College and Research Libraries By C A T H E R I N E C . B L O D G E T T Duplication in Original Cataloging Among Six Research Libraries1 Miss Blodgett is head of the Catalog De- partment, Providence Public Library. EX T E N S I O N of cooperation in cataloging a m o n g libraries has been one of the most f r e q u e n t l y advocated solutions f o r the "crisis in c a t a l o g i n g . " I n order to extend cooperative cataloging, several plans have been proposed. A m o n g them are the de- velopment of a n a t i o n a l union catalog sug- gested by D o w n s , 2 w h i c h w o u l d involve an elaborate system of regional union c a t a l o g s ; and the somewhat complicated scheme ad- vanced by E l l s w o r t h , 3 whereby holdings of 1000 p a r t i c i p a t i n g libraries w o u l d not only be recorded at the L i b r a r y of Congress, b u t w o u l d also be circularized by means of book catalogs a m o n g the libraries them- selves. T h e possibility of extending the services of the L i b r a r y of Congress in co- operative cataloging has also been noted. 4 T h e utilization of the existing U n i o n C a t a - log of the L i b r a r y of Congress is involved in these proposals. T h e L i b r a r y of Con- gress Cooperative Acquisitions P r o g r a m had as one of its m a j o r f e a t u r e s cooperative cata- loging, based on special assignments, by the p a r t i c i p a t i n g libraries. A l t h o u g h these suggestions a r e on a na- 1 B a s e d on a m a s t e r ' s e s s a y , C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y , S c h o o l of L i b r a r y S e r v i c e , 1948. 2 D o w n s , R . B . , e d . Union Catalogs in the United States. C h i c a g o , A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n , 1 9 4 2 . p . i 1 9 - 2 5 , 2 8 3 - 3 1 5 . 3 E l l s w o r t h , R . E . " C e n t r a l i z e d C a t a l o g i n g f o r S c h o l a r l y L i b r a r i e s . " Library Quarterly, 1 5 : 2 3 7 - 4 3 , J u l y 1 9 4 5 . S e e a l s o h i s " R e p o r t . " Library of Con- gress Information Bulletin, N o v . 1 6 - 2 2 , 1 9 4 8 , A p p e n - d i x . 4 H a y k i n , D . J. " W a y to the F u t u r e : C o o p e r a t i v e a n d C e n t r a l i z e d C a t a l o g i n g . " College and Research Li- braries, 3 : 1 5 6 - 6 2 , 1 7 5 , M a r c h 1 9 4 2 . tional scale, it has been observed t h a t there is also room f o r smaller, local schemes of cooperation, as f o r example the Connecti- cut Valley P r o j e c t involving six college li- braries of similar size and scope described by R i d e r . 5 A s M a c P h e r s o n 0 said in concluding her r e m a r k s on cooperative cataloging in 1 9 3 6 : " D u p l i c a t i o n is still going on in m a n y p a r t s of the c o u n t r y , and even w i t h i n dif- f e r e n t institutions of the same city." N o w a test of M a c P h e r s o n ' s s t a t e m e n t has been made f o r certain specific libraries w i t h i n the N e w Y o r k metropolitan area. W i t h i n N e w Y o r k City, or no m o r e than 100 miles f r o m it, are five university li- braries w i t h facilities f o r g r a d u a t e s t u d y : C o l u m b i a , N e w Y o r k , F o r d h a m , Y a l e and P r i n c e t o n . W i t h these the N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y ranks as a center f o r study by research w o r k e r s . N o a t t e m p t has been made as yet t o w a r d cooperation in catalog- ing a m o n g these libraries. I n his discussion of the C o n n e c t i c u t Valley P r o j e c t R i d e r 7 n o t e d : Cooperative cataloging is, of course, not primarily a problem of cataloging rules or printing techniques, but rather one of organi- zation and administration. Any first attempt at it must be tentative and exploratory. A s a first step in the direction of co- operation this study is offered. I t s purpose is to determine if and in w h a t ways co- 5 R i d e r , F r e m o n t . " R e a l C o o p e r a t i v e C a t a l o g i n g . " Library Quarterly, 1 3 : 9 9 - 1 1 2 , A p r i l 1 9 4 3 . 6 M a c P h e r s o n ; H . D . Some Practical Problems in Cataloging. C h i c a g o , A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n , 1 9 3 6 . p . 1 2 4 . ' Op.cit., p . 9 9 . 