Evolution of the Library Card CatalogNovember 1789The revolutionary government of France confiscates the library holdings of all religious houses. It is decided to use the books to establish a system of public libraries. An inventory and listing of all books is ordered. To accomplish this a set of instructions is created which is known as the "French Cataloging Code of 1791". Inventory takers use the blank backs of playing cards to write down the bibliographic information for each book.1840-1912Harvard College Librarian Thaddeus William Harris urges in his 1840 annual report that a "slip catalogue" be created consisting of the title of every work in the library on pieces of card 6 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. According to library historian Kenneth E. Carpenter, this is apparently the first reference to a card catalog in an American library. A "slip catalogue" began soon after and continued to be used by staff of the Harvard College Library until 1912. Cards in the Harris catalog actually ended up being 9 inches long. Carpenter notes that the idea of a "slip catalogue" probably originated with William Croswell who was hired by Harvard to produce a new printed catalog in 1812. Croswell began his task by cutting up the printed catalog of 1790 into slips.September 16, 1853At the Library Conference of 1853, Charles Folsom, librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, describes his card catalog. It "consisted of a series of cards, about nine inches long and two wide, which were laid in a pile and a hole bored through each end of the whole, and strings passed through them. These strings were of such a length as to allow the whole of the cards to be slid back or forward, as the writer or compositor should find necessary, yet still preserving them in their proper order, without confusion or danger of loss. The whole were fitted into a box of the requisite size, from which they could be drawn singly without deranging the consecutiveness of each."1860-1863In 1860 Harvard Librarian John Langdon Sibley proposes a card catalog for public use as a method of keeping the library's catalog up to date. Assistant Librarian Ezra Abbot takes on the task of designing a card catalog that could be easily accessed but was secure from getting out of order. This involved placing the cards on edge between two wooden blocks. His solutions are described in the Annual Report of the library for 1863 and were adopted by many American libraries. Work on the catalog began in 1862 and hand written cards for 35,762 books were created in the first year. The catalog cards were 5 x 12.25 cm (2 x 5 inches) inches wide and two inches high. Although some variations of the card catalog existed in American libraries as early as the 1840s, those catalogs were primarily for staff use. The Harvard catalog was the first created for public use. For more on the catalog cards used by Harvard clickhere.This 12 trayLibrary Bureaucard catalog belongs toNorman D. Stevenswho provided the following information. "According to the U. S. patent information on the blocks that hold the cards in place it was manufactured after May 1903. This cabinet is 13 wide, by 15 deep, by 19 high; it holds Harvard College size cards (2 x 5) that were one of the two standard sizes adopted at the first American Library Association conference in 1877. It was formerly used at the Middlebury College Library in Middlebury, VT. Although more compact than trays holding cards of the other standard (3 x 5), these smaller catalogs were largely abandoned by 1925. That was probably due to the fact that when the catalog cards in it were tightly packed it was difficult to read text toward the bottom of the card."April 30, 1877A preliminary report of the Cooperation Committee of the American Library Association is published in theAmerican Library Journal(now theLibrary Journal). The report makes recommendations for standard catalog cards in two sizes. One size is the Harvard College size of 5 x 12.25 cm and the other is the "postal" size of 7.5 x 12.25 cm. The second size was to become the predominant choice for American library catalog cards. The two standards were officially adopted at the first conference of the American Library Association which took place in New York on September 4-5, 1877. Although Melvil Dewey wasn't actually a member of the Cooperation Committee, as Secretary of ALA he was actively involved in its deliberations and was largely responsible for the adoption of the standards.1886Both catalog card stock and card catalog cabinets were marketed by Library Bureau, the library supply company founded by Melvil Dewey. The company was legally established in 1881although its predecessors date back to 1876. By 1886 the Library Bureau had an extensive line of products related to card catalogs. Many of these items were illustrated in its1886 library supply catalogincluding the early card catalog cabinet below.The catalog cabinet is designed to hold standard 7.5 x 12.5 cm catalog cards but unlike later catalog cabinets each drawer is divided into two rows.1893In a paper presented at the World's Library Congress held at the Columbian Exposition, William C. Lane, Librarian of the of the Boston Athenaeum, provided an overview of current cataloguing practices of American libraries.Form of the catalog in use by libraries: printed catalog with printed supplements; printed catalog with card supplements; on cards complete; on slips pasted in volumes; on slips fastened in bunches like the leaves of a book; theRudolph Indexer; printed finding lists or other abbreviated form; and printed bulletins of recent accessions.Catalog cases: "Until recently the usual custom has been to keep the cards of the catalog in drawers each drawer having ordinarily two rows of cards." (See above). "... a lighter drawer or sliding sliding tray has lately been introduced holding a single row of cards and often not as deep as the old drawers."Catalog card sizes: "There are two recognized standards sizes in common use, the so called postal size, 12.5x7.5 cm. and the smaller size, 12.5.5 cm." Other sizes in use: 12.75x5.2 cm.; 12.75x7.25 cm.; 6x4 in.; 12.8x5 cm.; 13.85x8 cm.; 13.35x5.05 cm.; 13x5.7 cm; 15.5x8 cm.; 14x7 cm.; and 5x2&5/8 in.Writing and printing methods for catalog cards: "Most libraries still employ a running hand, generally preferring an upright and round letter to a slanted or angular." The typewriter is employed by some libraries. TheHammond machineis used by most of these although some use the Remington. "Printed cards are now supplied by the Library Bureau at a moderate price for current new books, while some libraries print their own cards or mount printed slips on cards for their card catalog."1901The Library of Congress begins the sale and distribution of pre-printed catalog cards to libraries throughout the nation.1925By 1925 the American library card catalog had substantially evolved and standardized catalog cards (7.5 x 12.5 cm) in standardized card catalog cabinets were in widespread use. The card catalog cabinet illustrated below is from a 1925 Library Bureau supply catalog.

