Cataloguing and Processing

A Resource for School Library Personnel

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Chapter 10: Filing Cards

10.1 ALA (American Library Association Filing Rules)

For manual card catalogues, the ALA Filing Rules (see the Bibliography) are the standard which are to be followed.

10.2 Shelf List

The shelf list file contains one card for each distinct item in the library and is arranged in the same order as the items on the shelves. Different shelf lists are created for materials in various locations such as Reference, AV and VTR. To file shelf list cards for the main collection, group them first into main categories: one for Easy, one for Fiction, one for Non-Fiction, and one for Reference cards.

Easy

Arrange the cards in alphabetical order by author (or by title in cases where there is no author).

Sub-arrange the books by the same author alphabetically by title.

Fiction

Arrange the fiction cards in alphabetical order by author (or by title in cases where there is no author.)

Sub-arrange the books by the same author alphabetically by title.

Non-Fiction

Arrange the non-fiction cards in numerical order by Dewey number, remembering that Dewey numbers are decimal numbers. The following is an example of a correct sequence

971

971.004

971.2

971.24

In cases where the library may have several different books by the same author, file first by Dewey number and then sub-arrange by main entry.

10.3 Dictionary Catalogue

Interfile all author, subject and title cards in one alphabetical sequence.
Alphabetize by the TOP line of the card. When the top lines are identical, sub-arrange by the next line on the card.
Ignore the articles "a", "an" and "the" when they occur at the beginning of a title. These articles need only be considered in alphabetizing when they occur in the middle of the heading. In French, ignore the articles "le", "la", "les" and "l' " only. "Du", "de", "d' " and "un(e)" will be filed under those articles.
Alphabetize character space by character space. Blank character spaces come before character spaces with letters. Thus, shorter words come before longer words beginning with the same letters.
e.g.,
The new mathematics
New World Atlas
Newman, Joan

Acronyms are filed as single words.
Under the green umbrella
UNESCO
The Union of Canada

Numbers expressed as numerals (arabic or roman) are filed according to their numerical value; this file is before the first alphabetical file (e.g., before "A").
e.g.,
200
275
6000

Numbers that are spelled out as words are filed as spelled.
e.g.,
Six thousand
Two hundred seventy-five
Two thousand

Abbreviations are filed exactly as written, not as if spelled out.
e.g.,
Doctor
Doctor Jackson
Dr. James
Mr. Jones
Mrs. Blue
Ms Anderson

Apostrophes are disregarded and the word containing the apostrophe is filed as one word.
I saw three ships
I'm moving
Imagine
Proper names with prefixes are treated as a separate words unless joined to the rest of the name directly or by an apostrophe without a space.
De Alberti, Amelia
De la Roche, Mazo
De Marco, Clara
Defoe, Daniel
Del Mar, Eugene
Subject cards with dates as subdivisions are subarranged chronologically with the earliest date first.
CANADA - HISTORY - 1811-1821
CANADA - HISTORY - 1914-1918

A more extensive period precedes a more specific period when the first date is identical.

CANADA - HISTORY - 1867-
CANADA - HISTORY - 1867-1911