Cataloging books
After the books are accessioned, classified, author-numbered or
book-marked, and shelf-listed, they should be cataloged. A catalog
is a labor-saving device in library work. From it both reader and
attendant can ascertain whether the library has a certain book. By
consulting the catalog for the class-number, the book may be looked
for in its proper place, thus often saving hunting through the shelves
in several classes.
A printed list or catalog of the library is one of the first things
that will be asked for by the public. It is useful especially for
those who cannot well visit the library. But it is very expensive; it
is out of date as soon as issued; it cannot often be sold; it requires
training and experience to make it properly, and the money it will
cost can be better spent otherwise. Do not issue one. Print lists of
additions in newspapers. Post them in the library. Issue an occasional
bulletin of the latest purchases if you think it will be popular. Put
your time, skill, energy, and money into the making of a full card
catalog; keep this up to date; give the public access to it; teach
them how to use it, and you will find the printed catalog not needed.
On cards prepared for the purpose [see chapter on Things needed (9)
and Library Bureau catalog], a card for each book--and a book is a
book although in several volumes--write the author's surname (if the
book is anonymous write first the title), given name or names, if
known, title, date of copyright, date of publication, call-number, and
such other data as seem desirable. The price, for example, may be put
here, and the size, indicating this by a letter. [See Cole size
card in chapter on Things needed (9) and in Library Bureau catalog.]
Arrange these cards alphabetically, by authors' names for an author
catalog. This catalog will be in constant use in the purchasing of
books, in classifying new purchases, etc. By the call-number one
can refer from any entry in it to the entry of the same book in the
shelf-list. To make possible a like reference to the accession book,
write the accession number of each book near the bottom of the card
on which it is entered. In making the catalog entries observe
certain fixed rules of alphabetization, capitalization, punctuation,
arrangement, etc., as set forth in the catalog rules which may be
adopted. Only by so doing can you secure uniformity of entry, neatness
in work, and the greatest possible meaning from every note, however
much abbreviated.
[Illustration: Author card. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm.)
973.2 Coffin, Charles Carleton, 1823-
C65 _Old_ times in the colonies.
460 p. il. O N.Y. c[1880]]
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. Add, therefore, to the author-list, in your public
catalog--not in your private or official catalog, for which
author-entries alone are sufficient--a title-list; a set of cards like
the author cards, except that on each one the book's title is entered
first instead of its author. Arrange author and title-lists in one
alphabetical series.
[Illustration: Title card. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm.)
973.2 Old times in the colonies
C65 _Coffin_, C.C.]
As the use of the library for reference work increases, the question
will often be asked, has it any books on a certain subject? Add,
therefore, to your author- and title-list a subject-list. Make this by
writing a card for each book with the subject of which it treats the
first word upon it. Arrange this also in the same alphabetical series
with the other two. In some cases the book's title and its subject
will be identical; for example, Geology, by Tompkins, or Washington's
boyhood, by Jones. For such books one card answers for title and
subject. For fiction no subject-card is necessary. On the other hand,
many books have to do with more than one subject; a volume of essays,
for example, or a group of biographical sketches. For such it is
desirable to add to the subject-list by writing as many cards for each
book as the importance of the several subjects therein and the space
the author gives to them seem to demand. Each card will have for the
first word of its entry the subject to which it refers, followed by
the author and title of the book.
Arrange these cards also alphabetically with all the others. Put on
every card in the catalog the call-number of the book to which it
refers. This author-title-subject-list, or dictionary catalog, will
tell at a glance if the library has books a) by a certain author; b)
with a given title; c) on a given subject. These are the questions
most often asked.
[Illustration: Subject card. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2
cm.)
973.2 U.S. history- colonial.
C65 Coffin, Charles Carleton 1823-
_Old_ times in the colonies.
460 p. il. O N.Y. c[1880]]
There are in print several books giving rules for cataloging. Some of
these are mentioned in the chapter on Things needed (9). In a small
library which is always to be small it is not necessary to follow all
the rules laid down in these books. It is much better, however, to
do all the work, even in a very small library, according to the most
approved methods. So to do brings you in touch with your fellows and
gives you the comfort which comes from the consciousness of work well
done, even if the amount of the work be small.
In writing the subject-headings difficulties will soon arise unless
you follow certain general rules and are careful also to be consistent
in your work. For instance, at intervals during a few months you add
to the library books on horses, cows, sheep, goats, camels, and pigs;
some dealing with one animal, some with two or more. If for the first
one you write a subject-card with the catch-word or entry-word at the
top "Domestic animals," and for the next one "Farm animals," and for
the next one "Animals, domestic," you will scatter the references to
domesticated animals all through your catalog, to the despair of those
who would use it. You can guard against this, and easily, if your
catalog is small, by looking to see what you have already written
every time you write a new subject-entry-word, and by following out a
previously devised plan in the making of your entries. The safest
way is to get a printed list of headings and catalog rules and follow
them. (See chapter on Things needed, 9.)
With a printed list of subject-headings at hand it is not difficult to
keep your catalog consistent and reasonable.
This same list of subject-headings will serve also as a guide in the
writing of the cross-reference cards for your catalog, the cards, that
is, which refer the searcher from the topic "pigs," for example, to
"swine," or from both to "domestic animals."
Of course the subject-headings' list must be systematically used, and
must be marked and annotated to fit your special needs. This work,
like classifying, can best be learned by doing.
There are many ways of keeping your catalog cards. The thing to use is
a set of trays made for the purpose. (See Library Bureau catalog.)
The cards are extremely valuable, and expense should not be spared in
providing for their safe keeping and handy use.