FINDING A BOOK AT THE CITY OF CANTERBURY LIBRARY BEFORE COMPUTERS

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ADULT UNION CATALOGUE

Campsie Library (then known as the Central Library 1) housed the adult union catalogue which was also known as the central catalogue. It held a set of catalogue cards for every publication in the City of Canterbury Library Service adult collection. Campsie Library did not hold a copy of every publication in the library service's collection although being the Central Library it did hold the largest collection in the City of Canterbury. Often a copy of the publication was only held at the branch libraries which were situated at Earlwood, Canterbury, Lakemba, Belmore, Punchbowl and Riverwood.

The cards in the catalogue were filed in a single alphabetical sequence with authors, titles and subjects interfiled. This catalogue was checked to ascertain if the Library Service held a particular publication and to find the unique call number assigned to a publication. This call number consisted of a Dewey classification number, the first three letters of the author's surname 2 and a book number 3.

The cards in the catalogue were called catalogue cards. In the centre, about 50 millimetres from the bottom of the each catalogue card, there was a small circular hole through which the drawer's rod was threaded. This metal rod ran from the front to back about a centimetre from the bottom of each catalogue drawer and was designed to prevent people from removing cards from the drawers.

Catalogue Cards

A set of catalogue cards consisted of the main entry card (generally doubling as the main author card 4), and added entry cards including added author card/s (up to three joint authors 5), title card and subject cards (one for each subject the cataloger considered necessary for the publication). Each catalogue card listed:

ADULT UNION SHELF LIST

The adult union list was housed in the staff workroom and held one card for every publication in the City of Canterbury Collection. Each shelf list card listed which libraries held a copy of the publication. This was done by printing on the bottom right of the shelf list card the "allocation number" of each library allocated a copy of the publication. The allocation numbers 8 were as follows:

1 - Campsie;

2 - Earlwood;

3 - Canterbury;

4 - Lakemba;

5 - Punchbowl;

6 - Belmore

7 - Riverwood.

The information on the union shelf list cards became the basis of the computerized version of the City of Canterbury Library online catalogue used today. This was due to the fact that the union self list cards were the core of the library management system employed by the library service and the key to locating each item held in the system as they provided:

By way of explaining the importance of the union shelf list staff were known to be told "in the event of a fire grab a shelf list drawer and run".

The information on these cards was entered in preparation for computerization by a company in the Phillipines.

BRANCH LIBRARY CATALOGUES

Branch Catalogues

The branch libraries had their own adult catalogue with catalogue cards only for the publications held at the branch.

Branch Shelf List

The branches also held their own shelf list with cards filed by the call number. There was also a shelf list for Campsie library which was in addition to the union shelf list housed near the Catalogue Department. The branch shelf list was in effect a list of all publications held at the branch in the order they were placed on the shelves. The union list was used every year to stock take the collection.

CHILDREN'S COLLECTION

The children's collection was managed identically to the adult.

  1. Canterbury Municipal Library consisted of the Central Library at Campsie and six branch libraries at Earlwood, Canterbury, Lakemba, Belmore, Punchbowl and Riverwood. return

  2. If more then three joint authors wrote a book then the first three letters of the title (after 'a', 'an' or 'the') were substituted. return

  3. The first book assigned a particular Dewey and three letters of the author's surname or book's title was given the book number '1', the next book assigned the same identical two lines was given the book number of '2' and so on. return

  4. The main entry card was generally filed under the author. If there were more then three authors then the main entry card was filed under the title. return

  5. If more then three joint authors wrote a publication then none were listed and the title became the main entry.return

  6. Sufficient space was left at the top of each card so the added entry details (such added author/s, title, and subjects) could be typed across the top left of each card. This meant searching the catalogue was more efficient as the words the cards were filed under were always at the top left of the card. For example if a cataloguer catalogued a publication with two authors, a title, and four subjects then there would be nine copies of the catalogue card printed:

    • the first (main entry card) would already have the author near the top left;
    • the joint author would be typed across the top of another card;
    • the title across the top of another;
    • a different subject would be typed across the top of each of four further cards;
    • the last two would be identical to the main entry card, one would become the union shelf list card the other the Campsie Branch shelf list card.

    If two copies of the publication had been purchased then the second copy would go to another branch and a further eight cards would have been produced for the branch (a set of seven catalogue cards and the branch shelf list card). return

  7. If there were more then three authors then the first three letters of the title (after 'a', 'an' or 'the') were substituted. return

  8. Each library had been assigned an allocation number by management when the library had first opened. Thus the allocation numbers were in the order of when the library first opened with Campsie (opening in 1946) being number 1 to Riverwood (opening in 1974) being number 7. return


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