CHAPTER XX

FILING AND INDEXING

=300. General.=--Although the library invented the card index, it may be confessed that in this country the library has not yet realized the possibilities of its own invention, even if it is convinced of its complete desirability. We make no question, however, of the fact that such methods as card-indexing and its derivative, vertical filing, become more necessary every day if the librarian is to handle with any degree of success the multiplicity of documents, prints, papers and other disparate matter which form so important a part of the stock of a really living library. Since the publication of the second edition of this MANUAL the whole matter has made such advances that a complete reversal of many of the statements and recommendations made in it is necessary. The general indexing and filing problems before the librarian are these:

1. Borrowers’ register.

2. Stationery and supplies register.

3. Correspondence filing and indexing.

4. Indexing of minutes.

5. The filing of clippings.

6. The filing of broadsides, prints, photographs, maps, lantern slides, negatives.

7. The filing of deeds.

8. The filing of pamphlets.

As the index is the key to the filing system, we will treat of filing methods first.

=301. Vertical, and Loose=, _versus_ =Other Methods.=--Any rigid method of filing becomes confused and time-wasting. For example, the old method for correspondence sent out was to copy it in a letter-book which was equipped with a thumb-index. As all letters so copied were placed in the book in chronological order, it necessarily happened that correspondence with a given person or on a given subject was found in several separate places in the book; and, although the letters received which occasioned the correspondence could be pasted into the letter-book against the replies, no connected view of the correspondence could be gained without several references. The letter-book method served its purpose for a long time, and has been preserved owing to the conservatism which is a British characteristic and to fear of loss, misplacement, or inaccurate record being made. Experience proves, however, that loss and misplacement can easily be prevented, and accurate record of letters is equally possible, when filing by flexible methods is used. Moreover, the principle of classification--alphabetical or subject--is the foundation of successful filing which admits of rapid reference and completeness; for it is beyond question desirable that all correspondence, documents, etc., relating to any given matter, should be kept in one place only. For example, the bookbinding transactions of a library involve correspondence with several bookbinders, specifications, instructions, orders, incidental correspondence respecting defects, errors, etc.--and all this material should come together for the simple reason that it is used together. To ensure this the material must be filed individually as a general rule; that is to say, in such a way that additional material can be inserted. There are various methods: the Stolzenberg file, for instance, and other files which resemble it. These are generally folders of stout manilla, having two flexible prongs inside at the fold which penetrate and fold over the margins of the papers and so hold them in place; and when an insertion is made the prongs are lifted and the new paper fitted into position. More recent is loose filing in folders in which the material is not secured in any way, and insertions are therefore possible without obstruction of any kind. All folders are filed in drawers, in cabinets as a rule, and the average office desk is now equipped with drawers for vertical filing. An illustration of a folder and filing cabinet will show better than much description what we have in mind (Figs. 114, 115).

In these folders correspondence and other documents are filed together with the carbon copies of replies. The carbon copy of a letter is, of course, an exact facsimile of it made at the one original operation of writing or typing the letter; it is thus an exact record, and additions or corrections are easily visible.

=302.= The arrangement of correspondence, etc., is a matter upon which opinion differs, but except for general correspondence, which may be filed alphabetically in folders--one or more folders as required being devoted to each letter of the alphabet--it is generally found that a classified arrangement is to be preferred. Even in the alphabetical folders an expansible number should be given to each folder in order that it may be indexed briefly and clearly. For the classification of correspondence several schemes have been devised; that, for example, in the latest edition of Dewey’s _Decimal Classification_ is full, flexible and practical; and perhaps that which is most used is L. Stanley Jast’s _Decimal Classification of Library Economy and Office Papers_, 1906 (revised 1907). The main divisions, a subdivision, and a section of the complete tables will enable us to illustrate its use (see p. 284).

_Main Divisions._

0 General. 01 Librarian. Personal. 1 Legislation. Founding. Classes of Libraries. 2 Extension work. 3 Building. 4 Government and Service. 5 Executive. 6 Accession. Description. Conservation. 7 Departments. 8 Publications. 9 Other.

_Main Sub-Divisions._

4 GOVERNMENT AND SERVICE. 41 Council. 42-3 Committee. 44-5 Staff. 46 Rules and regulations for readers. 47 48 Relations with other Corporation Committees. 49 Relations with other Corporation Departments.

