z C95 U45 Library Schbol Library of Congress L C. PRINTED CARDS HOW TO ORDER and USE THEM BY CHARLES HARRIS HA8TINGS CHIEF, CARD SECTION WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE LIBRARY BRANCH, 1909 Library of Congress L C. PRINTED CARDS HOW TO ORDER and USE THEM BY CHARLES HARRIS HASTINGS CHIEF, CARD SECTION WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE LIBRARY BRANCH, 1909 i CONTENTS PAGE Prefatory note 3 §1. Characteristics of the L. C. cards 5 £2. How the cards are used for a dictionary catalog 6-9 §3. How used for shelflists and systematic cat- alogs and bibliographies 10 |4. Scope and fullness of the stock of printed cards 11 §5. General suggestions as to ordering cards — 12 :§6. How to order by author and title 12-13 §7. How to order by card number 14-15 i§8. To indicate number of cards wanted by a fixed number or formula 15-16 §9. Use of subscriber's card; variation in edi- tion 16-17 §10. Orders held for cards; explanatory checks- 17-18 §11. Orders by series and by set 19 §12. Orders by subject for cards and proof sheets 20-21 §13. Price of cards 21-22 §14. Method of payment 22 §15. Card distribution work of the Library of Congress 23 §16. Publications of the Card Section 24 L. C. card 9-35008 !UN UNIV'E PREFATORY NOTE HT HIS pamphlet is designed to meet a demand for a popular statement of methods of ordering and using the L. C. printed cards. It is intended to furnish (1) the information which a library should have before beginning to order cards for use in cataloging, (2) the information needed by the specialist who desires to order cards as material for a card bibliography, (3) the information needed by students of library economy who wish to understand the essential features of the work. It is designed to supersede the Handbook of Card Dis- tribution so far as the needs of the last two classes are concerned ; but it is not designed to supersede the Hand- book entirely as a guide to the ordering and use of the printed cards for cataloging books. Those responsible for ordering and using the L. C. cards for a library catalog will get better results by reading the Handbook carefully and referring frequently to the full statements there given. Most of the sample cards and order slips shown are reproduced from those in the Handbook. C. H. Hastings Chief of the Card Section Herbert Putnam Librarian of Congress Washington, D. C, June 22, 1909 S4 •S • r-l a o a .2 U c€ a a top rig fcl si 5S> _2 tn CU v w.2 ** u u ■*-» C O OS D ■M .TO C3 mals con •as a >> rt •« +-> c £ c + J O 0-6 e O to 3 O J3 bfl£ c u M • ' — ft bo g '5 +■• en 4) b bfl C o U h4 Characteristics of the L. C. Cards §1. One form of card only is printed for a book, viz :- the "main entry" card (sample 1, on opposite page). Author's real name is given in full, dates of birth and death being added when practicable. Title of book is- usually given in full. The imprint is frequently short- ened and simplified. Collation is full enough to describe accurately the physical makeup of the book. Contents and notes are frequently added. Notes are descriptive; evaluation is not attempted. The headings used at L. C. for secondary entries are indicated on most of the cards in stock for books which require secondary entries other than title entry. Subject 1 entries are numbered in arable, added 3 entries in roman figures. "Card number" 3 is given at the lower right margin of the card. Number preceding dash indicates year, number following dash indicates number of card in series for that year. L. C. class and book number is given near center of lower margin.* Cards are of the "standard" size, 7£ x 12£ cm. (about 2f| x 4|f in.). Card stock is approximately 1/100 inch (1/4 mm.) thick and is the best obtainable. (See further Handbook, p. 11-13.) 1 Subject entries are not indicated, as a rule, on cards for books which at the time the card was printed were in unreclassified sections of the Library. (Sample 6, p. 8.) 2 Term "added entries" is used to cover all secondary entries except subject entries, but title entry is not included in the added entries indi- cated on the cards. (Samples 1-4, p. 4, 6, 7.) 8 On cards printed before 1902 various experiments in numbering were tried. On many of these the card number is preceded by full date; on some card number only is given. All cards for which copy is prepared by the Catalogue Division of the Library of Congress are now numbered uni- formly as shown in samples. Five series of cards printed and distributed by L. C, for which copy is prepared by other U. S. libraries, and one foj which copy is prepared by L. C. Map Division, are distinguished by pre- fixes Agr, G S, E, W, War, Maps. . until the opening of the N.