Clickherefor information on the current use of old card catalog cabinets.Sources:"A History of the Card Catalog" by Sandy Brooks inWhole Library Handbook 3compiled by George M. Eberhart. American Library Association 2000.The First 350 Years of the Harvard University Libraryby Kenneth F. Carpenter. Harvard University Library 1986.Irrepressible Reformerby Wayne A. Wiegand. American Library Association 1996.Mitchell,Barbara A. "Boston Library Catalogues, 1850-1875 Female Labor and Technological Change," in Augst and Carpenter, eds.Institutions of Reading: The Social Life of Libraries in the United States(University of Massachusetts Press, 2007), pp. 119-147.Papers Prepared for the World's Library Congress Held at the Columbian Expositionedited by Melvil Dewey. Government Printing Office 1896.History of the card catalogThe history of thecard catalogbegins in Paris during the time of the French Revolution and ends in Dublin, Ohio in the 1970s, but the LC card started in 1901 The purpose of the card in bibliographiccataloginghas not changed during the years as much as the format of the card. The most intriguing cards were those that were handwritten by trainedlibrarians. Handwritten cards were replaced first by typewritten cards, then purchased cards, thenonline catalogs. Today there are fewlibrariesthat still use card catalogs and many young libraryusersthat do not know what a card catalog was or what it looked like.The Purpose of Cards in CatalogingThe original purpose of the card as a cataloging tool was to aid in material retrieval by the user, to makeaccess pointsavailable from the descriptions on the card, to determine thetitle,authorandsubjectof thework, and to establishauthority control. In a 1935 publication the card catalog is defined as A catalogue, in any desired order, made on cards of uniform size and quality, and stored on their edges in drawers, each card being restricted to a singleentry. (Sharp 1935, 301)Early CardsThe concept and creation of the first cards used for catalogs occurred in France around 1789. The Constituent Assembly confiscated books and manuscripts and were brought to literary depots at several locations in Paris. The staff at each depot was to record on cards the basic particulars about each item held. These cards were then bound up in bundles and sent to the Paris Bureau de Bibliographie. (Jackson 1974, 275) Because of wartime shortages, confiscated playing cards were used to record the information. Playing cards were larger and instead of having a pattern or a picture, were blank on the back. Thetitle pagewas to be transcribed on the card and the authors surname underlined for the filing word. If there was no author, akeywordin the title was to be underlined. Acollationwas added that was to include number of volumes, size, a statement ofillustration, the material of which the book was made, the kind oftype, any missingpages, and a description of thebindingif it was outstanding in any way. (This elaborate collation was partly for the purpose of identifying valuable books that the government might offer for sale in order to increase government revenue.) After the cards were filled in and put in order by underlined filing word, they were to be strung together by running a needle and thread through the lower left hand corners to keep them in order. (Hopkins 1992, 378)Early Modern Card CatalogsHenry Sharp wrote about the card catalogs in 1935 and said, In its more modern form, it began to make its appearance in British and American libraries round about 1876, in which year the well-known firm of Library Bureau was established, withMelvil Deweyat its head. (Sharp 1935, 26) In fact, it was Melvil Dewey and Thomas Edison who studied, developed and perfected the approvedlibrary handto be taught in library schools and used in all libraries.Handwritten CardsBefore the widespread use of typewritten cards, cards for the catalogs were handwritten in the approved style. According to Melvil Dewey, the Director of the New York State Library, The fact remains that nothing pays the candidate for a library position better for the time it costs than to be able to write a satisfactory library hand. (New York State Library School 1903, 278) Even though theLibrary of Congresshad begun distributing typewritten catalog cards in 1901, handwritten library cards were still preferred for years by manylibrary directors.Library HandThere were many rules for the correct use of library hand. The objective was to create identical and readable cards by each individual in all libraries. The Handbook of the New York State Library School listed the requirements of library hand in their 1903 publication. They included legibility, speed, and uniformity. The particular type of