105 



Library Work 



Revision of the scheme of classification was completed and the 

 reclassifying of the h'hrary collections hegnn and carried tln'ough 

 to about two-thirds of completion. As explained in last year's 

 annual report the major divisions of the classification were retained 

 but consolidation was effected so that now everything on a subject, 

 such as entomology, is in one place. In the former classification 

 some books on entomology were in the division for nature study, 

 some in zoology, some in plant pathology, others in the division 

 for farm pests. In effect the old classification consisted of three 

 classifications — the main classification of the botanical books uti- 

 lizing a decimal scheme which was esi)ecially compiled for the 

 use of the library, preceded by a classification of reference, biog- 

 raphy, and travel books all of which Averc in the " Q " collection, 

 and followed by the " Z " classification of non-botanical books 

 which utilized the Dewey decimal classification scheme preceded by 

 the letter Z. 



The revised scheme consolidates these three schemes into one. 

 In addition to tlie classifications in use by the main library there 

 was a fourth, the straight Dewey scheme used in classifying the 

 books in the Children's Club Room library. The books in this 

 collection will also be reclassified so that eventually there will be 

 only one classification scheme in use for all the books. 



In any specialized collection of books such as one on botany, 

 there exist groups of books which form minor collections. Such 

 are the Pre-Linnean and Linnean collections. These were as- 

 signed classification numbers in the old classification but were never 

 kept in their relative location on the shelves. Being s]:)ecial col- 

 lections there is no need to incor])oratc these books in the main 

 classification scheme. The books in the Liimean collection which 

 consists of works by Rinnaeus, works based on the Linnean system 

 and works about Linnaeus, were reclassified according to the 

 arrangement in the Catalog of fJic works of Liunaciis . . . in the 

 libraries of the British Museum. 2d ed. 1933. The British 

 Museum catalog has been described as " the most complete re- 

 view of the writings of or on Linnaeus which exists." The serial 

 number assigned a work in that catalog was used prefixed by the 

 letter "L" to indicate Linnean collection. In this way the dif- 