5 EXECUTIVE. 51-2 Finance. 53 Stationery. Supplies. 54 55 Communication. Correspondence. 56-8 Office. 59

_Section of Complete Tables._

42 COMMITTEE. TRUSTEES. 421 Election. Co-opted Members. 422 Powers. 423 Standing Orders. 424 Chairman. 4243 Matters to be submitted to Chairman. 4245 Vice-Chairman. 425 Clerk. 426 Minutes. 427 Notices of Meeting.

428 Agenda. Notices of Motion. 4285 Attendances. 429 Next Meeting. 4291 Reports. Returns. 4292 Periodical (fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly). 4294 Annual. 4295 Next Annual. 4296 Special.

43 SUB-COMMITTEES. 431 Finance. 432 Officers. 433 Books. etc. etc.

FIG. 115A.--A Specimen of the Jast Classification of Library Economy (Sections 302-03).

=303.= Everything that comes into the library or goes out of it, except the actual books, will fit into such a classification, and may be numbered and indexed by it. All correspondence is marked boldly with the number of the division to which it belongs, and is filed in the folders which bear the number. The folders are numbered on the projecting edge of the broader flap, as shown in Fig. 114, and are arranged numerically according to the notation order. It may be objected that this method separates letters from one correspondent who may write at various times or on various subjects; but experience proves that except in few cases, such as are provided for under 55, where general correspondence is arranged alphabetically under the names of the writers, the questions the file is required to answer are not answered in terms of names of correspondents; moreover, the alphabetical name index, which is an indispensable accompaniment of the method, brings together all references to letters from any given correspondent. The index should be on cards, and should give the name and address of the correspondent, the classification number of the subject, and the dates of the letters received or dispatched (see Fig. 116).

Not only does this index serve as a key to the correspondence file (Section 302); it may contain, without prejudice to its value, all addresses which the librarian deems it expedient to keep, with telephone numbers, telegraphic addresses, and cable codes where necessary.

It will be obvious that a classified file of this kind will accommodate all other documents and lists--book-lists, reports made on subjects or departments, minutes, and in fact any miscellaneous papers whatsoever.

=304.= The effectiveness, and indeed safety, of any individual indexing or filing system depends upon the care with which it is manipulated in order that misplacements of papers or cards may not occur. The fear of carelessness or ignorance on the part of assistants has caused some librarians to prefer an alphabetical system of filing. When this is so it should be alphabetical by subjects, except in the case of general correspondence which deals with no particular subjects. Library communications are frequently of this general nature, but the vital letters are upon subjects; for example,

Exhibitions, Lectures, Readings, Story Hours,

are headings taken at random for which folders would be included. In arranging courses of lectures, for example, a librarian may write and receive any number of letters; and he wants them together as a rule and not in the alphabetical order of correspondents. This alphabetical-subject system requires an index to such folders as do not come under general correspondence; folders coming under the latter would be most useful in a sequence separate from the subject folders, but such separation is not essential.

+----------------------------------------------+ | | | SMITH, H. J., & SONS, LTD. | | 147A PATERNOSTER ROW, | | LONDON, E.C.2. | | | | _’Phone_--London Wall 6692. | | _Code_--A.B.C. | | | | 1919. | | 623--14 My. | | 623--9 Je. | | 631--18 Jy. | | etc. | | | +----------------------------------------------+

FIG. 116.--Address, and Correspondence, Index-Card.

=305.= If either of the two methods outlined is deemed too complex--neither is so really--the old theory that “the only natural arrangement for letters is an alphabetical one” will rule the choice of method. This simply means arrangement alphabetically by the name of the correspondent, and in this method the file is self-indexing to the extent of the names. If it is made the rule to place letters from institutions under the names of such institutions, and to insert, where necessary, in strict alphabetical order slips of paper to hold all cross-references from the names of officers, there will be no need for further indexing. If topical indexes are required they can be compiled on 8vo slips, the subject word being written boldly on the top of the sheet, and the names of the writers on the topic in alphabetical order below. These slips can take their place in alphabetical order among the letters.

=306.= All working correspondence files should be weeded out at intervals to remove matter of transient interest and to relieve congestion. The librarian should at the first mark such papers as are to be filed--much correspondence is merely formal, and has no information value, and need not be filed even temporarily; but it is better to file everything and to weed frequently than to lose any important document by initial carelessness. When weeding out, the matter of merely temporary interest may be destroyed; and that which it is desired to keep may be transferred in strict order to filing boxes, or another storage filing cabinet, thus leaving the current files free from any but current matter.

