44 PSYCHE. 
Sa Hi Ey 
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., MARCH 1880. 
Communications, exchanges and editors’ copies should 
be addressed to EDITORS OF PSYCHE, Cambridge, Mass. 
Communications for publication in PSYCHE must be 
properly authenticated, and no anonymous articles will 
be published. 
Editors and contributors are only responsible for the 
statements made in their own communications. 
Works on subjects not related to entomology will not 
be reviewed in PSYCHE. 
For rates of subscription and of advertising, see ad- 
vertising columns. 
TITLE SLIPS. 
The only kind of bibliographical record 
yet devised which can be always current, 
and still be conveniently arranged, is a 
card catalog. Recognizing this fact, most 
libraries in the front rank of the science 
catalog their books by a card system. To 
enable such libraries to work together and 
in the best way, a committee of the Ameri- 
ean Library Association (a society having 
for members the leading librarians and 
bibliographers of America, and, we do not 
hesitate to say, the most skilful managing 
librarians in the world), made a report 
upon uniform title-entries, which was pub- 
lished in the Library Journal (1878, v. 3, 
p- 12-20). In asucceeding numero of the 
same journal (1878, v. 3, p. 113-115), a 
report was made upon the subject of printed 
title slips, and, to put into practical shape 
the rules laid down in these reports, a 
monthly list of the books which appeared 
in America, during 1879, was published 
under the name of The Title-Slip Registry. 
This list was printed on one side of thin 
paper, for cutting and pasting upon the 
cards of library catalogs. 
To accord with the methods of work 
used and so carefully planned by the Lib- 
rary Association the mode of recording 
articles in PsycnE has been changed, and, 
at present, the title slips which may be cut 
from the thin paper edition of Psycue are, 
in form and type, the same as those of The 
Title-Slip Registry. Slight changes in the 
record were necessary because PSYCHE re- 
cords not only books but also the literature 
found in periodicals. 
A few statements in regard to the most 
convenient form of using these title slips 
may not be inappropriate for such of our 
readers as are not librarians or bibliogra- 
phers. 
The size of card recommended by the 
American Library Association — and kept 
on sale by their supply department — is 5 
by 124cm. The title slip is pasted in the 
middle of the upper portion of this card, 
leaving a margin of about 3 cm. at each 
end. The slips are then arranged in alpha- 
betical order as an author-catalog ; or, by 
writing a suitable catch-word in the left 
hand margin, they may be arranged as a 
subject-catalog. The right hand margin 
remains for shelf designation or such indi- 
cation of possession as the owner may 
wish. These marginal notes may be writ- 
ten in pencil, thus allowing their possessor 
to arrange the slips, as best suits his pur- 
pose from time to time, by species, by gen- 
era, by families, or in the order of publi- 
cation. Care should be taken, if one 
prizes the appearance of his list, to secure 
a paste that does not turn yellow by age. 
A child can do the pasting of the slips. 
Their value will be appreciated as they 
Gi 
accumulate. 
