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* CATALOGUING. 321 CATALOGUING. contains a million or more different items, any of which may be wanted quickly by some reader, and much of the value of tlie collection depends on good catalogues, without which the material i-; of little more practical value than so much "pi' in a printing-office. The seeker for some spcx'ific book may ask for such a work by such an author,, or for a work of wb.ich only the subject is knovn, while not infrequently a reader has in mind some book which he has seen but of which he can give accurately neither author, title, nor subject, remembering merely some accident of form, lan- guage, size, binding, date, illustrations, or the literary form in which the subject is treated. While some libiarics make many special cata- logues and lists to enable them to answer un- usual questions, only two catalogues are essential to meet all reasonable demands, that by authors and that by subjects. Most other questions can, by double reference, be answered by bibliogra- phies, digests, and indexes, by finding in what book the desired matter is printed and then con- sulting the catalogue to see if it contains that book. See Bibuogbaphy ; Digest; Index. The title of every book in a library has three essential parts: (1) author; (2) title proper (as copied from the title-page or condensed for brief work by the omission of unimportant mat- ter but never by rewording) ; (3) imprint and collation, or place, publisher, date, volumes, pages, illustrations, price, or other bibliographic details. The addition of notes, including contents, stand- point of author, form of treatment or other facts, in the most condensed form, is a modem improve- ment, gaining ground with great rapidity, as it is proved that nothing is a greater aid in getting into a reader's hands the work that is most valu- able to him. These unit titles may be in manu- script or printed and may be either in book form or on separate cards or slips standing on edge in drawers or trays. If written by hand, the up- right 'library hand' is important for highest legibility and uniformity. Titles can be type- written with recent improvements more quickly and cheaply, and the greatly increased legibility and uniformity insure that hereafter most titles not regularly printed will be machine-written. In recent years there has been rapid increase in the number of libraries that print titles. CoopEH.TivE CATALocfES. Since 1876 the American Library Association has conducted nu- merous experiments seeking the great practical economy to be had from cataloguing a book in some central bureau, printing cards, and distrib- uting them to all libraries buying that book, thus securing the highest grade of catalogue work and reducing cost in the department where it is most felt. The National Library in 1901 took up the systematic preparation anU printing of cards which are distributed at two cents each. Through this agency catalogues will be immense- ly improved without increased cost. The great expense of satisfactory cataloguing is the item oftenest criticised, because least understood. The public now properly demands not only convenient guides to the best books, but also analyses of their contents. If what a reader needs is found in an article or chapter, it is just as important that he should be guide'd to it as to an entire bonk. The pviblishing board of the American Library Association, endowed by Andrew Car- negie, is constantly preparing practical aids to readers for the common use of libraries, utilizing ilie experience of all libraries and focalizing and I>uljishing the results for the benefit of all. (Jeorge lies of Xew York has borne the cost of much of this work and made j)ossible several of the most valuable guides to readers ever i)rint- ed. The most helpful book is the A. L. A. Cata- log, a classified and indexed list of the 5000 volumes most valuable for an average town li- brary. This was prepared in the New York State Library, published by the United States Bureau of Education in 1803 for the Columbian Exposi- tion, and while lacking the most important ele- ments, the notes, has been of great service. A new edition has been undertaken for the Saint Louis Exposition with the director of the Xew York State Library as editor, in cooperation with the leading libraries of the country. The list gives not only the selection which represents the experience of prominent experts in books through- out the country, but notes are added to show in the fewest words the scope, character, and value of each book, so that a reader can readily tell ^^■hethe^ it is what he wants. The book is to be published by the Government, and many libraries will use it as a catalogue, marking copies to show what is on their own shelves. Catalogue Rxiles. Eigid adherence to a def- inite code of elaborate rules is necessary to se- cure satisfactory results. Repeated efforts by eminent scholars to get on without what they thought needlessly formidable codes of rules have uniformly resulted in failure. The three most important English codes are those of the British lluseum, the Bodleian, and the Library Associa- tion of the United Kingdom. These are printed together by the Xew Y'ork State Library School as Bulletin No. 13. For instruction in the Li- brary School all these rules have been carefully digested, revised and edited, with additions for accession and shelf work, and printed in a single volume as Library School Rules (Boston. 1894). Cutter's Rules for a Dictionary Catalociue (Wash- ington, 1891) is the recognized authority and in- dispensable guide for that form of catalogue. With it should be used the American Library Association list of subject headings for use in dictionary catalogues, with hints on subject cata- loguing and schemes for subheads uncler coun- tries and other subjects (Boston, 1898). Shelf Lists. As practically all libraries are adopting closer classification on the shelves, the shelf list, which is an inventory of the books as they stand on the shelves, becomes very useful as an official subject catalogue. This list gives the class, book, and accessitm number, with very brief author and title. It is used for taking the annual inventory, and is the most convenient short-entry classed catalogue. It is usually writ- ten on loose sheets laced into a binder so that sheets can be inserted or recopied as necessary. Book versus Card Catalogies. While ordi- nary readers prefer the book form, cards are rap- idly superseding book catalogues. All libraries increase rajjidly, and a new title cannot be in- serted in the book catalogue, while titles may be added at any moment to the card catalogue, thus keeping it absolutely up to date. A book cata- logue of a growing library is nut of date before it can be bound and delivered, and most large libraries are adopting the card form, because it avoids entirely the necessity of rewriting as sub- jects grow.