=307. Prints, Photographs and Maps.=--Unframed, unmounted “illustration” material, in which are included prints, illustrations, photographs, maps, and broadsides, requires separate and careful filing. In the first place it should be, so far as possible, mounted on “nature,” “sultan mecca,” or similar mounts of uniform size. This applies particularly to prints and photographs, and is the best means of ensuring their preservation and ease in handling and consulting them. They then need close classification by one of the existing systematic schemes to line on so far as may be with the classification of the books; and it is often necessary to expand a classification considerably to differentiate the almost innumerable sub-topics which may form the subjects of pictures. Such expansion is skilled work and should be done only by an expert classifier. An examination of the classification proposed for local photographic surveys in Gower, Jast and Topley’s _The Camera as Historian_, 1916 (Sampson, Low), will show how minute a classification photographs demand. Each mount should bear a label, in the top left corner preferably, giving the class-number, the subject, and other particulars (see the sections on Photographic Surveys, =433=, etc.). The filing may be in classification order in boxes which will lie flat on the shelves; and the most economical boxes are those made of the stoutest material compatible with lightness, such as cardboard covered with rexine, pegamoid cloth, etc.; heavy boxes of wood are awkward to handle and should be avoided. Better than boxes, because of the ease of consultation and insertion permitted, is a vertical file in drawers. In this the prints are inserted loosely like cards in a card-index, and no lifting and little handling are necessary to find any given print. For vertical filing the mounts should be the stoutest available, and a further protection is to use folders to hold groups of prints--one to a topic as a rule. The projecting edge of the folder may bear the topic number.

=308.= Maps do not fit readily into the vertical system, and are troublesome material as a rule. Several solutions of the map-filing problem have been suggested--rolling them and inserting them in tubes in a cabinet on the principle of the umbrella stand; mounting them on spring rollers and fixing them over bookcases where they can be drawn down to be consulted exactly as a blind is drawn; and an ingenious method devised by Mr G. T. Shaw, and described in _Public Libraries: their Organization, etc._, 1918 (Library Association), is worth examination. For the many small maps that all libraries possess, flat filing in such boxes as Fig. 118 depicts is probably the best. Single sheets of the Ordnance Survey, or other similar maps which are much handled, should be mounted on linen or some similar material, and an additional protection from tearing is to bind them with tape, which may be done by folding the tape over the edges and running them round with an ordinary sewing machine.

=309. Newspaper Clippings.=--The vertical file is an excellent instrument for dealing with newspaper clippings. These, in the case of matters of temporary interest, may be dropped into classified folders. For clippings which it is desired to keep, it is better to provide a mount, which may be of paper of sufficient substance to bear them, and paste them down, writing in the top left corner the class-number, subject, source and date of the clipping. The older methods of filing clippings in newspaper-cuttings books, or in any form of guard book, have the disadvantage of inflexibility, want of rational means of indexing the contents, and occasion reference in course of time to several volumes for matter on any subject.

=310. General.=--For most filing purposes quarto folders, to accommodate quarto papers, which file in standard-sized drawers, are sufficient; but both drawers and folders can be obtained in foolscap and other sizes. And notwithstanding our advocacy of the loose method of filing, there is much to be said for such files as the Stolzenberg for papers which have an invariable chronological appearing and are valuable in that order; because the file, having the apparatus already described for securing and binding the papers, has the never-to-be-discounted virtue of book form. Such papers are minutes, periodical reports on special departments, financial analyses, book-lists, etc. Moreover, although the standard Stolzenberg cabinet accommodates its folders in horizontal fashion, the latter are also suitable for filing vertically in the drawers recommended for general purposes.

=311. Lantern Slides and Negatives.=--Modern libraries collect and preserve, occasionally even make for their own use, lantern slides and negatives. The method recommended for storing these is precisely similar to that for prints; that is to say, in drawers in cabinets of suitable dimensions. Such cabinets are made by several firms specializing in photographic apparatus; and drawers can be obtained of a size to accommodate either slides or negatives. Without being dogmatical upon the point, it may safely be said that the best arrangement of slides is a classified one in drawers, the classification number being written on a label on the mount of the slide and on the top edge of the binding. If the slide is made from a negative in the possession of the library the number of the negative should also appear on the mount.

