Publication Date

1964

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Walther, LaVern||Broadus, Robert N.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Library Science

LCSH

Classified catalogs; Library catalogs

Abstract

The classified catalog of this etudy wee developed with the start of a project designed to correct numerous errors found in a dictionary card catalog in a library of a new junior high school. The author believes one of the basic purposes of a school library is to develop a skill and resourcefulness in the use of libraries and to encourage the habit of per­sonal investigation. The card catalog is probably the most important tool in the library and the students In this school were avoiding it. A survey of the students revealed the students were receptive to the idea of a separate subject catalog. The author believed a classified arranged subject catalog would provide many advantages for the school library. A review of the literature concerning the classified catalog disclosed that it was popular in this country near the end of the last century. It is now prevalent in the public libraries of Great Britain and in use in only a few university and special libraries in the United States. Also, this review brought out the fact that though there are publications on the construction of a classified catalog, there is nothing in print to aid in the detailed conversion from a dictionary catalog to a classified catalog. A chapter of this study is devoted to the detailed procedure necessary for this conversion. Also, the author relates a method used to include both biographies and fiction in the classified subject catalog. The evaluation of the new divided classified catalog consisted of a questionnaire given to the students of the school after the catalog had been in operation for two months. A discussion of the results of the questionnaire the author found almost twenty-seven percent were confused by the new catalog though seventy-five percent of all the students believed it was a time-saver. A later oral 'spot-check' of forty-three students using the card catalog revealed that students were using the classified catalog to find related subjects in sequential order. This first use of the classified catalog in a secondary school library has been most satisfactory. In addition to stimulating use of the catalog by students the new catalog has sided teachers in compiling bibliographies. There are many aspects of the classified catalog which need further investigation. This paper closes with a discussion of but a few of them.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

vii, 42 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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