usages and
materials prevail. In America, the card or title-slip system is well nigh
universal, while in England it is but slowly gaining ground, as against
the ledger or blank book catalogue. Its obvious advantage lies in
affording the only possible means of maintaining a strict alphabetical
sequence in titles, whether of authors or subjects. The title-cards
should be always of uniform size, and the measure most in vogue is five
inches in length by three inches in breadth. They should not be too
stiff, though of sufficient thickness, whether of paper or of thin card
board, to stand upright without doubling at the edges. They may be ruled
or plain, at pleasure, and kept in drawers, trays, or (in case of a small
catalogue) in such paste-board boxes as letter envelopes come in.
The many advantages of the card system, both for catalogues and indexes,
should not lead us to overlook its palpable defects. These are (1) It
obliges readers to manipulate many cards, to arrive at all the works of
an author, or all the books on any subject, instead of having them under
his eye at once, as in printed catalogues. (2) It can be used only in the
library, and in only one place in the library, and by only one person at
a time in the same spot, while a printed catalogue can be freely used
anywhere, and by any numbers, copies being multiplied. (3) It entails
frequent crowding of readers around the catalogue drawers, who need to
consult the same subjects or authors at the same time. (4) It requires
immeasurably more room than a printed catalogue, and in fact, exacts
space which in some libraries can be ill afforded. (5) It obliges readers
to search the title-cards at inconvenient angles of vision, and often
with inadequate light. (6) It is cumbersome in itself, and doubly
cumbersome to searchers, who must stand up instead of sitting to consult
it, and travel from drawer to drawer, interfering with other searchers
almost constantly, or losing time in waiting. (7) To this is added the
inconvenience of constant insertion of new title-cards by members of the
library staff, and the time-consuming process of working the rods which
keep the cards in place, if they are used, and if not used, the risk of
loss of titles, or misplacement equivalent to loss for a time.
Says Mr. H. B. Wheatley: "I can scarcely imagine anything more maddening
than a frequent reference to cards in a drawer." But it is to be
considered that all systems have defects, an
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