The Classified Catalogue as an Aid to Research

Very little is known about the effectiveness of library subject catalogues as tools of research. We know that they are indispensable from a theoretical point of view, and from general observation of their use and the results of a few studies we can conclude that they are generally compatible with the library use habits of readers. Some of the general conclusions which have been drawn from studies of the subject catalogue are: that there is no significant difference between the amount of author catalogue use and subject catalogue use; that the non- specialist ordinarily will make more use of the subject catalogue than the specialist; and that most of the use of the subject catalogue is for materials in English and of fairly recent date. If the second of these generalizations is true, namely that subject catalogue use is primarily by non- specialists, a discussion of the classified catalogue as a research tool may be a somewhat sterile exercise. On the other hand, we can remind ourselves that the importance of research isn't determined by popular vote, so even a minority use should justify its consideration. In any case, classification and classified catalogues have a high degree of relevancy. This was my reason for agreeing to discuss the subject of the role of the classified catalogue in research. In evaluating what I have to say about classification, one general caveat must be observed. My remarks on classification will relate exclusively to its use in the classified catalogue. While some points might have relevance to the classification of books for shelving, others might have differing relevance or no relevance whatever. No effort will be made here to indicate when there is or is not a common ground in problems of shelf classification and the classified catalogue. A second caveat is that the limitations of my experience withpublished or submitted for publicatio