reason
of the number of books contained in it, that its entries are virtually
limited to a single item for each book. Whether small or great, the
principles governing their compilation are much the same, the following
chapters being principally intended as a guide to the cataloguing of a
public library of average size.
No matter how good a library may be, its collections are practically
lost and useless without an adequate, properly-compiled catalogue. As
Carlyle puts it "A big collection of books without a good catalogue is
a Polyphemus with _no_ eye in his head." Even an indifferent library
can be made to render comparatively good service with a good catalogue.
In order to compile such a catalogue it is essential that certain
particulars be given descriptive of the books, and in so systematic
a way that, while the entries will afford all reasonable information
to the person well-versed in books, they shall, at the same time, be
so clear and simple in character as to be understood without much
effort by anyone of average intelligence. These particulars should be
comprehensive enough to afford some general idea of the nature and
scope of the book described without actually examining it, though in
this respect much depends upon the character and resources of the
library. The full descriptions usual in special bibliographies meant
for experts are not to be expected or required in the catalogue of a
popular general library.
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. On the other hand, "infinite riches in a little room"
would often be an appropriate motto for some insignificant-looking
catalogue. Sometimes it happens that quite a small library has a large
catalogue. This does not always arise from a desire to make the most
of the library, but may, likely enough, be owing to the fact that the
compilation was undertaken by some over-zealous committeeman or other
amateur, who, being "fond of books," considered this a sufficient
qualification for cataloguing them without knowing that it is far
easier to over-catalogue a library than to do the work judiciously--the
result being both wasteful and disastrous. The first catalogues of the
smaller public libraries are sometimes of this character, not always
for the reason just stated; probably owing to the desire to save the
salary of the librarian by postponing his appointment to the last
moment. 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.
With the spread and rise in the standard of education, more exact and
better work is now demanded in libraries than was the case during
the early years after the passing of the first Public Libraries
Act. The slipshod, unsystematic cataloguing at one time in vogue is
not acceptable now, and the public demands something more than bald
lists compiled upon no principle in particular, which are often more
bewildering than helpful to an inquiring reader. The student and that
interesting person "the general reader" have a better understanding
than formerly of the uses and peculiarities of books, and look for
precise information concerning them. No better evidence of the general
interest taken in books is needed than that afforded by the large place
occupied by the reviewing of literature of all kinds in the daily
press and popular journals, even in minor periodicals. There must be
a public for such reviews, otherwise editors would not provide them;
and, no doubt, the spread of libraries has something to do with it. The
old dictum that it was not the business of a cataloguer to go behind,
or add to, the information deemed sufficient by an author for the
title-page of his book does not now find acceptance.
Those who are possessed of even a little experience will know that it
is impossible to compile a library catalogue in a haphazard fashion,
and that clear and definite rules for guidance must be laid down before
any part of the work is attempted, otherwise confusion and want of
proportion will result, to say nothing of the likelihood of the loss
of work already done. Happily for a number of years now the rules
governing the proper compilation of catalogues have been codified, and
the following chapters, while based upon no particular code, are meant
to serve as a practical introduction to the best-known of them with
some little modifications that have been found to be convenient in
practice.