Papers and Proceedings of the Twenty-Third General Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Waukesha, Wisconsin, July 4-10, 1901
Science
Papers and Proceedings of the Twenty-Third General Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Waukesha, Wisconsin, July 4-10, 1901
American Library Association; Library science -- Congresses
It may not be feasible. But if such a scheme can be operated at all it
may perhaps be operated most effectively through the library which for
its own uses is cataloging and printing a card for every book currently
copyrighted in the United States, and for a larger number of others than
any other single institution. Such must be confessed of the Library of
Congress. It is printing a card for every book currently copyrighted,
for every other book currently added--for every book reached in
re-classification--and thus in the end for every book in its collection.
It is now printing, at the rate of over 200 titles a day--60,000 titles
a year. The entry is an author entry, in form and type accepted by the
committee on cataloging of the A. L. A. The cards are of the standard
size--3 × 5 inches--of the best linen ledger stock. From 15 to 100
copies of each are now printed. It would be uncandid to say that such a
number is necessary for the use of the library itself, or of the
combined libraries at Washington. The usefulness of copies of them to
any other library for incorporation in its catalogs must depend upon
local conditions: the style, form, and size of its own cards, the number
of books which it adds yearly, the proportion of these which are
current, and other related matters. On these points we have sought
statistics from 254 libraries. We have them from 202. With them we have
samples of the cards in use by each, with a complete author entry.
Having them we are in a position really to estimate the chances. I will
not enter into details. Summarily, it appears that our cards might
effect a great saving to certain libraries and some saving to others,
and would entail a mere expense without benefit to the remainder--all of
which is as might have been guessed.
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