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How to Catalogue a Library
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This is an OCR edition with typos.
Excerpt from book:
recommended an inventorial catalogue of unabridged titles arranged in no order, but numbered, and an alphabetical index to the numbers of this inventory. The index thus formed was somewhat similar to the Dictionary Catalogue (United States Special Report, p. 535). Mr. Brad- shaw held very strongly the view that an alphabetical catalogue was an index, and that a full shelf catalogue was the real catalogue; and few things he enjoyed more than to read through a list of the books as they stood on the shelves.1 In a letter to me, dated September gth, 1879, he wrote: " It is a cardinal point with me that an alphabetical catalogue of a library is really an index, or should be so, to any other kind of catalogue you choose to make; while if you once lose sight of this fact you are quite sure to cumber the catalogue up with bibliographical details which are entirely out of place." 1 I remember very vividly a pleasant day spent in the Pepysian Library with Mr. Brad- shaw, under the kindly guardianship of Professor Newton. Mr. Bradshaw was specially delighted with Pepys's own MS. catalogues. Scientific cataloguing is of modern invention, and to the British Museum it is that we owe the origination of a code of rulesrules which form the groundwork of all modern cataloguing. Good catalogues were made before rules were enunciated, but this is accounted for by the fact that bibliographers, like poets, are more often born than made. Carefulness must be one of the chief characteristics of the cataloguer, for he will frequently find himself beset with difficulties. Mr. W. F. Poole, the author of that most useful work the Index to Periodical Literature, states this very forcibly when he writes : "The inexperienced librarian will find the cataloguing of his books the most difficult pa...
This is an OCR edition with typos.
Excerpt from book:
recommended an inventorial catalogue of unabridged titles arranged in no order, but numbered, and an alphabetical index to the numbers of this inventory. The index thus formed was somewhat similar to the Dictionary Catalogue (United States Special Report, p. 535). Mr. Brad- shaw held very strongly the view that an alphabetical catalogue was an index, and that a full shelf catalogue was the real catalogue; and few things he enjoyed more than to read through a list of the books as they stood on the shelves.1 In a letter to me, dated September gth, 1879, he wrote: " It is a cardinal point with me that an alphabetical catalogue of a library is really an index, or should be so, to any other kind of catalogue you choose to make; while if you once lose sight of this fact you are quite sure to cumber the catalogue up with bibliographical details which are entirely out of place." 1 I remember very vividly a pleasant day spent in the Pepysian Library with Mr. Brad- shaw, under the kindly guardianship of Professor Newton. Mr. Bradshaw was specially delighted with Pepys's own MS. catalogues. Scientific cataloguing is of modern invention, and to the British Museum it is that we owe the origination of a code of rulesrules which form the groundwork of all modern cataloguing. Good catalogues were made before rules were enunciated, but this is accounted for by the fact that bibliographers, like poets, are more often born than made. Carefulness must be one of the chief characteristics of the cataloguer, for he will frequently find himself beset with difficulties. Mr. W. F. Poole, the author of that most useful work the Index to Periodical Literature, states this very forcibly when he writes : "The inexperienced librarian will find the cataloguing of his books the most difficult pa...
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First published August 20, 2008
About the author
Henry B. Wheatley
366 books2 followersHenry Benjamin Wheatley (1838–1917) was a British author and editor.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 6, 2014
Fun to look back on a what is, for the most part, a defunct system. Some great quotes that can be used for fun.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41813
May 17, 2020
Interesting look into the state of cataloguing before the internet, contemporary with Melvil Dewey (not mentioned within). A lot to agree with here, and quite intriguing in a historical sense. At the rear lies some good reference materials: a list of rules for small library catalogues, and a list of Latin place names. Lots to use in my work as a catalogue-writer at the bookshop.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews