The Washington herald., 1914-07-27
WLLCATAL0GUE
YOUR LIBRARY
Library Of Congress Is Able
to Do 1t Better and
Cheaper.
CAN BUY COMPLETE SET
During the Fiscal Year 1ol3-I9I4 the
Governments Revenues from It
Was $55.00O.

Over 1000 libraries. institutions and in
olvlduals throughout the United States
ana abroad are having their books cata-
logued for them by the government
Catalogues of books In the Library of
Congress were FIRST printed m book form.
About 1854 cards were substituted. Not
until numerous experiments were made
and cards Of various sizes, texture and
thickness were used was the present sim
pie card i-2x12 1-2 centimeters adopted
as the standard size" In 1897 the
Library Of Congress, with the support and
Endorsement Of the American Library
Association, conceived the idea Of print
ing Its own cards, and at the same time
printing enough cards for any library that
might want them. In 1900 a branch OF the
government Printing Once was Installed
In the library. and within a year cards
were being printed for all the current
accessions to the library and for all books
that were catalogued from the old cards.
In October Of 1901 a circular was sent
out announcing that the library would
sell any card which II had printed or
might print In the beginning orders
for cards were restricted to Libraries:
now there is no restriction whatever.
Kept Up to Date.
When a volume is received by the
Library Of Congress, either by purchase
or gift or through copyright. It Is cata-
logued in the latest and most approved
manner. II . book catalogued Is popu-
lar. desirable. or liable TO be found in
Qther libraries or purchased by them,
from 100 to 1.5oo cards are printed for IT,
and the extra cards are kept In stock
What are called depository sets lone
copy Of each card printed are now found
In over fifty libraries, chosen for their
location, accessibility. etc.
A number OF bulletins and handbooks
have been issued. giving detailed direc-
tions for ordering cards and the classes
Of books for which full sets are avail
able.
Thousands OF copies Of the same book
acquired by hundreds Of libraries must
go through the same process in each
libEary. Now all this work and expense
is saved to those institutions. It has
been estimated that the cost of getting
a single book into a library catalogue is
from . to IS cents.
Travelling CataloRues."
In addition to printing and distributing
cards for other libraries, the Library Of
Congress has been printing since 1910
a few thousand titles per year from copy
obtained or books borrowed from other
American libraries. II also maintains a
VI NdAdAOkuNS
lections of cards on history. government
agriculture, etc.-that are
sent about the country to assist libraries
in cataloguing their books.
II a card is ordered by number (which
entails the least labcr) II Is 2 cents,
and for each additional card I cents. The
proofsheets which are first struck OF
cost IS a year or $3.50 a month. The
entries on these sheets are classified by
subject. so that it is possible to order
any one clasd at cent a sheet.
The number Of different titles in the
collection is approximately $4,000. Dur
ing 1913 $500 new titles were added.
The stock of cards now on hand is over
"a. 00o.O 900 The subscribers have increased
from 2O0 in 1901. to over 2oOO. in 1914
About 90 individuals and firms are now
ordering cards for bibliographical pur-
poses. The returns to the government
from the sale of cards have increased
from about 5000 in the fiscal year. |
ls0i-2, to about $500. in lsl3-H.