=312.= Negatives require more careful treatment, as the film is subject to damage if unprotected. They are also generally larger than lantern slides; and separate cabinets, or separate drawers, are desirable to hold them. A useful method is to insert each in a small manilla folder bearing the number on its edge, which number should also be written in ink (white is best) on the corner of the negative. Negatives may be arranged by accession numbers, as they are rarely wanted more than one at a time; and the slide catalogue will refer from slide to negative, as well as be a direct reference to the latter.

=313.= The index or catalogue of slides may be on cards arranged as a rule by titles or subjects, as the photographer or slide-maker’s name is rarely wanted. The following example of a card shows the title, source, location, and classification number of a slide and the number of its negative:

+------------------------------------------------------+ | 656 LOCOMOTIVES. | | Ble | | Blenkinsop’s Engine, with Rack-Rail, 1811. | | | | | | | | | | | | Print-- Lantern Slide-- | | Process Coloured. | | Size 3 in. × 3 in. | | Negative 18. Lecture--Railways. | | 66675 P. | | | +------------------------------------------------------+

FIG. 119.--Lantern-slide Index Card (Section 313).

Slides which form lecture sets and are invariably used together, may be filed as sets, in spite of the fact that the others may be classified. After all, the rule of classification itself is that things used together must be placed together.

=314. Indexes.=--Probably no work demands the use of indexes so imperatively as library work. The catalogue is merely an extension of an index, and the borrowers’ register (which is dealt with in Section 366, etc.) is in its most convenient form merely an index. We have already dealt with the indexes for correspondence, lantern slides, etc., and it will be more convenient to deal with the indexes to prints and maps in Sections 438, etc. Here we can mention only one or two administrative indexes, with the general remark that the methods described are not to be regarded as stereotyped, but are merely suggestions which librarians may adapt to their special needs.

THE CARD DIARY.--A useful little card index is one which may go on a desk, and is guided with the days of the week, and has such other guides as “This Week,” “To-day,” “Next Week,” “Miscellaneous matters,” etc., which serves as a reminder to its user. Behind the appropriate guide are filed cards referring to the matters which are to be dealt with at the time indicated. These card-diaries are commonly known as “ticklers,” and can be a most effective aid to methodical administration.

STATIONERY AND SUPPLIES INDEX.--It is an important matter, especially in large libraries, to be able to put hands immediately upon any article of stationery or other supplies. The old, haphazard plan of thrusting supplies in cupboards with wooden doors, and trusting to luck or memory for finding them again, is too leisurely a method for the busy modern librarian. All storage cupboards or presses should have glazed doors. This simple precaution has the effect of inducing tidiness on the part of the staff, and the prospect of slovenly arrangement is reduced to a minimum. The next process is to decide upon a method of indexing which will offer the greatest facilities for rapidly finding any given article. In the _Library World_ for July, 1899, Mr Jast describes a graphic method of achieving this end. He provides a series of cards of uniform size, one or more for each article indexed, according to the need for indexing them more than once in the alphabet. On these cards he draws a rough diagrammatic elevation of the cupboard or other place of storage, as illustrated (Fig. 120).

+-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Fine Receipt Books. Office Desk. | | +------+------+---------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +------+------+---------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | X | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +--+------+------+---------+---------------+---------------+--+

FIG. 120.--Supplies Location Card (Section 314).

On this is indicated at the top left-hand corner the class-number, and name or nature of the supply, and at the opposite corner its location. When a supply is stored away in this receptacle one of the blank cards representing it is headed as described, and the exact place where the articles are stored is indicated by a cross marked on the diagram, as shown above.

Of course, every separate receptacle must have its own series of specially drawn cards. The index is made by arranging these cards in the alphabetical order of the names of the various articles. Any one wanting a new fine receipt book, and not knowing where to find it, would look up this index under the word “Fine” and there he would find the card which indicates not only the receptacle where these books were stored, but also the exact position. This card may be combined with the inventory card described in the next chapter (Section 327).

Another plan would be to mark every cupboard or other receptacle with a letter or number. As these places would have glass doors, if they had any at all, there would be no necessity to mark separate shelves or pigeon-holes further. It is not always possible, or even desirable, to fix the location of supplies beyond the main receptacle. A reference to a cupboard is quite near enough for any one having eyes in his head. To these various receptacles an index on cards or slip books as before can readily be made. The card should bear the name of the article at one of its top corners, and on the opposite corner the number or letter of the place where it is to be found. If necessary the remainder of the card or slip can be used for setting out the dates and quantities of successive orders of the article. This will be found a very useful form of inventory.

