GENERAL ARRANGELENT OF PRINTED MATTER




                                     in the



                  A R li Y  MEDICAL  LIBRARY






                      (Present practice of May 1,  1941)






     While there have been published many different schemes for the classi-



fication of books in libraries in general and also in medical libraries the



actual arrangement and shelving of printed matter remains always a problem



for solution by the individual library,  The system or practice of one library



cannot be adopted by another library without important changes.  It is the



scope and the size of the library which should be considered in any classifi-



cation or re-classification  of books.  Often it happens that an adopted method



of shelving proves to be cumbersome or useless as the library increases in



size or  as its  aims  and  service policies change.  This is especially true if



a library is  arranged according to a rigid  classification of subjects.



     The present  practice  of the Army Medical Library in arranging its



acquisitions  is a combination.  In the beginning the Library adopted the



method of classification by  subjects.  Later on, it was necessary to separate



from the main stock  certain  groups of  publications  on the basis of their



forms or special nature.   But under  each group or  subdivision the further




arrangement  was made in alphabetical order.



     The main stock of  books is  arranged under subjects.   There arc  about



70  subjects,  including  the well-known  branches of  medicine  (Anatomy; Dermatol-



ogy; Gynecology; Radiology,  etc.)  and  some special topics  such as  Blood;  Foot;



Hair; M'arriage, etc.  Under  each subject the books are shelved from A to  Z of



the  authors.   A large number of  books  ftoetf could not be squeezod  into any of



the  selected subjects;  these had to  be separated,  and the  group is referred



to  in  this Library as "The Alphabet".   In addition, further separation of



 small  and large folios has been necessary; thus,  we have a "Quarto" and a



"Folio"  set,  as well as a special shelving for "Atlases."  Unbound volumes and



 smaller pamphlets, if they do not fall into a certain class of printed matter



to  be  mentioned later,  are put into boxes, and they arc referred to as "Box



 items".   There arc more than a thousand such steel boxes numbered, and in




 each the pamphlets arc arranged in the alphabetical order of its contents. 
 
                                   -2-



     Further separation of publications from the main stock have  resulted in




the establishment of eight special groups with independent shelving:




     -*••  Periodicals: serials of a current year are exhibited on  the  shelves



of the Periodical Reading Room.  At the end of the year they are  bound  and



shelved separately in the main book collection, where they are  arranged under



the countries of origin.  Publications of congresses are again  grouped  sep-



arately.  Society publications have a separate arrangement of their own.



Unbound periodicals as well as incomplete volumes of journals are temporarily



set aside.



     2.  Rare books: for their better protection, books of value  are  kept  in



glass  cases.  They fall into three sections:  a. rare books in  general; b.



incunabula; c, 16th century authors, each section having its own  alphabetical



order.



     3»  Manuscripts:



     4. Theses:  arranged in boxes under the names of schools and  universities,



where  their authors graduated.  It includes also habilitation writings  of



university professors, and a few orations of rectors of schools,



     5.  Statistics and documents: contains publications of health agencies,



hospitals, governments, agricultural and other schools, etc.  They are  arranged



under  geographical names (countries, counties, citj.es) and in a chronological



order.



     6.  Reference works: includes catalogs, biographies, bibliographies,



directories, encyclopedias, works on library science, and all the tools neces-



sary for the publication of the Index-Catalogue.



     7.  Reprints and collected papers: arranged in two sections  in the alpha-



bet of authors.



     8.  Clippings:  arranged by authors.



     As a special group the accumulation of duplicates should also be mentioned



This group includes periodicals as well as books and pamphlets.   They were



arranged originally on shelves in the basement of the Library,  but lack of



space made it necessary to pack them in large boxes and send them away  from



the Library to a special storage point.  About 50 tons are stored thus.



     Access to both the main collection of books and the separate goups is



secured through the main card catalog and the printed Index-Catalogue though



several groups have their own card catalog also.




                                                  THE LIBRARIAN. 
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