However this may be, there is no difficulty in attaining the happy medium whereby the ignorant (speaking, of course, comparatively) finds his wants met as readily as the most learned, and with simplicity and thoroughness. It has been put in other words thus: "The right doctrine for a public library catalogue is that it should be made not from the scientific cataloguer's point of view, with a minimum of indulgence for ignoramuses, but from the ignoramus's point of view with a minimum, of indulgence for the scientific cataloguer. That the person who not only does not know but does not even know how to search should be primarily provided for." Therefore this idea of suiting the needs of the particular public using the library must never be overlooked by the cataloguer.
Besides considering what are likely to be the needs of the majority of the readers who will use the library to be catalogued, we must decide what is the maximum amount of information that the catalogue should afford them, also which form will give the most of this information with the least trouble and delay to the inquirer.
What are the questions likely to be asked that a catalogue can be reasonably expected to answer? These do not exceed a dozen, and are as follows:—
1.—Have you a particular book by a given author?
2.—What books have you by a given author?
3.—What books in the library has a particular person edited, translated, or illustrated?
4.—What books have you upon a specific subject? say roses.
5.—What books are there relating to a general subject? say all kinds of flowers.
6.—What books have you in a particular class of literature? say biography or theology.
7.—What books have you in a particular language?