=315.= The indexes of minute books are usually kept in the books themselves and not separately. If a thumb index has not been provided, a few pages, say, twenty-six, may be reserved at the beginning or end of the book, in which an alphabetical sequence can be spaced out in pencil. It is equally clear, for all the reasons given in favour of the individual entries, that cards permit, that these indexes may be made on cards.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | F |DICKENS, CHARLES | +-------+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | | _David Copperfield_ | +-------+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | | Macmillan, 4 : 6n. | +-------+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Accession No. 7,420 Date withdrawn, 10 : 6 : 18. | | Incomplete Out of date | | ✓ Dirty New ed. Bad | | ✓ Worn out No. of copies in Lib., 20 | | ✓ To be replaced Transferred | | Not to be replaced Marked in Acc. Bk. | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+

FIG. 121.--Withdrawals Card (Section 316).

=316. Withdrawn Books.=--The card is a useful medium for recording withdrawals, and furnishes ample room for particulars (see Fig. 121).

=317. Stock-taking Results.=--Books missing at stock-taking are conveniently indexed on cards (see Fig. 122).

The back of the card indicates the dates at which examinations were made of the various places where the missing book might be traced (see Fig. 123).

+----------------------------------------------------------+ | | | MISSING. | | | | 355 Legion of Frontierswomen. Pocock, Roger (ED.) | | Frontierswoman’s Pocket Book. | | | | Missing on _Oct. 1912_. Stock No. 19843. | | | | Found on _28th Jan. 1919_. | | | | Where found--_In a Newton pillar box. Returned by Postal | | Authorities._ --E. L. M. | | | | Condition Replaced | | | +----------------------------------------------------------+

FIG. 122.--Card for Missing Books Index (Section 317).

+------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Shelves | | | | | +------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Repairs | | | | | +------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Recasing | | | | | +------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Binding | | | | | +------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Withdrawals | | | | | +------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |Reference | | | | | +------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

FIG. 123.--Card for Missing Books Index, Back (Section 317).

=318. Other.=--Other indexes which have been found of value are a general administrative index, with sections allotted to suggestions for activities; information given from the libraries, and not given (a most important matter as revealing deficiencies needing remedy); the location and distribution of keys when the latter are in the hands of several people; classification decisions; and, indeed, there is no limit to the use of the card index as an administrative tool. One simple and invaluable index in libraries where lectures are given is a Lecturers’ Index, with guides for Offers, Next Series, Current Lectures, Past Lectures, behind which are placed cards bearing the names and addresses of lecturers, the titles and other particulars of their lectures, dates of delivery, etc. The mere indexing of such materials affords many suggestions and reduces lecture-organization to a very simple process.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

=319. Literary Indexing:=

Clarke, A. L. Manual of Practical Indexing, 1905. Grafton. New York State Library. Wheeler and Bascom, E. L. Indexing: Principles, Rules and Examples, 1905. Bulletin, 94, Library School, 19. Ed. 2; revised, 1913. Bulletin, 354, Library School, 33.

Petherbridge, Mary. Technique of Indexing, 1904. Secretarial Bureau.

Wheatley, H. B. How to Make an Index, 1902. Eliot Stock.

---- What is an Index: Notes on Indexes and Indexers, 1878. Index Society Publications.

=320. Commercial and Library Indexing:=

Byles, R. B. The Card Index System. Pitman.

Kaiser, J. The Card System at the Office, 1908. Vacher.

---- Systematic Indexing, 1911. Pitman.

Sayers and Stewart. The Card Catalogue, 1913. Grafton.

=321. Filing:=

Cope, E. A. Filing Systems: Their Principles and their Application to Modern Office Requirements. Pitman.

Dana, J. C. American Library Economy [Various Sections, particularly v. i., pt. 5, sec. 3, Picture Collection; pt. 6, Art Department; v. ii., pt. 1, Colour and Position Filing; pt. 18, sec. 1, The Vertical File (revised ed. entitled the Information File); etc.], 1909. Woodstock, Vermont: Elm Tree Press.

Jast, L. S. A Classification of Library Economy and Office Papers, 1907. Grafton.

For articles, consult Index of Cannons under Indexing and Filing.

DIVISION IX

MAINTENANCE AND ROUTINE WORK