For articles see Cannons, E 111, Registration of Borrowers.
CHAPTER XXV
ISSUE METHODS
376.
376. In modern library practice, methods of book-registration involving the use of ledgers or day-books have now been entirely abandoned, save in a few proprietary and subscription libraries. It will, therefore, be needless to describe charging systems so generally discarded, and it will suffice if reference is made to the first edition of this work, in which many forms were illustrated and explained.
377.
377. The great objection to all charging ledgers in book form was their want of movability and adjustability. The entries when once made were fixed, either in a running sequence under a date of issue, a borrower’s name, or a book’s title. If, for any purpose, it should be desirable to manipulate the entries, in order to secure greater accuracy, or some definite record of a special kind, the book ledgers did not lend themselves to this sort of treatment. There was no kind of movability possible, and questions which might be answered readily enough if entries were movable and separate, could not be put to any issue record in volume form. Chiefly because of this, the slip or card methods of charging were introduced, which enable registration to be conducted in a variety of ways for different purposes. It is impossible to say when or where cards were first introduced, but as they have been used for commercial purposes for years before the public library system was established, it follows that many minds must have discovered the utility and convenience of movable entries. There are many varieties of card or slip charging in existence, and innumerable methods of working or applying them. Movable entry systems are in every respect the most interesting, not only because they present greater possibilities to the ingenious mind, but because they are more scientific and more natural.
378.
378. There have been numerous systems devised for recording issues of books from public libraries, but in none have so many variations been introduced as in the great group using cards as a basis. There is hardly any limit to be put to the variety of ways in which cards can be used; and, without describing every system in detail, it will nevertheless be interesting to select and describe typical plans from among the more practical varieties, as representative of each particular group. The fundamental idea of all card systems of charging is that each book or volume shall be represented by a movable card, which can be stored in various ways when the book is on the shelf, and used to register or charge the book, when issued, to its borrower.