20 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES operative cataloging m i g h t be possible a m o n g six research libraries. Recently the L i b r a r y of Congress has been unable to supply p r i n t e d cards f o r more t h a n 50 per cent of the titles cataloged by the C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r i e s . I n response to a letter addressed to the Yale, P r i n c e t o n , F o r d h a m and N e w Y o r k U n i - versity libraries and to the N e w Y o r k P u b - lic L i b r a r y Reference D e p a r t m e n t , it was learned t h a t cataloging statistics f o r 1946- 47 f r o m these libraries show a substantial percentage of titles f o r which no L i b r a r y of Congress printed cards w e r e available. I t is assumed t h a t duplication in cataloging of titles for w h i c h L i b r a r y of Congress printed cards are not available is occurring a m o n g research libraries because of lack of co- operative procedures. F o r d h a m U n i v e r s i t y estimated t h a t printed cards w e r e unobtainable f o r 25 per cent of titles cataloged. N e w Y o r k U n i - versity reported that it w a s able to obtain cards for 65 per cent of its cataloging out- put ; or, in other w o r d s , N e w Y o r k U n i - versity was doing original cataloging f o r 35 per cent of its titles. A t Y a l e U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y cataloging statistics show t h a t in 1945-46 approximately 47 per cent of its books w e r e cataloged w i t h o u t L . C . cards, and in 1946-47 about 4 0 per cent were so cataloged. A t Y a l e statistics f o r serial cata- loging w o u l d show a much higher per- centage cataloged w i t h o u t p r i n t e d cards. A t P r i n c e t o n the average f o r the t w o years, 1946-47, was 55.7 per cent of books given original cataloging. F o r the same period at the N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y R e f e r e n c e D e p a r t m e n t 48.7 per cent of its titles, ex- clusive of serials and serial documents, w e r e cataloged w i t h o u t L . C . cards. T o determine h o w m u c h duplication in original cataloging w a s o c c u r r i n g a m o n g the six l i b r a r i e s — C o l u m b i a , N e w Y o r k University, N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y , F o r d h a m , Y a l e and P r i n c e t o n — a selected g r o u p of 5 0 0 main entries which received original cataloging at C o l u m b i a w a s checked in the catalog of each of the other five. T h e s e entries w e r e chosen f r o m material processed by the main C a t a l o g i n g D e p a r t - m e n t at Columbia in the spring and sum- m e r of 1946. A c t u a l process slips w e r e used f o r checking. T h e sampling was made at r a n d o m , but w o r k s in subject fields not t h o u g h t to be common to all the libraries w e r e excluded. T h u s titles f r o m the Schools of L a w and M e d i c i n e at Columbia, and those titles spe- cifically in the subjects of engineering and library science w e r e eliminated. E n t r i e s f o r items in special collections w e r e not in- cluded. F u r t h e r , only entries in the R o m a n alphabet w e r e included, which probably eliminated a n u m b e r of titles in the Russian language. P r o p o r t i o n s of various subject classes and languages w e r e kept, as nearly as possible, representative of the kind and a m o u n t of w o r k passing t h r o u g h the Co- lumbia C a t a l o g i n g D e p a r t m e n t . I n order to provide a basis f o r compar- ing the entries in the catalogs of the libraries, they w e r e c a r e f u l l y examined point by point and w e r e designated as included or lacking by checking the initials of the li- brary. Such variations as difference in date of i m p r i n t , usually accepted at C o l u m b i a w h e n present on L . C . cards, w e r e allowed. I n some cases duplication had to be assumed, as in comparison of the C o l u m b i a entries w i t h those at P r i n c e t o n , w h e r e preliminary pagination is not always given. I n spite of c a r e f u l checking in the L . C . Depository C a t a l o g , a f e w L . C . printed cards did ap- pear f o r titles checked in the other cata- logs. T h e percentage of