ink, inkstands, pens, penholders, and erasers was specified. The standards for lettering were dictated in regards to size, slant, spacing, special letters and figures, even the proper posture and position of the writer was outlined...Typewritten CardsA librarian named Thomas Graham Lee wrote a booklet entitled Library Hand: A Lost Art. He acknowledges that by the 1890s ads were appearing in the Library Journal and Library Notes for a variety of typewriters. Most texts on cataloging written in the 1930s expressed the notion that while handwriting cannot be abolished altogether the typewriter should be used in modern days, if only for claritys sake. (Lee 1977, 40)Library of Congress and Purchased CardsTaylor notes that Card catalogs were popularized in the United states by Library of Congress (LC) cards, first made available for sale in 1901, and by H. W. Wilson cards, which began production in 1938 in response to the needs of small libraries. (Taylor 2004, 37)Most libraries customized their purchased cards with their owncall numbersandsubject headings. A Library Primer recommends using the printed catalog cards from the Library of Congress because these give very full details and should be used wherever possible. It is better, as well as economical, to use cards already prepared by experts than to make them yourself. (Dana 1920, 106-107) Three copies of the card were required one for the author, one for the title, and at least one for the subject.The Card DisappearsIn the late 1960s two developments changed the future of cataloging. The Library of Congress created theMARCformat, enabling the machine readability ofbibliographic records. The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) was developed in Dublin, Ohio and started providing cataloging information via cable and terminal to all its member libraries. (Taylor 2004, 65) These two developments paved the way for the creation of Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs). Because of the considerable amount of cost savings, most libraries converted toonline catalogsand froze and discarded their card catalogs.Many libraries destroyed their printed cards and disposed of their card catalog drawers. In 1985 the University of Tennessee announced in the Library Journal that they saved $15,000 per year by replacing their card catalog with the VTLS online system. Palo Alto, Californias library sold its card catalog drawers at an auction to the highest bidder. Alfred University in New York actually burned 100,000 cards to symbolize the ending of the paper path and the beginning of a new computerized road. The Danbury, Connecticut Public Library had a mock funeral for the librarys card catalog.Card Catalog HistoryThe University Library's card catalog historically consisted of two main components: a "Shelf List" (a listing of all cataloged items in call number order) and a "General Catalog" (an alphabetical file of authors, subjects, and titles) for material acquired by the University Library before 1978.In November 2012, the General Catalog was removed and recycled (see10/15/12 News & Events). The Shelf List was retained in storage. Starting in 1969, all cards in the General Catalog were microfilmed. Thatmicrofilm, with supplements through 1977, is stored in the Oak Street Remote Storage Facility (call number FILM 019.1 Un31c).Card Catalogs on the 2nd Floor, Main LibraryPortions of the catalog of current value in providing access to specific materials continue to be housed in the Main Library. The Serial Record, Thesis File, and all University of Illinois main entry cards arelocated in the Information Desk/Circulation area of the second floor of the Main Library. The locations given in these catalogs may not be accurate. Once a call number is obtained through the card catalog, do a call number search in the online catalog to find the item's current location.TheSerials Recordincludes multiple cross-references that make it particularly useful if you have incomplete or questionable information. For example, the card catalog has cross-references linking: current to previous names of journals separate titles of a series to the series title corporate author entires for generic titles like "Proceedings"TheThesis Filecontains records for the archival copies of all theses and dissertations on deposit in the library from 1873 until the beginning of 1984. These are arranged by year, then in alphabetical order by author. Note that beginning in 1967, bachelor's honors theses were segregated out and put at the end of each year under the heading "microfiche."TheUniversity of Illinois main entry cardsinclude cards for publications about the University, as well as publications issued by university bodies.How to Usea Card Catalogq978B814f

