The creation of a cataloguing economy: The typing section of the Widener Library The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Kipp, Laurence J., and Annie T. Thomas. 1951. The creation of a cataloguing economy: The typing section of the Widener Library. Harvard Library Bulletin V (1), Winter 1951: 112-116. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37363421 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA , I I 2 1-Jn,-,,,nrd Library Bulletin Tl1e Creation of a CatalogLti11g Eco1101ny: . The Typing Sectio11 of the Widener Library part of its basic function, a Ly the additional slip' that ,...-as'writ- library should 1nakc proniptly ten to begin ,vith, and the additional X available to its public the titles tin1e in revising.' Consequently the .flo,ving into it hr purchase, gift, and typc\vriter ,vas abandoned in April, exchange. Yet at Harvard, as in most I 893,l libraries, funds to pay for the neces- It is no,v clear ,vhy the cxperin1ent - sary cataloguing arc - and ah,•ays failed. The typists ,vere poorly have been-lin1ited. The use of trained, the card-~tock ,vasnot adap- short forms of cataloguing rather ted to this nc,v use, the typing in- than bibliographically con1plete vari- volved silnply an additional step in eties has helped the library to meet its the cataloguing, and, no doubt, the oblig::itions. In addition, as clean-cut n1achines ,vorked less ,veil than do a division as possible has been 1nade those of the present day. henveen the \\·ork of professional cat- It is significant that l1ighly-traincd alof,ruors and non-professional assist- cataloguers ,vere then unkno,vn, and ants, and a large part of the ,vork that that there ,vas little diff crcntjation of precedes Ena! approval of catalogue duties an1011gthe employees of the cards has been assigned to the latter dcpartn1ent. During the next· t,venty group, n1uch of it to the typing se~ years, both speciali:,,.ntionand the tion of the catalogue departn1ent. training of nc,v catalo~•ers pro- The origin and development of this ceeded rapidly- The type,vriter, jn section seems to be ,vorth recording the n1eanti1nc, proved its usefulness as. a study, literally speaking, in li- in other pans of the library, and in brnry ccono1ny. 1908 it \\'as given another trial in the The type\vriter ,vas not considered catalogue dcparnncnt. In his annual a useful tool in Harvard cataloguing report for the succeeding year, T. until some years after it had been . Franklin Currier, Assisrnnt Librarian ,vidcly adopted in business offices. A in charge of that department, re- 111achine had been introduced in the ported: 'Earlr last fall I con)plered an library as early as 1892, ,vhen 'nvo of in,•estigation as to a suitable type- the cataloguers gave half of each day ,vritcr for card ,vork and the J,ibrary to cataloguing titles prepared by /in ally purchased a Smith Premier. themselves and by n,•o others.' But . I took the Sinith Premier be- the letters had a blurred appearance cause the card holder can by no possi- because of ·the glazed surface and bility s1nooch the face of die card; • stiffness of the catalogue cards nnd, the 1nachine ,vrJtes near the top and as ,villiam Coolidge ·Lane, then As- 'E>:cept where otherwise indicated, quo- sistant Librarian and later Librarian, tation, arc from the annual rcpnn.< of the . reported the experiment, 'the gain in catalogue depar1T11cntof the IJarvard Col- lege Lihrn,:y (1na1111scriptand typescript), rinic of "'riting' ,vas 'just about offset in rhe files nf the dcpanment. Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume V, Number 1 (Winter 1951) Notes 113 sides of the card, though does not to'\1·ard the reorganization of the card \Vritc on the ,•ery lo,vest line; it hn5 catalogues • . Over three 111illion son1e nvelve more characters than cards ,vere handled and for the public most other makes - an itnportant cat:ilogues alone more thnn a million point in our polyglott ,vork; the nc,v cards ,vcrc prepared, of ,vhich 111cthod of "'citing accents is good about a half \Vere nc,vly trpcd by a and the color shift convenient; it is group of typists pounding a1vay for not so rapid a n1achinc ( ,vriting not dear· life during these husy months.' 2 visible) but extre1ne rapidity can By 192 5 l\1r Currier had c,·olved a probably never be attained in card system that n1adc the typc,vrircr an ,,•ork even hy an expert \\'titer. even n1orc important tool of his de- A.t present ,,·e arc typc,vi-iting a good partment. 