these w a s very low, probably not w o r k i n g out to more than about 1 per cent of the titles checked. T h e y w e r e not counted as duplicates. A l t h o u g h the basic list w a s m a d e up of JANUARY, 1951 21 7 a r a n d o m selection of 5 0 0 titles, they fell into f o u r types: books, monographs, theses and publications of g o v e r n m e n t s and other corporate bodies. Serials w e r e excluded f r o m consideration because they f o r m so large and heterogeneous a class of material, and because libraries tend to differ in their t r e a t m e n t of t h e m . B O O K S : Of the f o u r categories in the list the largest was t h a t of books, represented by 4 0 0 of the 5 0 0 titles. Books w e r e taken to include all w o r k s w h i c h did not fall n a t u r a l l y into any of the other classes. T h e m a j o r i t y of w o r k s cataloged at C o l u m b i a are in this class. M O N O G R A P H S : T h e differentiation a m o n g books, theses and publications of corporate bodies is fairly obvious, but t h a t between books and m o n o g r a p h s w a s arbi- t r a r i l y defined f o r this study. F o r the p u r - pose of this study any n o n l i t e r a r y w o r k of less t h a n 100 pages on a single subject, w h i c h did not come n a t u r a l l y w i t h i n the scope of theses or publications of corporate bodies, w a s considered a m o n o g r a p h . M o n o g r a p h s w e r e t h e second type of ma- terial in size. O f the total 5 0 0 titles there w e r e 73 of them. T H E S E S : Since kinds of m a t e r i a l not com- mon to all libraries u n d e r investigation w e r e to be kept at a m i n i m u m , f e w e r theses w e r e selected t h a n m i g h t have been. I t w a s assumed t h a t the N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y w o u l d have f e w e r of these t h a n the uni- versity libraries w o u l d . O n l y 2 0 titles on t h e list w e r e theses, a l t h o u g h C o l u m b i a catalogs a f a r greater n u m b e r of them than is here represented. G O V E R N M E N T A N D C O R P O R A T E P U B L I - C A T I O N S : T h e elimination of serials f r o m the study automatically eliminated m a n y g o v e r n m e n t documents and publications of corporate bodies. T h e r e w e r e only seven of the titles in this class, or a little over 1 per cent of the total. S U B J E C T S : T h e D e w e y classification as used at C o l u m b i a w a s chosen f o r the sub- ject division of the list. L i t e r a t u r e ranked first a m o n g subjects, w i t h a total of 162 en- tries. I t was followed by history w i t h 9 7 ; social sciences, 9 3 ; fine arts, 4 9 ; science, 3 2 ; philosophy, 3 0 ; religion, 17 ; technol- ogy, 1 2 ; general class, f i v e ; comparative philology, three. L A N G U A G E S : E n g l i s h led all the other languages on the list, w i t h 258 titles. G e r - m a n w a s second, w i t h 67. Spanish and P o r t u g u e s e considered together had 63, and F r e n c h 49. T h e r e w e r e 21 entries in the three Scandinavian languages, and ten, nine, three and three in D u t c h , I t a l i a n , Russian and L a t i n , respectively. A scattering of other languages appeared on the list. T h e s e figures approximate the proportions of lan- guages in the C o l u m b i a C a t a l o g i n g D e p a r t - m e n t ' s o u t p u t . A n exception should be made of Russian, w h i c h at C o l u m b i a ac- counts f o r a larger proportion of titles t h a n is here indicated. T h e cause of this discrep- ancy, as stated above, is t h a t this study eliminated titles in the Russian alphabet. D A T E S : I n o r d e r to d e t e r m i n e t h e e x t e n t of the currency of the m a t e r i a l being cata- logued by the various libraries, three time periods of unequal length w e r e set up. T h e s e w e r e : 1800-1899, 1900-1939 and 1940-1946. T h e s e periods w e r e chosen be- cause the m a j o r i t y of books cataloged at C o l u m b i a w e r e published in the t w e n t i e t h century, and of all titles considered, the greatest n u m b e r had appeared since 1940. T h a t this time scheme w a s essentially suit- able is borne out by the f a c t t h a t 2 9 4 of t h e entries fell w i t h i n the 