The drawer method of filing slides costs less than the cabinet with sliding file leaves, and also takes up less space. It has been found in the experience of libraries handling large numbers of lantern slides which are used freely that they are not as fragile as they appear to be; they do not break easily and can be fingered as rapidly as a card index file in a similar drawer. A piece of white paper can be easily slipped behind the slides in the drawers to bring out their details when they are being consulted.
Lantern slide cabinet made by Multiplex Display Fixture Co.
Lantern slides may be classified and card indexed for business purposes in the same way that photographs are and care should be taken to have the file number and title of the slide plainly lettered along the top edge of the face of the slide.
Collections of lantern slides for art and architectural purposes require more elaborate classification and cataloging but such requirements do not come within the scope of this treatise.
In some business libraries where the slides are loaned out of the city it may be advisable to index them on a 4 by 6 inch catalog card, instead of the standard 3 by 5 inch card, in order to allow room to paste on it a photograph of the lantern slide which will show its detail when the slide itself is not immediately available.
Cuts
Half-tone, zinc and electrotype cuts may be classified in the same way that photographs are but filed in flat drawers. A reduced photograph of the cut may be pasted on the index card similar to the plan noted above for lantern slides.
Maps
Business firms having large collections of maps which need to be specially filed and recorded will find helpful suggestions in a small pamphlet entitled "Making Maps Available," by Beatrice Winser, published by the American Library Association, 78 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois, price five cents.