FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   305   306   307   308   309   310   311   312   313   314   315   316   317  
318   319   320   321   322   323   324   325   326   327   328   329   330   331   332   333   334   335   336   337   338   339   340   341   342   >>   >|  
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
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   305   306   307   308   309   310   311   312   313   314   315   316   317  
318   319   320   321   322   323   324   325   326   327   328   329   330   331   332   333   334   335   336   337   338   339   340   341   342   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

catalogue

 

drawer

 
library
 

printed

 

readers

 

authors

 

subjects

 
catalogues
 

defects

 

inches


obliges

 

frequent

 

titles

 
cumbersome
 
drawers
 

system

 

searchers

 
consult
 

angles

 

afforded


libraries
 

search

 
inconvenient
 

requires

 

entails

 

crowding

 

multiplied

 

numbers

 

copies

 
exacts

immeasurably

 

vision

 

interfering

 
equivalent
 

misplacement

 
process
 
consuming
 

working

 

Wheatley

 
considered

systems

 
reference
 
maddening
 

scarcely

 

imagine

 

members

 

sitting

 
travel
 
freely
 

doubly