Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Ottawa, Canada, June 26-July 2, 1912
Science
Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Ottawa, Canada, June 26-July 2, 1912
American Library Association; Library science -- Congresses
Not only is it necessary for the cataloger to know the material which
is in the library itself, but if efficient work is to be accomplished
it is decidedly necessary that material not within the four walls
should be made available. Let all kinds of knowledge be at the
cataloger's command, and make the mechanical devices carry as much
of this burden as possible. First of all, material which is in town
but which is not contained within your own library, should be noted.
Statutes and session laws of all the states should be obtainable
though not necessarily a part of the library itself. If a state or
law library is near at hand, it is far better to rely upon them as a
source of reference than to duplicate such a collection on your own
shelves. Articles in law magazines, reports large in bulk, but issued
only occasionally, may be noted, when not placed upon the shelves. In
Wisconsin we make a distinction between material in existence within
the city and that which is in existence elsewhere, such as in the
Library of Congress, the John Crerar library, or nearby institutions.
A manila catalog card tells us that the material may be found outside
of the city, whereas by stamping the name of the library in the place
of the call number on a white card, we indicate that the material is in
town. Subject entries only are made for material of this sort.
There are many indexes already in existence which will supplement the
catalog and call to the attention of the worker available material.
One of the most valuable sources of all is found in the experts of the
neighborhood. The librarian is too prone to think that all the most
useful knowledge is in books or printed form. Some of the best help
imaginable can be obtained from men. Every community has within its
borders specialists of various types; men who have given their lifetime
to the study of some particular question. Make such individuals a
portion of the catalog; use them as sources. The telephone is at your
command and oftentimes more valuable information can be obtained from
some person within telephone call than can be gotten from hours of work
with shelf material.
Furthermore, do not limit yourself to the talented man within the
community, but use the expert wherever he may be found. Correspondence
will often bring information to your door; mount the letters; put them
with the clippings or catalog them separately; in case of urgency,
telegraph. In fact, have some of the appropriation deliberately set
aside for supplementing the catalog by telegrams.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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