Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue / U. S. Bureau of Education Special Report on Public Libraries—Part II, Third Edition

by Charles A. Cutter

Prefix ob. if width is more than height.

For all books over 35^cm high the superior figures show in which 10^cm of height the book falls, e. g., F⁸ is between 70 and 80^cm high.

Actual size method.

Give all sizes in cm (for greater accuracy adding decimals), leaving the old symbols and names, 8º and Octavo to indicate fold only. Give height first, followed by h, or by × and width, e. g., 23^h or 23 × 14. 23^h means between 22 and 23, i. e., in 23^d cm. All measures are taken outside the cover. Width is from hinge to edge not including the round. To measure paper or letter-press, prefix p(aper) or t(ype) to figures, including in type neither folio nor signature lines.

APPENDIX VI.

So far we have been considering only the catalogue by which the library communicates with the public; but a librarian needs several others for library service: (1) The Catalogue of books ordered; (2) The Accessions catalogue; (3) The Periodical-and continuation-book; (4) The Shelf-list; (5) The Catalogue of books missing; (6) The Tract-catalogue; (7) The Catalogue of duplicates to be sold; (8) The Catalogue of duplicates sold or exchanged.

(2) and (8) are necessary for the preservation of the history of the library and important in its financial management.

(6) is a modification of (5). It is a list of the tracts contained in bound volumes, by which the abstraction of any particular tract can be ascertained, or the extent of the loss if the whole volume disappears. All this might be entered on the shelf-list, but it is more convenient to keep the record of the tract-volumes together. Sometimes part of a tract-list is inserted in the public catalogue. You may see collections of pamphlets on various subjects by various authors recorded under a made-up heading Tracts, or Pamphlets, a style of entry that is nearly useless. The whole of the Prince catalogue of 1846 was made in this absurd way. A number of tracts by a single author may indeed for economy be catalogued under him in one mass like a “contents,” and the same may be {127} done for tracts on a single subject, though there are objections even to this; but to catalogue the writings of several authors under an arbitrary heading (as Plays, Speeches, French Revolution), to which references merely are made under the authors, is to be economical at altogether too great an expense of trouble to the public,—to say nothing of the incongruity of a form or subject heading for an author-entry.

(4), the shelf-list, ought to be so made (a) that the entry of each book in the catalogue can be readily found from it; (b) that the book can be readily identified with the entry on the shelf-list; (c) that at the annual examination or taking account of stock the shelf-reader shall know at once what book is meant as each title is read by the list-reader. For these reasons the list should contain the author’s name (or first word, etc., if the book is anonymous), part of the real title, the binder’s title (which will generally be the same as the real), and the place and date of printing. If the author’s name, or any part of the title, is not on the back of the book it should be inclosed in parentheses.

Ex.