abetically with all the others. Put on
every card in the catalog the call-number of the book to which it
refers. This author-title-subject-list, or dictionary catalog, will
tell at a glance if the library has books a) by a certain author; b)
with a given title; c) on a given subject. These are the questions
most often asked.

[Illustration: Subject card. (Reduced; actual size, 7-1/2 x 12-1/2
cm.)

973.2 U.S. history- colonial.
C65 Coffin, Charles Carleton 1823-
_Old_ times in the colonies.
460 p. il. O N.Y. c[1880]]

There are in print several books giving rules for cataloging. Some of
these are mentioned in the chapter on Things needed (9). In a small
library which is always to be small it is not necessary to follow all
the rules laid down in these books. It is much better, however, to
do all the work, even in a very small library, according to the most
approved methods. So to do brings you in touch with your fellows and
gives you the comfort which comes from the consciousness of work well
done, even if the amount of the work be small.

In writing the subject-headings difficulties will soon arise unless
you follow certain general rules and are careful also to be consistent
in your work. For instance, at intervals during a few months you add
to the library books on horses, cows, sheep, goats, camels, and pigs;
some dealing with one animal, some with two or more. If for the first
one you write a subject-card with the catch-word or entry-word at the
top "Domestic animals," and for the next one "Farm animals," and for
the next one "Animals, domestic," you will scatter the references to
domesticated animals all through your catalog, to the despair of those
who would use it. You can guard against this, and easily, if your
catalog is small, by looking to see what you have already written
every time you write a new subject-entry-word, and by following out a
previously devised plan in the making of your entries. The safest
way is to get a printed list of headings and catalog rules and follow
them. (See chapter on Things needed, 9.)

With a printed list of subject-headings at hand it is not difficult to
keep your catalog consistent and reasonable.

This same list of subject-headings will serve also as a guide in the
writing of the cross-reference cards for your catalog, the cards, that
is, which refer the searcher from the topic "pigs," for example, to
"swine," or from both to "domestic animals."