XII.] A Librarian's Work. 267 



terms are susceptible. Yet each of these arrange- 

 ments would bring the title into a different part of 

 the catalogue, so that it would be quite impossible to 

 discover, by simple inspection, what the library con- 

 tained on the subject of constitutional law in Massa- 

 chusetts ; and to this extent the catalogue would 

 become useless. Many such defects are now to be 

 found in our subject-catalogue, greatly to the im- 

 pairment of its usefulness ; and they prove conclu- 

 sively that the work of classifying must always be 

 left to a single superintendent who knows well the 

 idiosyncrasies of the catalogue. This work consumes 

 no little time. The titles of books are by no means 

 a safe index to their subject-matter. To treat one 

 properly you must first peer into its contents ; and 

 then, no matter how excellent your memory, you 

 will often have to run to the catalogue for precedents. 

 As a rule, comparatively few cards are written by 

 the librarian or the principal assistant. Only the 

 most difficult books, which no one else can catalogue, 

 are brought to the superintendent's desk. Under this 

 class come old manuscripts, early printed books with- 

 out title-pages, books with Greek titles, and books in 

 Slavonic, or Oriental, or barbarous languages. Early 

 printed books require special and varying kinds of 

 treatment, and need to be carefully described with 



