University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1914-01-23
MAKING THE NEW CATALOGUE
How H. ]. MacKay Goes About Difficult
Annual Job--Getting Away From the
bale of Hay Idea
The number of the courses offered

ne NUMBER OF Ine courses oHtit'
cover"
BingO!
A pencil mark struck out the frs
four and the sixth words. Three littl,
marks were written under the C. il
the fourth word. The man with the
pencil looked up.
AT that clip a lot of space will bt
saved" he said, when it is considered
that the University catalogue contains
nearly 500 pages. There were p
fewer pages in the catalogue last yeaI
than the year before; maybe we can
save a few this year. 1t is pity to
slaughter so many innocents. but new
catalogue copy is invariably over-pop-
ulated.'
Ii was II. J. MacKay. University pub
Usher. talking. He showed some copy
across the table. All through the
pages of type. words-the unfit, Mr..
MacKay calls them-had met their
doom. Here was sentence SO con-
structed that a number of words
could be omitted there capital let
ters were cut down too small.
1t must be nice little evenings
job getting out the annual catalogue"
the man on the outside of the desk
remarked.
Yes. several evenings" said Mr..
MacKay. Il began on it early this
year, the middle of December. A con-
siderable portion of it is now in JEFF
ferson City. where the catalogue is to
be got out by the Hugh Stephens Pub
fishing Company. If everything goes
right ii will be completed in March.
Mr. Mackay believes that a better
distribution can be obtained if the
catalogue is off the press earlier than
it has been the last few years. when
often it came out as late as June.
Eighteen thousand copies will be
printed this year. One will be sent
to each of the seniors in Missouri
High Schools. Five hundred copies
will be bound These will he sent to
the executive Offices of the large uni
yersities of the world. to university
and college libraries and TO officers
in this University.
What is your opinion of what a
good catalogue should contain" Mr. !
was asked.
The biggest problem is TO keep a
from getting unwieldy." said !
Mr.. MacKay. Some of the univers- :
tiles publish catalogues that look like .
bales of hay. You can go through .
them and find hardly any evidence of .
why they were produced. Many of .
them lose sight of the student view
point and the space is taken up with
faculty puffs. The size of the cata-
ogue should be such as will allow
4 concise statement of what the unI-
sersity issuing it has to offer the stu
lent. 1t is a continual process of
The purpose of the catalogue
should be TO give the student basis
or judging whether he should attend
he institution by which the catalogue
S published. The idea of competitive
should be entirely omitted
do not think illustrations are used
% much as they ought to be- Photo
,raphs could be selected to give a
more adequate description of facilities
han pages of type. However, pic
ures, if used, should be selected to
i've a true impression. Because they
ave mostly been used to give false
ne, most of our best universities have
iscarded them altogether |;
Few institutions are big enough to I
ell the truth. Students are wheedled
nto attendance with half-truths. men,
ion of only the desirable features.
uffing of weak departments. padding
With obsolete courses dead half
entury ago.
'ModerniZe a catalogue all you like /: