Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/63

 Mechanical Methods of Displaying Catalogues and Indexes. 51 will find it equally accessible. In fact, a stool is almost a neces- sity, for the tall man to sit on, and the short one to stand on. One person using a cabinet of similar dimensions monopolises from 6,000 to 8,000 entries, as it is impossible for two readers to consult it at the same time. Hence ten six-drawer cabinets pro- vided at immense comparative cost will only serve ten readers simultaneously, if it so happens that each one desires to see a different tier of the cabinet ; but this seldom occurs, it being much oftener the case that all ten want drawers in two or three of the cabinets. In addition to these objections may be men- tioned the large amount of space they occupy, and the difficulty of obtaining a good light on the lower drawers. For these, and other reasons, the cabinet catalogue may almost be considered a thing of the past, save in libraries where huge expenditures have already be.en made in maintaining this cumbersome form of appliance. In America, which may be regarded as the land where the card cabinet has been "boomed" into almost universal use, there is a rapidly-growing feeling of antagonism to the cabinet ; and during my recent wanderings in that wonderful country, I met quite a number of librarians who expressed themselves favourable to movable trays or drawers of cards. In the progressive State Library at Albany I found movable trays stored in pigeon-holes in actual use, and at Chicago, I noticed various sorts of trays or boxes which were intended to be removed by readers to tables or benches for consultation. Of this kind of movable tray there are a number of varieties, the oldest being probably of French origin. But I will first draw your attention to a recent English tray made by Mr. T. B. Vernon, inventor of a letter-filing method. I have here a specimen which will speak for itself, but I may add that this style of tray is what our American cousins are now adopting in preference to cabinets. The great advantage possessed by the movable tray is that it will serve a very large number of readers at one time. There are numerous plans for securing the rods and blocks, but none of them are easily described, and I have been dis- appointed in getting as many models as I expected. In 1871, Mr. H. W. D. Dunlop, assistant librarian of the Royal Dublin Society, patented a tray system for the display of card catalogues, which in my opinion beats everything of the kind for eccentricity and perverted ingenuity. 5 I shall not attempt to describe it, but 5 Patent Specification, No. 945, 1871.