Alphabetic-subject File
All material put into vertical files need not be filed necessarily by a numerical subject classification such as the Dewey Decimal Classification; on the contrary a number of business libraries, which use the Decimal Classification for material put on the shelves, have organized most successful vertical files of miscellaneous material, clippings, pamphlets, etc., by the alphabetic-subject method. This simply means that the material is assigned, instead of a subject number, a specific subject name similar to that put on a subject catalog card and is filed alphabetically under that subject name written out in full upon the folder, to which may be prefixed a Cutter number assigned from the subject name of the material. The Cutter number, primarily designed to alphabet authors, is the first letter of a word combined with certain figures, designed to keep words in alphabetic order by their initial letter and the figures following it. The Cutter three figure alphabetic-order table, price $2.70, or the Cutter-Sanborn alphabetic-order table, price $3.00, both for sale by the Library Bureau, are equally good for use in the alphabetic-subject file. The Cutter two figure table may be used for a small collection of material. No business firm should attempt to install an alphabetical-subject file unless the work is done under the direction of a trained librarian who has had thorough training in cataloging and in the assigning of subject headings. The best information in print on the details of alphabetical-subject filing for business libraries is to be found in a pamphlet entitled "Pamphlets and Clippings in the Business Library" by Virginia Fairfax, published by the Journal of Electricity, San Francisco.
The advantage in using a Cutter number is, that it makes a convenient brief notation to use on the material to be filed and on the catalog card to show where the material is placed in the file. For temporary files of ephemeral material both the Cutter number and the card cataloging may be omitted. The alphabetic-subject file obviates the difficulties which arise when the business library finds it has material on subjects for which the Dewey Decimal Classification has not adequately provided.
Printed information on corporations collected by banking houses is most satisfactorily filed alphabetically under the name of each corporation with sub-divisions (i. e., mortgages, reports, etc.) under each corporation name where necessary.