'Certain experiments,' h~ portion of titles and this ,vork sho11ld reported at the end of the year, ,vere he increased in order to save the time 1nade 'to,vard econoniizing in the of cataloguers and to introduce ,nechanical process of catalog11ing. greater legibility of cards. .l\.s to the Books "\\'ere looked up by the cata- arti5tic appearance of any type\\•ritten loguers and brief notes made as to the card the less said the better.' form of entry and certain other de- One might raise an erebro\\' at i\-lr t11ils of cataloguing. These notes Currier's verb 'to s1nooch,' point out ,vcrc turned over to a typist ( l\1iss his undcrcstin1ation of the $peed pos- Bro,vn) ,vho prepared an author sible in typing cards, and disagree card. The card "'as then placed in ,vith his aesthetic reaction to typed the book and edited by the cata- cards, hut his decision has undou ht- loguer ••• celly saved the university great sums 'The ,vork is still experin1ental, and of money and his choice of a ma- h~s been taken 11p by l\1iss Baker. chine was so judicious that the satne There is ahvays a question as to ho\\' n1ake ,vas used almost exclusivelr for n1uch preparation should be done, thirty years; and this 1nay differ in different classes Fro1n 1909 the catalogue depart- of n1atcrial. ,vherc the person ,vho ment ,vas never ,1•ithout at least one finally fon,•ards the "\\'ork is not of type,vriter, but the use of the ma- the snpen•isor grade, it is prob:ihly chines in the regular cataloguing "'as \\'ise to ha,•e the prcli1ninary looking lilnited, largely because the cata- up made as sitnple as possible, perhaps loguers resisted learning ho,v ro oper- reducing it only to the determination ate them, and beca\lse the "'Ork of the of the heading. The typist should department ,vas not so specialized then prepare the card as '\Veilas she that any one person \\'as given all rc- can, but should not jutnp up from her sponsihility for typing. In a period of 1vork to ask questions about any in- crisis, ho,vcvcr, the machine proved dividual itc111.. • Since the ,vork is its usefulness, as i\1r Currier reported to be carefully edited, it is sheer jn describing preparations for n1oving ,vaste of tin1e for the typist to do jnto the \Videner Luild ing in 19r 5. ''fhe period from 1911 to 1915 ,viii 'Thomas F. Currier, 'Ca~loguing and he rc1nembered as • . hectic . Classification ar Harvard, 187$.-1938,'Har- 'i!arci Libr~ry Notes, III (No. 291 1919), In 191 , plans ,vcrc initiated, looking 238-239, Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume V, Number 1 (Winter 1951) I 14 Harvard L;brary Bulleti1l more than present an accurately economical devices initiated in the copied title. • . • A very large per- library for the handling of a heavy centage of these cards can he inserted cataloguing load. The section has in- in the official catalogue even though evitllbly attracted n1any 'special' jobs, they may bear certain alterations of sonic of them of short and some of the cataloguer.' thcn1 of long dumtion, but its primary l\1r Currier continued to emphasize duties have remained as l\·ir Currier his cataloguing economy and in his outlined them. 192 R report stated: '\Ve have 1nade 1:'he staff has been relatively stable further extension of the process of so- in size throughout this period. In called 'preliminary' cataloguing to 1930 six regular typists ,vere em- relieve experienced cataloguers of ployed, although three additional some of the mechanical drudgery of tcn1porary typists ,vcrc busily copy- their ,vork. 1'his has gone on 11ncler ing cards for the laibrary of Congr~ss the supervision of J\1rs. Nelson for the Union Catalog and another tempo- initial searching in the official cata- rary a~sistant ,vas typing Icelandic log11e1by ,vhich are revealed Library titles. At present the section c1nploys . of Congress cards "•hich ,ve can eight typists, \:Vhilc each typist is utilize, headings ,vhich have previ- sotnething of a specialist on one or ously been determined, and also other n1ore of the various procedures, her editions and duplicates. l\1iss Raker duties vary greatly, as the flow of has then been called in to direct the ,vork varies, An observer in the sec- preparation by the typists of the ini- tion during a typical day ,vo11ld find tial card.' ' • all of the.~e activities during the By 1930 the ,vork of the typists ,vas course of the day: one or more typists so ,veil established that l\1r Currier re- · preparing prcli1nina1y catalogue cards ported: 'The ,vork of our staff js be- for hooks purchased, or making order coining every rear more dependent on slips Ior Library of Congress cards, the labors of the.