A Librarian's Work. 339 



one that is not altogether easy to expound to the 

 uninitiated. A brief historical note is needed, to 

 begin with. In 1830 Harvard University pub- 

 lished a printed catalogue (in two volumes, oc- 

 tavo) of all the works contained in its library at 

 that date. In 1833 a supplement was published, 

 containing all the accessions since 1830, and these 

 made a moderate-sized volume. Here is the es- 

 sential vice of printed catalogues. Where the 

 number of books is fixed once for all, as in the 

 case of a private library, the owner of which has 

 just died, and which is to be sold at auction, 

 nothing is easier than to make a perfect catalogue, 

 whether of authors or of subjects. It is very dif- 

 ferent when your library is continually growing. 

 By the time your printed catalogue is completed 

 and published, it is already somewhat antiquated. 

 Several hundred books have come in which are 

 not comprised in it, and among these new books 

 is very likely to be the one you wish to consult, 

 concerning which the printed catalogue can give 

 you no information. If you publish an annual 

 supplement, as the Library of Congress does, then 

 your catalogue will become desperately cumbrous 

 within five or six years. When you are in a 

 hurry to consult a book, it is very disheartening 

 to have to look through half a dozen alphabets, 