-itir.nal congress, on the 25th of March, 1X10. written bv Dr. Grcunno Funes" p. 46-96. (15th Cong., 2d sess. House doc. 2; no. 17 of Congressional series) I. Rodney, Caesar Augustus, 1772-1824. u. Graham, John. 1774-1820. III. Funes, Gregorio, 1749-1830. 6-1394S Library of Congress * SAMPLE 7 — AUTHOR ANALYTIC (ONE CARD IN A CONTINUED ENTRY USED SEPARATELY; ADDITION IN MS.) Some of the headings for secondary entries printed on the cards are too detailed for the catalog of a small li- brary. In such cases an abbreviated heading or a dif- ferent heading should be used. See further Handbook, p. 14-24, 58-65. 10 How Used for Shelflists and Systematic Catalogs and Bibliographies §3. Sample 8 shows card adapted for a systematic catalog or shelflist by supplying "Dewey decimal" class 331 W45 Webb, Sidney, 1859- Industrial democracy, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. New ed. in two volumes bound in one. [4th impression. 5th thousand] London, New York, and Bombay, Long- mans, Green and co., 1902. Ixi, 929, ill p. incl. tables, fold, diagr. 22 OT Bibliography: p. [879i-900. Contents. — pt. i. Trade union structures. — pt. 2. Trade union func- tion. — pt. 3. Trade union theory. — Appendices; 1. Trade-unions. 1. Webb, Beatrice (Potter) "Mrs. Sidney Webb," joint author. 11. Title. 3-1444/4 Library of Congress 331 Hg SAMPLE 8 — SHELFLIST CARD (CARD FOR BOOK IN A. L. A. CATALOG) number and "Cutter" book number. Card used in a systematic bibliography arranged according to the Deci- mal system would differ only in omission of book num- ber. Specialists who have not found a satisfactory scheme for classifying their bibliographic material may find it advantageous to compile a dictionary bibliogra- phy in the way described in §2. When the new classi- cation of the Library of Congress, now in process of being worked out, is finished and fully indexed, it should provide an excellent scheme for systematic bibliogra- phies, with the advantage that L. C. cards included in them may be arranged mechanically by the class marks printed on the cards. 1 1 The classification schedules for American history, Bibliography, Sci- ence, and Music have already been printed, but all except that for Bibliog- raphy are now practically out of print. New editions will probably be printed within a year. 11 Scope and Fullness of the Stock of Cards §4. The Library of Congress has been printing cards for its accessions of books copyrighted in U. S. A. since July, 1898, and for its accessions of books not copy- righted in U. S. A. since January, 1901. The work of recataloging the entire collection with printed cards was also begun in 1901. All classes of books are now re- cataloged and within the scope of the stock of printed cards except those named below: CLASSES NOT YET WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE STOCK biography language and music (scores) FINE ARTS LITERATURE PHILOSOPHY GENEALOGY LAW RELIGION It should be kept in mind, however, that books in these excepted classes which were copyrighted in U. S. A. after 1898, or published in U. S. A. or abroad after 1901, are within the scope of the stock. Libraries intending to recatalog their collections with L. C. cards should arrange to recatalog first the classes which are now within the scope of the stock. The stock of cards is very complete in all classes for books which were copyrighted in U. S. A. For books not copyrighted in U. S. A. the stock is very complete in Bibliography and American history. In other classes, it is fairly complete for books in English, but is quite incomplete for books in foreign languages. The per- centage obtained from orders for cards for fiction in foreign languages is so small that cards should not be ordered for this class. (See further Handbook, p. 7- 10.) 12 General Suggestions as to Ordering Cards §5. Slips used for orders should be about the same size as the L. C. cards. It is desirable to have name of library stamped or printed on each slip. Slips with one title or card number on a slip (samples o-c, below) are, as a rule., the best form of order. Orders by card number in the form of slips or sheets filled with columns of numbers are preferred by some libraries. Orders by author and title in the form of sheets containing more than one title should be used only when it is de- sired to make use of lists prepared for other purposes, e. g., as orders for books. Some libraries order cards for current books when they order the books. Sub- scribers are advised to order on a small scale at first and experiment until the method which best suits their needs is found. (See further Handbook, p. 26-27, 40- 42.) How to Order by Author and Title §6. Sample a shows the most satisfactory form of au- thor-and-title order slip. 1 Give author's name