Miss Van Valkenburgh: I am especially interested in this, because we tried such a card in our library. We thought an information card was going to be a desirable thing. We tried it for about two years, and we found it was very little used indeed for biographical purposes. People wanted more information than we could give on a biographical card. Of course it is very desirable to differentiate authors of the same name.
Miss Ambrose: Have those cards a distinct purpose, as of assisting the catalogers aside from the public?
Miss Van Valkenburgh: From the standpoint of a cataloger who has done it, we didn't find it useful to us. It was more work than help.
Mr. Brett: Wouldn't it be more valuable to the small library than to the larger library? A great many of the smaller libraries haven't time to look up authors. It seems to me it would be of value in our library.
Mr. Andrews: I think those cards would be of use not only to small libraries, but to readers in larger libraries. I do not say, though, that I think it was the purpose to print a card for every author. If the heading used on the Library of Congress card gave all the information desirable, I don't see any use of printing it again. I hope the proposition will be put in three forms: Those who want such a card for every author; those who only want a distinctive card in cases where distinction is desired; and those who do not care for such a card at all.
Chairman: As many as favor such a card for general use, please rise. 16 persons rose.
Chairman: As many as favor such a card for distinctive purposes only, please rise.
Miss Van Valkenburgh: If we are going to have the same material on the other cards we won't need it here.
One person rose.
Chairman: As many as do not care for such a card at all, please rise. None voted.