1940-1946 pe- riod. O n e h u n d r e d and thirty-six w e r e published between 1900 and 1939. O n l y 70 appeared before 1900. T h e s e titles, w i t h the exceptions noted, w e r e taken as typical of C o l u m b i a ' s original cataloging production d u r i n g 1946. Since 22 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES they w e r e typical of a large l i b r a r y ' s cata- loging, it was held that this m i g h t properly be used as the i n s t r u m e n t to test the as- sumption t h a t there is duplication in cata- loging a m o n g a g r o u p of libraries in a certain locality. T h e d a t a collected in the investigations at the N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y and at the libraries of Yale, P r i n c e t o n , F o r d h a m and N e w Y o r k U n i v e r s i t y w e r e studied accord- ing to the method set up f o r the analysis of the basic list, and the results obtained at each library w e r e compared w i t h t h a t list. M o s t duplication w i t h the list f r o m Co- lumbia occurred in the catalog of the N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y . T h i s library con- tained 9 4 of the entries, or slightly less t h a n 2 0 per cent. A t Y a l e 86 of the entries w e r e f o u n d , representing 17.2 per cent of the C o l u m b i a list. A p p r o x i m a t e l y 13 per cent, 65 of the 500 titles, w e r e f o u n d in the P r i n c e t o n U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r y . N e w Y o r k U n i v e r s i t y had only 13 of the titles checked, and F o r d h a m had 12, or f e w e r t h a n 3 per cent in each case. D i s t r i b u t i o n of the duplicate entries by type of material, subject, language and time period followed closely the distribution of the entries on the basic list in t h e check of all five libraries. I t w a s generally f o u n d t h a t most duplications occurred in the fields of history, l i t e r a t u r e and the social sciences; t h a t books w e r e the f o r m of material most f r e q u e n t l y o c c u r r i n g ; t h a t English was the language of most t i t l e s ; and t h a t most w e r e published in the period 1940-1946. Of the 2 0 theses on the basic list 13 w e r e f o u n d at Y a l e and 10 at P r i n c e t o n . T h e percentage of duplication revealed by the study does not suggest a general pro- g r a m of cooperative cataloging a m o n g the six libraries. T h e possible exception to this conclusion is cooperation between Co- lumbia and the N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y . A f u r t h e r study of the libraries shown here to have the most in common ( C o l u m b i a , N e w Y o r k Public L i b r a r y , Y a l e and Prince- t o n ) might indicate some possibility of co- operation along lines m o r e restricted by subject, language, type of material or date of publication than was the list which was the basis of the study. F o r example, there might be cooperation on the basis of spe- cialization in acquisitions programs. T h i s idea has been given impetus by the projects developed d u r i n g the w a r , such as the li- b r a r y of Congress Cooperative Acquisitions P r o g r a m . H o w many of the items included in the list of 5 0 0 titles are held by the L i b r a r y of Congress and not cataloged was an un- k n o w n quantity. I t is apparent, however, t h a t so long as the L i b r a r y of Congress can- not produce its cards quickly, A m e r i c a n li- braries will need to prepare some of their o w n cataloging. W h i l e this situation ob- tains, the possibilities of cooperative cata- loging among groups of libraries should be explored. Kentucky Archives Fellowship An Archives Fellowship will be offered by the M a r g a r e t I. King Library, University of Kentucky, for the fiscal year 1951-52 or for the academic year. Stiend is $100 per month with part-time work assignments under direction of University of Kentucky Archivist. Projects will be related to fellow's interests if possible. Partial loads may be carried in any academic department, and fellow may become a candidate for a degree. Fellowship is renewable. Apply to director of libraries, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky. JANUARY, 1951 23 7