A Librarian's Work. 359 



the book is to be assigned in the catalogue of sub- 

 jects ; and then the card is separated from the 

 book. The book goes on to its shelf, to be used 

 by the public ; the card goes back to some one of 

 the assistants, to be " indexed." In our library- 

 slang, " indexing " means the writing of the " red " 

 and " blue " cards which answer to the " long " 

 card ; in other words, the entry of the title l on 

 the new alphabetical and subject - catalogues be- 

 gun in 1861. For the most part this is merely a 

 matter of accurate transcription, requiring no re- 

 search. When these "red" and "blue" cards 

 have been submitted to a special assistant for 

 proof-reading, they are returned to me, and after 

 due inspection are ready to be distributed into 

 their catalogues. But for the original " long 

 card " one further preliminary is required before 

 it can be put into its catalogue. 



Besides the various catalogues above described, 

 our library keeps a " record-book " or catalogue 

 of accessions arranged according to dates of re- 

 ception. .This accessions - catalogue was begun 

 October 1, 1827, and records an accession for that 

 year of one volume, price ten shillings and six- 

 pence ! In 1828, according to this record, the 



1 The marginal portions of the long card are not transcribed in in- 

 dexing. 