in full as SAMPLE a — AUTHOR AND TITLE ORDER SLIP — ONE TITLE TO THE SLIP — HANDWRITTEN 1 All facsimiles of order slips shown below are reduced to about three-fifths size. 13 found on title-page or in list and write surname with extra care. Ordinary abbreviations for given names may be used. Title of book may be shortened, but first word (articles excepted) should never be omitted. Ab- breviate place and publisher. Never omit date. If no date is given, write n. d. If edition is other than first, indicate this after title. If it is known that the book is copyrighted in U. S. A., affix c to date to indicate this. Indicate number of cards wanted at right of author's name unless number wanted is indicated by a number or formula on subscriber's card (see §8, 9). Do not use the library hand in writing order slips. Cultivate the habit of making out the slips easily, quickly and legibly. Sample b shows a typewritten slip. If recat- The far North-west. [Comp» by J. C. Dana and others for members of the A. L. A.] Newark, Pub. for the trav- elers, 1906 52 6 B _ CITY LIBRARY SAMPLE b — AUTHOR AND TITLE ORDER SLIP — ONE TITLE TO THE SLIP TYPEWRITTEN aloging, make use of old main entry or shelflist cards as order slips. Arrange order slips alphabetically as cards are arranged in an author catalog. (See further Hand- book, p. 31-35.) 14 How to Order by Card Number §7. Ordering by card number is a very satisfactory method provided that the numbers can be obtained with- out much searching. Sample c shows the correct form 5- (w ko/h H PUBLIC LIBRARY. SAMPLE C — ORDER BY CARD NUMBER — ONE TITLE TO THE SLIP of order slip. Number following the slanting line in- dicates the number of copies wanted. If number of copies wanted is indicated on subscriber's card (see §8, 9), slanting line and number following it are of course omitted. The L. C. card numbers can be obtained from the following sources: (1) Depository sets located in leading cities and centers of literary activity ; (2) Proof- sheets of L. C. cards; (3) Traveling catalogs; (4) Cur- rent booklists., viz : "Cumulative book index," "United States catalog," "Book review digest," "A. L. A. book- list," "Monthly catalogue U. S. public documents," "Best books" (annual, pub. by N. Y. State Library), "Catalogue of copyright entries, Part 1," "Accessions to the department library of the U. S. Department of Agriculture." The dictionary portion of the A. L. A. Catalog (1904) contains (following price of book) con- secutive numbers to be used like the regular L. C. nura- 15 bers in ordering cards. The number following the con- secutive number, separated from it by a slant line, in- dicates the number of copies of the card required for a dictionary catalog. If a different number of cards is wanted, different number is to be given after slant line. If number wanted is indicated on subscriber's card (see §8, 9), slant line and number following it should be omitted. If preferred, order slip may be filled with numbers (sample d). No matter which form of order 1-3680/2 l-F-968/2 Agr. 3-250/4 1-3795/4 l-F-1115/3 Agr. 4-115/5 1-10614/3 Agr. 9-476/2 l-Rc-614/5 3/14617/5 l-Rc-6124/6 E 8-360/4 5-114/2 81/3 G S 4-420/5 5-7913/5 387/2 Q S 5-130/2 9-745/3 Mar. 15, 99-117/3 9-6411/3 Ja. 5, 00-15/6 9-7614/4 9-15680/2 12-00-76/2 War 8-14/4 W 7-115/f W 9-97/3" C UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. SAMPLE d — ORDER BY CARD NVMBER — SLIP FILLED WITH NUMBERS is used, arrangement should be in increasing order of the card numbers in each series as shown in sample a. (See further Handbook, p. 36-39.) To Indicate Number of Cards Wanted by a Fixed Num- ber or Formula §8. To obviate the necessity of examining each book to see how many copies of the card will be needed to catalog it and of writing this number on each individual order slip, many libraries give standing directions as to number of cards wanted by means of a fixed number or ''formula" in left column of subscriber's card (see 16 §9). In the formulas, s stands for "one card for each of the subject entries indicated on the card," a for "one card for each of the added entries indicated on the card." Number written before s is to be added to num- ber indicated by s. Number, if any, written after ^ des- ignates number of cards wanted for subject entries when no subject entries are indicated, e. g.: lsa = "Send one card, plus one card for each subject and added entry indicated on the card." lsla = "Send one card, plus one card for each sub- ject entry indicated on the card; if no subject entries are indicated, add one card ; add one card for each added entry indicated." Formula "lsla" is now used by many libraries. Li- braries just beginning to order cards are advised to try it first, provided that a copy is not desired for shelf list. If a copy is needed for shelflist, the formula "2sla" should first be tried. If a library makes title entries freely, it may find it better to try first the formula "2sla" if a shelflist card is not needed, "3sla" if shelf- list card is needed. Both methods of indicating number of cards wanted can be used at the same time, because it is understood that specific indication on order slip takes precedence of the more general indication on sub- scriber's card. (See further Handbook, p. 27-30.) Use of Subscriber's Card; Variation in Edition §9. Standing directions from libraries as to their orders are noted on "subscriber's card." Items shown in first and third columns are explained in §8 and §10 respectively. In the second column the variations in edition are indicated which ordering library will per- mit, in case L. C. does not have a card for the edition for which cards are ordered. Abbreviation for name of library is supplied by L. C, other items by subscriber. It is unnecessary for a library to obtain and fill out sub- 17 scriber's card before sending in first order. Order can be filled fairly satisfactorily without subscriber's card provided that number of copies wanted is indicated on Arizona University Library, Tucson, Arizona. Arizona U Number of cards wanted for each book (except when number is specifically in- dicated in the order). 2sla Handbook (190 7) P- 29. §3- (Subscriber's) I Card. f Variation in edition ac- cepted : a) Date of publication different. b) Edition number dif- ferent. c) Place and publisher given in second place. d) Place and publisher different. Orders are to be held on temporary slips when the check is Out, C, or R, Handbook (190 7) P- 4«; §3- Other standing requests. Handbook (1907) p. 42, §!*■ Date NOV. 16 . 1907. Signature : E L . kOVER) SAMPLE SUBSCRIBER S CARD individual .slips or by a note placed in front of order, e. g., "Please send lsla cards for each book" (see §8). A supply of subscriber's cards is sent to each new sub- scriber. These are to be used over and over until worn out. One should be placed in front of every order submitted. Orders Held for Cards; Explanatory Checks §10. Not less than 90% of the cards currently ordered are in stock and can be shipped at once; the other 10% of the orders submitted are dealt with essentially as follows : When a card is ordered which is in process of printing or reprinting, a check is given to the ordering library to indicate why card is not sent and order is noted on temporary slip in catalog of the Card Section and held as a matter of course, unless ordering library has indicated in third column of its subscriber's card Cdt^c^M -:.^f that it can not wait for cards in process of printing. The check used on orders thus held are as follows: Ont= "Out of print; cards will be sent within two weeks." C = "Book received by copyright ; cards will be sent within three weeks." R = "Book received by purchase ; cards will be sent within four weeks if English, within six weeks if in foreign language." In order that libraries which care to wait may event- ually obtain cards for books not yet received by L. C, other checks are used to indicate to the ordering library what prospect it has of obtaining cards, viz: On = Book ordered in North America. Oe = Book ordered in Europe. Re = Book recommended for purchase. P = Book being considered for purchase. Ci? = Book reported copyrighted; claim now being investigated. C? = Does the book contain copyright claim? If so, please quote it and case will be investigated. D = Doubtful ; chances not good. Np = No prospect. , In the case of titles checked with any of the checks named above except Np, ordering library may return order slip to be held for periods ranging from one to thirty weeks ; or "week number" to mark limit of holding may be supplied before slip is sent in the first time. Limit of holding slips is indicated by a week number (obtained from a "calendar card" supplied by the Card Section) written below the title (see sample b, p. 13). When time limit expires, if cards have not come to hand, title is returned to subscribing library. It may again be returned to L. C. to be held for thirty weeks, if desired. Once a week all the cards which have come to hand for orders held, and all order slips on which time limit has expired, are sent to subscribing libraries. Check Np is final. Order slips thus checked will not be held even though the subscribing library is willing to wait indefinitely. 19 Orders by Series and by Sets §11. Orders for cards for publications in series and for special sets of cards can be given in a note, e. g., "Please send this library isa copies of each card for N. Y. State Library bulletin, Bibliography, from no. 1 to date, and file standing order for cards for new issues in the series ; send also isa copies of main card for series." Libraries which submit a considerable number of orders by series will find it worth while to adopt the form of series order slip recommended in Bulletin 16 (sample e) : N. Y. State Library. isa Bulletin. Bibliography Ser. lea 1— C COLLEGE LIBRARY. SAMPLE e — ORDER BY SERIES Bulletins 5, 9, 14, 15, 17-21 contain lists of about 1,000 series and sets, including many series of publications of universities and learned societies, for which cards are in stock. Special attention is called to the sets of cards for publications of the U. S. Department of Agricul- ture, the U. S. Geological Survey, and the U. S. Bureau of Education, noted in Bulletins 14, 15, and 21. By means of orders by series and subject orders for cards or proofsheets (see §12) specialists and libraries having special collections may obtain valuable biblio- graphic material. 20 Orders by Subject for Cards and Proofsheets §12. Current cards may be ordered on any well de- fined topic. Cards already in stock may be ordered on any topic which is brought out in the subject catalogs of the Library of Congress. If desired, the order may be made a standing order to cover cards issued here- after on the topic. Orders may be restricted quantita- tively in various ways, e. g., "All cards for books on forestry published since 1900," but can not be restricted qualitatively, e. g., "Cards for the more important books on forestry/' Orders may be given in a letter or note, e. g.: "Please send me one copy of each card printed here- after for current books on American genealogy; include local histories which contain a considerable amount of genealogical material and biographies which are largely genealogical." On application a printed form will be supplied by the Card Section to be used in making out a subject order, but use of this form is optional. Those desiring to place subject orders on a number of related topics, e. g. for subgroups in Bibliography, can sometimes define what they want most satisfactorily by referring to sub- classes in the schedules of the Library of Congress thus far printed (Bibliography, American History, Science, Music; see §3, foot-note). Before the catalog cards are printed, proofsheets are struck off, each strip containing five titles, usually. These proofsheets are sold in complete sets at an annual subscription price of $30. The entries on the proof- sheets are classified, and it is possible to subscribe to any 21 class at the price of lc. per strip. The classes at present are : American genealogy. Music. American history and description. Natural history. Anatomy and physiology. Philosophy and religion. Astronomy. Physics and meteorology. Bibliography (including library' sci- Plant and animal industry. ence) Reference cards. Botany. Science. Education. Social sciences. Fiction (English) Technology. Fine arts. Titles from L. C. Division of Maps General works. and Charts. Geography and anthropology'. Titles from U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. History and description (except Titles from U. S. Geological Survey. American) Titles from Washington, D. C, Pub- Law, lie Library. Literature and language. Titles from Military Information Di- Medicine. vision Library (War Department) Military and naval science. Zoology. Price of Cards §13. The price of cards varies chiefly according to the amount of work required in selecting and shipping the cards. This variation in price affects only the "first copy" of each card supplied in a shipment ; the price of each copy after the "first" is always Jc. If cards are ordered by card number, the price of "first" copy is 2c. If cards are ordered for a single entire series of publi- cations, the price of the first copy is usually 2c, but in the case of certain series and sets of publications issued by the Department of Agriculture, the Geological Sur- vey, and the Bureau of Education (see Bulletins 14, 15, 21), the price of first copy is lc. If the order is by au- thor and title, the price of the first card is 2\c, provided that the order is in satisfactory form. If facts essential to the ready identification of the book for which cards are wanted are missing, or if order is not correctly ar- ranged, slight extra charges are made. The price of first copy of cards ordered by subject varies directly 22 with the amount of work required in selecting the cards, inversely with the number called for by the order. The average price is a little over lc. Price can be quoted only after scope of the order has been defined. The average cost per book of the cards supplied to libraries for cataloging purposes is about 4c. Cards are sent under frank to libraries in U. S. A. (and its colonial possessions), Canada, and Mexico. The charge for postage to foreign countries within the Postal Union is 8c. per lb. (about 5c. per 100 cards) ; this is added to the usual charge for cards. Franks for sending in orders are supplied to subscribers in U. S. A. (and its colonial possessions). Method of Payment §14. If practicable, libraries and other institutions should send a deposit of $1.00 or more with their first order for cards and renew the deposit when notified that it is exhausted. But if advance payment is not practicable, institutions may pay at monthly or quar- terly intervals. Indiviuals are required to pay for cards in advance. If the exact price of the cards desired is known, the amount should accompany the order. When the approximate cost of the cards is known and it is desired to receive current cards in continuation of the order, an amount sufficient to pay the cost of cards in stock plus the cost of the current cards for at least three months should accompany the ordei. In all other cases, the cost of the cards should be ascertained before any remittance is made. Each remittance should be accom- panied by a letter or note which will fully identify the remitter. Remittances should not be inclosed in pack- ages of order slips. All checks and money orders should be made payable to "The Librarian of Congress." 23 Card Distribution Work of the Library of Congress §15. "The work is in part, at least, the outcome of the efforts and experiments of the American Library Asso- ciation in cooperative cataloging which began with the organization of the association in 1876." ''The printing and storing of cards was begun in 1898. and in 1901, with the indorsement of the American Li- brary Association collectively, and with the cordial sup- port of its members individually, the work of distribu- tion was inaugurated." "The number of libraries, institutions, and individuals subscribing to cards has steadily increased from 212 in 1901 to over 1,200 on June 1, 1909. About 125 individu- als and firms are now ordering the cards, chiefly for bib- liographical purposes. The remainder of the subscribers are libraries, ordering the cards chiefly for cataloging purposes. The returns to the U. S. Government from the sale of cards have increased from $3,785 in the fiscal year 1901-2 to over $24,000 in the fiscal year 1908-9. This amount practically covers the cost of the cards, the cost of storage, and the salaries of the twenty-two assistants engaged in distributing them. Taking into account the great utility of the card distributing plant to the other work of the Library, it can fairly be said that the service to outside libraries is self-supporting." "The work seems now fully established as an impor- tant item in American library economy. Although all of the problems connected with the storage and distri- bution of the cards are by no means solved, no one in America now doubts the ability of the Library of Con- gress to solve them." (From an article in Zentralblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen, November, 1908, p. 497-500, with statistics revised to date.) 24 Publications of the Card Section §16. The second edition of the Handbook of Card Distribution entirely superseded the first edition. It also largely superseded several of the Bulletins of the Card Section. The publications which now need to be consulted are the following: Handbook of card distribution, 2d ed. 1907. Bulletin 5. Special sets, 1-2. (Analytics for "Na- tiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien" and "Pfianzenreich") Bulletin 7. Catalogs, classification and card distribu- tion work of the Library of Congress. Bulletin 9. Special sets, 3-5. (Analytics for "An- nates de la science agronomique," "Landwirtschaftliche jahrbiicher," and "Landwirtschaftlichen versuchs-statio- nen." Bulletin 10, 2d ed. Traveling catalogs. Bulletin 13. Cards for government documents. Bulletin 14, 2d ed. Cards for publications of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Bulletin 15, 2d ed. Cards for publications of the U. S. Geological Survey and the state surveys. Bulletin 16. Orders by series for cards for books and monographs in series. Bulletin 17. Series of publications in English (ex- cluding those for American history) for which cards are in stock. Bulletin 18. Series of publications in American his- tory for which cards are in stock. Bulletin 19. Series of publications in foreign lan- guages for which cards are in stock. Bulletin 20. Cards for books and pamphlets printed in America before 1801. Bulletin 21. Cards for publications of U. S. Bureau of Education, cards for the literature of education. OP TH£ (UNIV. Li