DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26753#0088
Is this as it should be 1 The experience of centuries has taught all
the world how to make and how to use alphabetical catalogues. The
trustees have rejected all this knowledge and all this experience, to
indulge one man in a favourite whim, and that man is one who what-
ever his talents and abilities may be, has not yet given the world any
proof that he possesses such transcendent abilities that the experience
of all the world should be set aside for his sake, and that we must all go
to school again to relearn our lesson according to his system. I myself
would not personally object to this last condition, and would submit to
any inconvenience to possess a catalogue, however absurd it might be ;
hut the bulk of the readers will not do this, and after the delay of years
and an expenditure of immense sums of money, the whole thing must
be begun again, and the catalogue reconstructed according to the
dictates of common sense.
Regarding this point, I am convinced, that when fairly stated, there
can be no difference of opinion. There is however, another, regarding
which I feel very clear, though I do not expect all to agree with
me in it, which is, that the catalogue in the reading-rooms should be
wholly in manuscript. If the library were complete, or if any branch
of it were so, it certainly would be much easier to refer to it in print,
than in even the very best handwriting ; but in a growing library,
I do not know any thing much more puzzling than reading first the
printed part, then referring back two or three pages for the written
titles, and then forward as far, for those that may come after the
printing ; and even then, you are scarcely ever sure that you have
exhausted all the titles you should refer to. I feel convinced that the
catalogue ought either to be wholly in print, or wholly in manuscript;
and as the former is, I hope, utterly impossible for many a long
day, there is nothing for it but the latter. When a manuscript
catalogue is complete, it may, of course, be printed—indeed should
be so—for sale and circulation among the public. It would be a
most useful work, and one most worthy of Government patronage;
but I am convinced, that for the reading-room, the only really useful
one, would be the one in manuscript, always kept well written up.
Appendix B.
Glassed Catalogue.
Besides the alphabetical catalogue, which I look on as the first
requisite for the library being made available to the public, it would
be the greatest possible boon to the readers, if they could be furnished
with a good classed catalogue also ; and it does not appear to me
that there is any mystery about the subject, as many have asserted,
the world how to make and how to use alphabetical catalogues. The
trustees have rejected all this knowledge and all this experience, to
indulge one man in a favourite whim, and that man is one who what-
ever his talents and abilities may be, has not yet given the world any
proof that he possesses such transcendent abilities that the experience
of all the world should be set aside for his sake, and that we must all go
to school again to relearn our lesson according to his system. I myself
would not personally object to this last condition, and would submit to
any inconvenience to possess a catalogue, however absurd it might be ;
hut the bulk of the readers will not do this, and after the delay of years
and an expenditure of immense sums of money, the whole thing must
be begun again, and the catalogue reconstructed according to the
dictates of common sense.
Regarding this point, I am convinced, that when fairly stated, there
can be no difference of opinion. There is however, another, regarding
which I feel very clear, though I do not expect all to agree with
me in it, which is, that the catalogue in the reading-rooms should be
wholly in manuscript. If the library were complete, or if any branch
of it were so, it certainly would be much easier to refer to it in print,
than in even the very best handwriting ; but in a growing library,
I do not know any thing much more puzzling than reading first the
printed part, then referring back two or three pages for the written
titles, and then forward as far, for those that may come after the
printing ; and even then, you are scarcely ever sure that you have
exhausted all the titles you should refer to. I feel convinced that the
catalogue ought either to be wholly in print, or wholly in manuscript;
and as the former is, I hope, utterly impossible for many a long
day, there is nothing for it but the latter. When a manuscript
catalogue is complete, it may, of course, be printed—indeed should
be so—for sale and circulation among the public. It would be a
most useful work, and one most worthy of Government patronage;
but I am convinced, that for the reading-room, the only really useful
one, would be the one in manuscript, always kept well written up.
Appendix B.
Glassed Catalogue.
Besides the alphabetical catalogue, which I look on as the first
requisite for the library being made available to the public, it would
be the greatest possible boon to the readers, if they could be furnished
with a good classed catalogue also ; and it does not appear to me
that there is any mystery about the subject, as many have asserted,