College and Research Libraries


of variance, each supported by long usage 
and arguments worthy of consideration. 

D r . Hanson's concluding statement 
pointing out the latitude in details and the 
agreement in entry form essential to true 
cooperation is worthy of profound con-
sideration by catalogers, administrators, 
and teachers of cataloging whose tithing 
of mint and cumin too often has defeated 
their own admirable purposes. 

It is to be sincerely hoped that D r . 
Hanson's remoter purpose, increasing har-
mony of catalog practice throughout the 
world, may be served as well as the revi-
sion of the American Rules. So modestly 
presented and so scholarly a contribution 
w i l l surely invite the favorable considera-
tion of foreign bibliographers.—J e a n n e t t e 
Murphy Lynn, Vanderbilt University, 
Nashville. 

Catalogers' and Classifiers' Yearbook. No. 
8. American L i b r a r y Association. 
Catalog Section. American L i b r a r y 
Association, 1 9 4 0 . I 5 2 p . $ 2 . 2 5 . 

THOUGH THE articles included in the 
eighth Catalogers' and Classifiers' Year-
book are too numerous to mention individ-
ually, the sketch of Charles H . Hastings 
and his work in the L i b r a r y of Congress 
card division, and the two articles, one 
by and one about the late Dorcas Fellows, 
will be of particular interest. 

T w o groups of articles, one on the ques-
tion of union catalogs and one on the 
division of the catalog, are particularly 
timely. A r e union catalogs really an-
swering a felt need; are there additional 
services which union catalogs should per-
form ; are union catalogs demanding an 
amount of effort in their mere physical 
upkeep disproportionate to their value? 
T h e s e questions are discussed in two arti-
cles, the general conclusion being that 

those who have union catalogs should en-
deavor continually to improve and utilize 
all of their potential services, and that 
those contemplating installing new ones 
should consider every angle carefully be-
fore deciding the scope and essential func-
tions of their tool. 

A b l y discussed in four articles are the 
questions: Shall the catalog, which in 
many large institutions is fast outgrowing 
its quarters or taking on such gargantuan 
proportions as to frighten the timid, un-
initiated user, be divided into two or three 
parts? In the catalog divided into two 
or three parts, is there not danger, due 
to the necessary duplication of many en-
tries, of each part becoming in turn an 
unmanageable dictionary catalog? Shall 
the catalog be divided by dates? Shall it 
be greatly simplified and kept together? 
T h a t the day of reckoning has come for 
the large catalog, and that its fate rests 
with the future and individual institutions 
are the conclusions reached. 

T h e papers presented indicate within 
the ranks of catalogers a resourcefulness 
and initiative which speaks well for the 
future. F a r from being an unimaginative, 
routine-minded group, the unenviable 
reputation which catalogers have in the 
past held with some other branches of the 
library profession, they seem to be about to 
take on the characteristics of the ancient 
Athenians w h o "spent their time in noth-
ing else, but either to tell, or to hear some 
new thing." Concerning these " n e w 
things," catalogers are showing not only 
a willingness but an eagerness to make 
changes in routines which have become 
stumbling blocks and to undertake any 
task no matter how grueling the details, 
so long as it will bear as its fruit a better 
service to the library p u b l i c . — F r a n c e s L. 
Yocom, Fisk University, Nashville. 

JUNE, 1940 285