282. Sheaf Catalogues.—The sheaf catalogue is not so widely used as the card system in Britain, but, as we have shown, it has exactly the same advantages as regards the power of expansion and intercalation. It aims at combining the advantages of both book and card catalogues, by dividing the catalogue into handy sections so that the maximum number of readers can consult it at one time; providing means for continuous expansion in alphabetical order; safeguarding the contents of sections; reducing the amount of storage space occupied; and enabling users to handle and turn over the catalogue like the leaves of an ordinary book. The introduction of ordinary paper slips, which can be used in any typewriter, which can be easily stored in various forms of binders in book form, and which can be added to in manuscript without undoing the holder, is a real economy in library administration which has not received the attention it deserves. While 1000 entries in a card catalogue will occupy from 750 to 840 cubic inches of space, the sheaf-holders most in use will not take up more than fifty-six cubic inches of space for the same number of entries. The writing surfaces are also much larger.
Fig. 102.—Leyden Slip Holder ([Section 283]).
283.
283. The slip catalogue known as the Leyden, from its first use in the University Library of Leyden, in Holland, in 1871, consists of bundles of slips, notched as shown in the illustration ([Fig. 102]), and secured by means of cord or catgut. The outer boards are hinged, and notched to correspond with the slips, and the cord is tied firmly round the volume and into the slots, so as to bind the whole. These Leyden holders are only adapted for private or staff use, and must be kept in very thin sections, as the volumes get more loose and insecure the thicker they are made. As a means of holding any kind of temporary slip, this is, however, a useful device.
Fig. 103.—Volume of Staderini Sheaf Catalogue ([Section 284]).
284.
284. A much more mechanically perfect slip catalogue-holder is the screw-binder invented by Mr A. Staderini, of Rome. It comprises a fixed back and boards, to which two iron screw-bolts are attached. On these the slips, which are perforated to correspond with the bolts, are threaded, and the books are secured by means of brass screw-caps which fasten the boards to the bolts, and so make the volume rigid and the slips secure. These volumes are numbered and kept in pigeon-holes, which bear the volume numbers and letters denoting the section of the alphabet contained in each sheaf ([Figs. 103]-[104]).