College and Research Libraries


By MARGARET CRESSATY 

Integration of Chinese Publications 
Miss Cressaty, formerly librarian of the 

von KleinSmid Library of World Affairs, 
University of Southern California, is now 
librarian, College of Osteopathic Physicians 
and Surgeons, Los Angeles. 

T
HE THOUGHT of devising a system of 
classification, to see it grow, and to 

modify it has tantalized many a librarian. 
It would be pleasant to sit in an ivory tower 
and have the time to meditate on a classifica-
tion for a body of knowledge. The task 
would have its reward in the exactness of 
the fit of the scheme to the chosen group 
of books and subject. However, most li-
braries cannot afford the specialists and pro-
vide the continuity of staff that special 
schemes en tail. 

Useful articles have been written about 
the classification of special collections. 
However, applying a special classification 
scheme to books just because they are in 
a foreign language may result in considera-
ble expense. Can books in a foreign Ian~ 
guage be classified according to the one used 
by the library? Is a special scheme worth 
the effort? · These are questions to ponder. 
There is no entirely right answer; it de-
pends too much on the library's needs and 
resources. 

Articles on the classification and catalog-
ing of publications in Chinese which have 
appeared recently in professional publica-
tions have involved special schemes of classi-
fication and the maintenance of a staff with 
a reading knowledge of Chinese. This dis-
cussion will present a simpler method of 
procedure. In the von KleinSmid Library 
of World Affairs at the University of 

Southern California, there is a collection of 
approximately 500 titles in the Chinese . 
language. The subjects vary considerably 
from the classics (belles lettres, philosophy, 
history, etc.), archaeology (Chinese inscrip-
tions on bone an.d bronze), and art to ~du­
cation and government reports. The pub-
lication dates range from 16oo to date. 
This wide range of subject matter and 
length of period covered presented a prob-
lem. Since Chinese characters have under-
gone many changes from the time they were 
inscribed on bones, a knowledge of .present-
day Chinese characters would not be suf-
ficient. And modern Chinese publications 
are often done in characters that imitate 
ancient script. 

Since there was not available at that time 
( 1938) a staff member with a knowledge of 
both Chinese and cataloging, it was de-
cided to secure the services of a graduate 
Chinese student, Vincent Shih, who was 
studying for a doctorate in philosophy. 
Mr. Shih had a knowledge of both ancient 

• and current ideographic symbols and also 
a proficiency in Chinese calligraphy. This 
is an important quality since the Chinese 
are critical of how the characters are writ-
ten. 

For several hours each afternoon, Mr. 
Shih would dictate the transliteration of the 
title pages to the cataloger. When the 
subject matter was not comparable immedi-
ately to the English, Mr. Shih would give 
further information in order to assist in tne 
classification of the book. From this the 
cataloger prepared a draft of the main 
entry card. Mr. Shih checked the trans-
literation (Wade-Giles system) , translation, 

38 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



and prepared the card in Chinese. 
The form followed on the English cata-

log cards was the usual one with the au-
thor's name inverted (inverted in the Eng-
lish sense since the Chinese write the last 
name :first and then the :first name ; the :first 
name is hyphenated frequently with the mid-
dle name) and entered in Roman type. 
The title, place, publisher and date were 
entered in the body of the card. Generally 
the collation was given in detail since 
Chinese material often has many prefaces, 
introductions, etc. that are numbered sepa-
rately. However, when the collation be-
came too involved the total pagination was 
indicated in brackets and the note "various 
pagings" used : Since much of the material 
is rare or had been issued in several edi-
tions, it was thought best to indicate colla-
tion in detail when possible. 

That the text is Chinese was mentioned 
in a note. Another note gave the transla-
tion of the title. Other facts, such as fore-
edge painting, relation to other editions, and 
various names of the author were given 
in notes. This meant an extremely full 
card but it was believed that the intrinsic 
value of the information far outweighed 
the time of typing and space. It should be 
explained that pica type was used; if elite 
type had been used, the additional space 
could have been used to an advantage by 
having the Chinese characters on each card. 
These characters could be placed on the 
reverse of the card. 

It must be understood that Romanization 
to the Chinese is almost like another lan-
guage. The Chinese characters are much 
easier for anyone with a knowledge of 
Chinese to read. The Romanization was 
used because of the time element and be-
cause it was hoped that the catalog would 
be used by students who were learning 
Chinese. There was even in 1938 a goodly 
number of students studying Chinese at the 

JANUARY~ 1952 

University. Some of them planned to use it 
in the foreign service, some in foreign trade, 
and others just because they wanted to learn 
Chinese. 

