A. Card Catalogues

Card catalogues are the oldest method of keeping track of a library’s collection of materials. They are located in a series of large cabinets divided into three sections. Each of the three sections contains drawers full of small file cards, arranged in alphabetical order. The cards in the first section lists each book by its title; the second section lists them by author; the third by subject. Each book, therefore, has three separate cards, one for each of the three different ways the item is catalogued: by title, by author, by subject. Even if you don’t know the title, you can still find the book by looking it up by its author or by its subject.

Here is an example of a subject card. Notice that the subject “Atlases” appears on the first line.

Each card in the catalogue carries a number (call number) at the top left corner. This number is the same as the one printed on the spine(10) of each book in the library. The numbers come from either the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress System of cataloguing books. These systems both organize books by their subjects. This means that all books on music are shelved together, as are those on dogs, or health, or history. What is the call number on the card above?

Can you find the title of the book listed on this card, the place of publication, the publishing company, and the year of publication? The line that appears under the publishing information tells you that the book has 192 pages, colour illustrations and its size (32 cm.). In addition, you can find the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) on the card, important information if you want to order the book from a bookstore. The numbered notations at the bottom of the card show other cards for this book. In this case, you will also find this book listed in the subject catalogue under “Atlases, Canadian”.

The author card looks almost the same as the subject card. The first line of an author card carries the author’s name. In this case, the author is considered to be Book Society of Canada, Ltd. The title card’s first line carries the title, Book Society World Atlas on its first line.

Until recently, card catalogues were the only way to look for a book, but today only small libraries still use this system.

10.the back of the book, the part that shows when it is placed on a shelf