Brown, Mark Herbert, 1900-The frontier years: L.A. Huffman, photographer of theplains, by Mark H. Brown and W. R. Felton. New York,Holt [1955]

272 p. illus., ports., maps (on lining papers) 29 cm.

Bibliography: p. 259-261.

1. Frontier and pioneer life--The West. 2. Indians of North Amer-ica--The West. 3. The West--Hist.--Pictorial works. 4. Huffman,Laton Alton, 1854-1931. I. Felton, William Reid, 1894- jointauthor. II. Title.

[Sample Author Card]The card catalog has a card for the author as well as cards for each of the tracings (the Arabic and Roman numerals at the bottom of the card). The online catalog, however, only provides access to the title and first author for many items found in the card catalog.

General Information for Using Card CatalogsFirst-word articles (a, an, the) in any language are ignored in filing the cards. Certain other common words are also ignored for filing purposes. A list of the ignored words is posted at the end of each group of card catalog cases. Words are alphabetized exactly as spelled without regard to diacritical marks. Thus, = u , but =ae and so, for example there will be entries under both Encyclopaedia and Encyclopedia. Initialisms and acronyms (e.g., AFL-CIO) are filed at the beginning of each letter of the alphabet. Identical words are filed in Author-Subject-Title order: Music Antonio Zoran, 1909- (Author) Music (Subject) Music at Midnight by Muriel Draper (Title)

Subject Searching in Card CatalogsThe first step in subject searching is translating your topic into the terminology of the catalog. This is usually a straightforward process, but language and perspective change over time, and the heading used by a library may sometimes be surprising. The University Library used the ninth edition of the Library of Congress Subject Headings for cataloging books by subject in the card catalog; a copy of this edition of Subject Headings is located in the main catalog area.

Begin searching under the narrowest term that encompasses your topic; cross-references will help lead you to the correct heading. The Library uses various approaches of subdividing larger topics, and this may be confusing. Geographical regions may be subjects subdivided into smaller topics or subjects may be subdivided by geographical region. When a term used in the Subject Headings is followed by (Indirect) it means that the subject may have geographical subdivisions. For example, if you were interested in obtaining information on rodeo traditions in Montana, you would first look in the Subject Headings under "rodeo." The entry reads:Rodeos (Indirect)

saRodeo clownsTrick ridingWestern ridingWomen in rodeos

xxCowboysHorse-showsHorse sportsHorsemanshipSportsWestern riding

The "Indirect" indicates that this heading may have subdivisions by geographic region, e.g., Rodeos--Montana. Note also the specificity of the "see also" (sa) suggestions. The "xx" entries are slightly broader headings at the next level of specificity. All of these headings are also "Indirect" and may have --Montana as a subdivision.

It may be, however, that even these headings are too specific for the Library's collection. In this case, you might try searching directly under a subdivision of Montana. Some possibilities are listed under "Montana" in the Subject Headings.

Filing Order of CardsThe following shows the filing order for various subject headings beginning with "Music":1. AUTHORMusic, Antonio Zoran, 1909-

2.SUBJECTSMusic--AfghanistanMusic--Acoustics and physicsMusic, ChineseMusic and literatureMusic-halls (hyphenated words equal two words)Note: Pay attention to the exact subject heading given; its form and punctuation pinpoint its location in the card catalog.

3.TITLESThe Music Yearbook

4 kinds of catalog *authors catalog*subject card*cross reference card *authors cardauthor catalognounLibraryScience.acatalogwhoseentriesarelistedbyauthor,editor,compiler,translator,orotherpartyconsideredtohaveresponsibilityforthecreationorassemblyoftheworkspecified. an author card is a card used in a library the name of the author comes first. An author card is, as the term suggests, a card that contains information about a specific author of a certain book. Such cards normally include personal information about the author including the author's picture and biographical information.

Subject card-The definition of a subject card is referring to a catalog card used as a subject entry in a library catalog. This was common back when libraries had a card database as opposed to a computer database. Subject cards were a way of categorizing these books. There were also Author cards, and Title cards. This was part of the Dewey decimal system. Most are familiar with the term but have forgotten the meaning behind it.

Title card-Title card is a piece of filmed or printed text edited into the midst of a picture. It is also known as the intertitle. Its main purpose is to give a viewer a preview of what he or she is going to see.

Standard format for a card catalog entryThere is a standard format to follow for a card catalog entry that looks like this:025.32 Gorman, MichaelGormanThe concise AACR2, 1998 revision / prepared by Michael Gorman. Chicago : American Library Assoc., 1999.168 p. ; 23 cm.Includes indexISBN 0-8389-3494-3

1. Anglo-American cataloguing rules. 2. DescriptivecatalogingRules. I. Anglo-American cataloguing rules.II. Title. III. Title: Concise Anglo-American cataloguingRules, 1998 revision.

In lookingat the bibliographic part of this entry, we find the author, listed last name first, at the top of the entry. This is called the MAIN ENTRY. The main entry is usually the name of the author, but may also be the name of a business or corporation, government or department within a government, church, music group, or any other group of people who may have created a unique work of information. In this example, the main entry isGorman, Michael.