For the purposes of the collection, the 
Library of Congress subject headings were 
used. Each entry had an added entry 
"Chinese books" or "Chinese .periodicals" ; 
or, really two added entries since one card 
was in the Romanized type and the other 
in Chinese script. On the reverse of the 
Chinese card the Romanization of the au-
thor's name and title were typed. (This 
was for the benefit of the cataloger.) 
Under the heading "Chinese books" there 
·were . two divisions-the Chinese cards :filed 
by stroke and the Romanized arranged 
alphabetically. This provides a file for 
those who read Chinese and one for those 
who do not. During World War II these 
files were used intensively by government 
officials. Title cards using the Romanized 
title were made. When the publication was 
a translation of a foreign work, the original 
title was used also for an entry. 

As for a classification system, the Library 
of Congress schedules were used. The 
value of a separate scheme was considered 
carefully. However, it would have several 
disadvantages. First of all, it would not 
conform to the scheme used in the library. 
There would be the confusion caused by a 
different type of notation. By using the 
Library of Congress classification, the Eng-
lish edition of Sun Yat-sen's Three People~s 
Principles could be placed next to the 
Chinese. Of course, some libraries may 
want to shelve the Chinese material sepa-
rately, but in other libraries it may be ad-
vantageous to have editions in various 
languages shelved together. 

The Stanford University Libraries use 
the Dewey Decimal Classification, and the 
Library of the Ministry of Education uses 
the Nanking system of book numbers. An-

39 



other scheme is used at the University of 
California and still another at Claremont 
Colleges. In these libraries, there were 
other factors that influenced the decisions. 

While the Oriental Department of the 
Library of Congress is very helpful in sup-
plying information, it would solve more 
problems if its cards were available for 
distribution. Or, if the Harvard Y enching 
Institute's A Classical Catalogue of Chinese 
Books were further along; (only three 
volumes have been issued of the intended 
10 or 12) ; if each volume were indexed; 
and, if more information .were given for 
each entry, its classification scheme might . 
surmount the obstacle of being distinct from 
that used for the remainder of the collection 
in the library. Since only the largest uni-
versity libraries have room for the Harvard-
Yenching card catalog, ·its use is not con-
sidered. 

It would then seem that for the smaller, 
departmental, or more specialized library it 
would be better to classify and catalog the 
Chinese publications in accordance with 
the accepted procedure for other books. 
How many libraries have adopted a special 
scheme for German or French books? Or, 
for Arabic or Hebrew since these involve 
different scripts? True, they are often 
shelved in special sections, but this is done 
generally when the open shelf system is 
used and to .permit browsing. 

The cataloger should consider carefully 
the purpose of the Chinese collection in the 
particular library. The disadvantages of 
an elaborate system are many. And, pro-
vided there is someone who reads Chinese 
and can make a catalog in Chinese alone, 
will not its use be restricted to his hours 
and to those who read Chinese? 

In contrast, the simpler scheme as out-
lined allows any librarian to go to the 

catalog and to turn to the same subject 
heading as for books in English and to 
find how many books there are in Chinese 
on a given subject. It permits the research 
worker to find the book he wants and ~f 
he does not read Chinese he can have it 
translated. 

While the simplest method of cataloging 
is the one that conforms to the one in use 
in the library, some attention should be 
given Chinese tradition in the matter of 
binding. In the von KleinSmid Library, 
ivory clips were secured from China and 
cases made of card board and cloth were 
fastened with them. These were copied 
from Chinese cases. Blue muslin was used 
to cover most of the cases, since blue 
symbolized wisdom. 

While some very excellent classification 
schemes and cataloging routines have been 
developed for special subjects, it would 
~eem that books in a foreign language and 
script can be classified and cataloged in the 
same manner as other books in the library's 
collection. University libraries with large 
collections of foreign books will, no doubt, 
continue to devise new schemes and smaller 
libraries benefit from the results . However, 
until such schemes are proven to fill the 
needs of the smaller libraries, the use of 
the classification scheme and catalog rules 
already in use will integrate the foreign 
books in the collection and help to . make 
them more accessible. While special 
schemes have many advantages, the tempta-
tion to devise one should be governed by 
the permanence of the st aff, its size, the 
number of specialists available, and the 
necessity to inform the general staff of the 
ramifications of the special classifications. 
Publications in Chinese as well as books 
in other languages can be integrated into the 
library's collection and classification scheme. 

40 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES