DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 1. When you want to find a book by a certain author, look in the author-index, where a short title of the book will be given, if it is in the library, with a number referring to the column of the main catalogue, in which a full entry occurs together with the call-number of the book. If the book sought is a novel or play, it will save time to turn at once to the fiction or drama-list in the main catalogue. 2. If you only know the title of the book you want, but not the author, turn to the title-list of fiction for novels, and to the title-list of drama for plays. If the book does not belong to either of these classes, the title itself will frequently indicate the class where it will be found; if not, it may be entered in the author-index, printed in roman type. For instance, it might be difficult to guess in what class "American archives" have been placed, but a reference to the author-index under "American" will give you the number of the column where the series is entered. 3. If you want to find the resources of the library on a certain subject, turn to the class in the main catalogue, in which this subject belongs. Should you be in doubt about the class, the subjectindex at the end of the catalogue will give you the number of the class in which to look. For instance, if you want to find what books there are in the library on Ventilation, it may not occur to you to look in "Building," but under "Ventilation", in the subject-index, you will find the class-number 697, and the class-numbers printed at the top of the page in the main catalogue will guide you at once to column 461, where such books are entered. Remember, however, always to refer back to the general classes, of which the sub-class forms a division, in order to exhaust the resources of the library on a certain subject. General works often contain the most exhaustive treatises on their component parts. If you want all books on birds, for instance, you must first examine the class "Birds," then go back to the division "Vertebrates," then to the main class "Zoology in general", and finally see what there may be on birds in the comprehensive works on "Natural Science," with its general subdivisions of Collected works Dictionaries, Compends, Essays, etc. 4. If you want to refer to what has been written regarding a certain person, turn to the index to biographies, where you will find all the biographical treatises and essays contained in the library, arranged under the name of each individual. 5. Write the call-number, which is invariably printed in heavy type, just as it is given in the catalogue, punctuation marks and all. If the work should be in more than one volume, state, in addition to the call-number, the number of the volume you want. For instance, if you want of Smyth's "Lectures on modern history" the volume containing the "American war" (col. 1198), write it down thus 940:28 v2. 6. If you cannot find your book anyway, consult the librarian. |