The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-04-19
ART OF (jA7ALOGUING.
A Branch of Library Man
agement Which Is Hand
led by Experts Only.
KNOWLEDGE UNDER TEN HEADS.
1t Looks Simple and Easy, But il is
Very ComDlex-shelf
Listing.


Every effort is being put forward BY the
Trustees, the Librarian and the assist
ant Librarians of the Free Public Liz
brary TO throw open the library doors TO
the general public by May l.
To one unacquainted with the process
of classification and cataloguIng the
books of such large library. the amount
OF care bestowed upon each one Of thou
sands OF volumes is matter of great sur
prise. The new library will be opened
with twelve thousand volumes on the
shelves.
Miss E. G. Burdick, graduate of the
Library School at Albany, New York,
under the direction of Prof. MelviI
Dewey, and who has had extensive exper-
fence In such work in various libraries In
New York ana Massachusetts,, is in
charge of the cataloguing department.
To SUNDAY MORNING NEWS reporter
Miss Burdick was kind enough recently
| to explain the system of cataloguing-
While strictly requisite, the reporter
found the system SO complex that it was
with much difficulty that be could follow
| it, even with such lucid and clear explana-
tions as those given by Miss Burdick
You see," said the pleasant little lady
with Intelligent gray eyes, who dresses In
| plain black, and is thoroughly familiar
\ with all the departments of literature. lit
| Is difficult for one to comprehend the adj
yantages Of such classification unless the
| system is thoroughly understood. 1t Is
very complex, and / fear would tire you
| in giving you satisfactory explanation.
| Yet it is easily learned. You would be sur
| rrised TO learn how quickly these young
ladies," pointing to some half dozen in
telligent and pretty assistants at work
| among the piles OF books, mastered 1t
entirely. They are a bright lot Of assist
ants, and have helped me wonderfully.
ut is not necessary that the public
should understand the system, but while
| in many ways 1t will help subscribers in
/ the selection Of books. Il is absolutely
necessary In properly running a library.
A COMPLEX SYSTEM
Now, to give you an idea of its coHn-
| plexity, we'll take this book, for In
| stance, " resumed Miss Burdick, selecting
ssThe Boys, King Arthur" by Sir
| Thomas Mallory. from promiscuous
/ pile of books Oh table wen follow it
| through the process. Come this way into
| the Order and Accession Department..
| Now, here Is book, y picking up large
| blank, (which we call the Accession
| book. This records the name OF the
author, the, title of the book. the place
where published, the date, number OF
| Of every book received The authors are
| classified, too, in this Accession book, aud
1 the Library book receives a duplicate
number to that recorded In the Accession
book.
Every book comes through the Access
sion department, having first been care
| fully examined to see IL 1t IS O perfect
copy. am familiar with the majority or
| books, but sometimes am obliged to look
| through book carefully before mark on
| the inside figures and initials denoting
| its number and class. This do to
| guide my young assistants here, who
copy the figures and initials on a
label which will be exposed on the back
| of the book. Nearly ten Thousand
| books, you see. have thus passed through
| my hands for this library.
| Now for the intricate system of CLASH
| fication,u and Miss Burdick returned to
| her desk II have followed" she said,
| "what is know as the Decimal system. IL
| is in vogue in many of the large libraries
| of this country Here is printed copy
| of his system. and opening it. she con-
| tinued:-
| KNOWLEDGE sUBDIvIDED.
| "You see by this, Dewey divides all
knowledge up into ten classes, thus
| 0. General Works, every difficult to
! classify said Miss Burdick.)
| l. Philosophy.
2. Religion.
.. SOCIOLOGY.
| 4 PhiIology.
| 5. Natural science.
g. Useful arts.
Fine arts.
s. Literature, (hction.)
9. History.
Now, these classes are subsequently,
| divided into tens, then into hundreds and
so on into smaller and fractional divis-
| ions. Thus we have under 300 the head
| ing Of Sociology. I have chosen this
number to show you how we classify this
| book, The Boys. King Arthur and
| Miss Burdick turned over to another
page, which read thus
| 300 Sociology.
| $40. Statistics.
| 800. Political Science.
| 33l Political Economy.
$40. Law.
| $50. Administration.
800. Associations.
$40. Education.
| $50. Commerce. Communication.
800. Customs, Popular Life.
Now" continued Miss Burdick, styou
| will observe on this piece of paper on the
| back edge of this book, the Boys, King
| Arthur these figures and initials:
$685. 2
NJ 30
....--.--..
"The figure 8 tells that the book is in