one for each country, and marked with the date of ordering. Some classes of books will have to appear in more than one box, e.g. the Spanish books published in Paris, both as Spanish and French, many American books, both as English and American, many Belgian books under Belgium and France, being published both in Paris and Brussels. Any new book arriving as a donation should have a card written for it and inserted in the proper box ; and if the author has been prompt in making his gift, the purchase of a duplicate will sometimes be stopped in this way.[1]
For books purchased as "old," ix. out of print, cards should be written and arranged in alphabetical order, without respect to countries. In this series may be similarly incorporated cards for donations, &c. At stated periods these cards can be looked out in the library catalogue, and those which are found to be entered there can be destroyed. Should it be necessary at any future time to find the record of the purchase of any one of these books, it is only necessary to examine the bills paid on the date with which the book is stamped at the end. In many libraries each book has a stock-number, corresponding to a number in a register, in which the names of all newly acquired books, and the
- ↑ On receipt of an invoice of new books the card referring to each must be discovered, in order to show that the dealer was authorised to supply it, and the date of receipt should be marked in one corner. These cards may be periodically destroyed when it has been ascertained that the books they represent appear in the catalogue. The lists of new publications, in which the selection for purchase is marked, should be kept for future reference.
