[Harvard University library did not answer each question in detail, as it keeps no accession record in the usual sense. A record is kept each day of the number of volumes and pamphlets received by gift and by purchase, from which statistics are made up at the end of the year. A file of continuation cards for annual reports and similar continued publications and a record of gifts from individuals are useful supplements to the daily record. Bills for books are filed alphabetically under dealer's name each year, and order slips, giving agent, date of order and date of receipt, are preserved.]
(1) When do you accession, before or after cataloging? Before cataloging—14.
(2) Are all books that are cataloged accessioned? Affirmative, 24 (exception, 11).
(3) What method of keeping your accession record do you use?
All use accession book except Los Angeles and Forbes Library, which use bill method, and Washington, D. C., which uses order cards as accession record.
East Orange does not believe accession book essential.
Pittsburgh, which accessions only adult books, is inclined to believe book unnecessary. Their method of treating juveniles is especially interesting.
Seattle notes that their book has fewer items than the A. L. A., and says the use of order cards as accession record is an excellent method.
(4) Which of the following items do you enter in your accession record?
The number following the item indicates the number of libraries reporting its use:—Author, 19; title, 18; publisher, 17; place of publication, 13; date of publication, 18; size, 10; edition, 13; number of volumes, 23; binding, 11; publisher's price, 8; cost, 18; source, 20; date of bill, 10; date of entry, 14.