Library Organization (1951)

have you ever watched the way others use the library there's quite a difference in the way they go about it some seem lost in the library take this girl for example her name is Jean you'd hardly know that her job is to find what she needs and get to work as soon as possible she seems confused but why she knows what she needs material on and she should get that material quickly in order to use her time for the real job of studying the material or so it seems to me of course all students aren't like Jean Tom always seems to use the library efficiently effectively watch Tom knows what he needs and he knows our library well enough to find what he needs without waste motion or waste time he finds the right drawer in the card file quickly for he's used the file many times he records the call number completely and he's ready to find the book he wants Jean still hasn't found what she's been looking for but Tom well knowing the arrangement of the books on the shelves and the name and number of the book he's looking for that's what I mean by efficiency that's all right mine may take time thanks I'd like to take out this book Miss Wilson here you are Tom thank you Miss Wilson yes Jean how do you have you a book on the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne why I think we have a number of books you could use would you like me to help you find something would you and while we're about it perhaps I could show you a few things about how to use a library efficiently I guess there are a few things I could learn let's begin at the card catalog of course you know the various ways we list a book in the card catalog by subject by author and by title that's right now suppose you look for a book on the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne now the first thing Jean is to really get to know this card catalog you should be able to put your hand on just about any drawer you want let me show you you select a subject well how about The Scarlet Letter all right we want the S drawer s for scarlet but the title begins with the yes but in our card catalog we disregard the an's and A's so we look in the S drawer here we are this is a title card for The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne that was quick you should be able to find cards that offici now you try it let's see I want the H drawer H for hawthor now it ought to be ha A ha it ought to be in this section h a w Hawthorne here it is let's see no this isn't it Jane no no this is an author card for the story great Stone Face written by Nathaniel Hawthorne if you'll notice the name of the author is in small letters you want the story of the life of Hawthorne is this it yes this is a biography now can you notice the differences oh the name is in capitals and in red is that what you mean yes that's right in some libraries we Mark subject cards with capitals and some with red now what do you do next oh look for the book that's right only to look efficiently we'd better take the number of the book oh all right do I need all of the number yes both lines we'll see why a little later now before we leave the card catalog let me show you some common problems that puzzle many people in finding the cards they need look at this we file these cards differently than you may find them in other directories we file them all as if they were simply m a practice finding such names when you have some free time it will save your time later I bet it will here's another common problem where would you look to find 1860 or 5440 I don't know well here's a clue notice this number is written oh oh I see you just put the other numbers into words 50 18 you spell them out then what why uh you look it up in regular alphabetical Arrangement mhm very good now one more card which of the following would you file first second and third one against three on either Hill once's in a lifetime how do I know here's a clue we file by word not by letter but that's one for you to work on now what do you know about finding the books on the shelves well I know they're organized into sections 100s 200s and 300s is that what you mean part of what I mean Jean have you ever notice this chart it's a summary of the organization system we call The Dewy Decimal System use it study it and become familiar with it especially those sections you use frequently each number means something take 500 for example all books numbered in the 500s deal with science 510 tells us the books deal with mathematics 520 tells us the books deal with astronomy 530 is physics each figure in the number is significant and helps us find the book we want we find these same numbers on the shelves and books 530 General Physics you see what I mean yes but why did I need the rest of the call number we'll look further and we'll see you'll be looking for many books in the 800s do you know what they are literature that's right all books number 800 are in literature and each number has a special meaning the eight means literature numbers in this column mean the country numbers in this column mean the form of the writing thus 81 are American literature 82s are English literature 830s are German literature and so forth now adding form we find 81s are American Poetry 812 are American drama what would 821 be why it would be literature English poetry fine now you try to find the book you want 900 let's see over there in the 900 section and I want 9 21 here it is but this isn't the book I want better use all the call number the second part helps to locate a particular book in biography the first letter of the number refers to the person written about in other books it refers to the author h31 H period this is it see that wasn't so hard to find and thanks Miss Wilson I'll remember what you've taught me of course this is only the beginning for Jean she has much more to learn such as the arrangement of fiction but she's made a start before long her searching for materials should be quick and efficient yes so many of us need to know the organization of the library so we can give our time to studying materials instead of looking for them it can be so easy understand the card file know how to find what you want quickly efficiently learn the system we use in arranging the books and develop your skill in finding the books on the shelves with this beginning and with practice you can Master the organization of your library and turn searching time into study time [Music]