We use a card catalog to index our accession records. I am reconciling our index cards to what we have on display at multiple sites. An inventory has never been done in our 47 years of existence.
Right now I am concentrating on books. We have individual index cards of each book for the Author, Title and Subject. Looking for a book in our card catalog can be problematic. Some index cards are missing or the book has not been found yet. Also, since we have two separate sites, some cards are misfiled with the wrong site. Our main building has about 1500 books. Our other site (a one-room schoolhouse) has about 400 books. I have recorded the Titles, Authors, and accession numbers from our schoolhouse.
Should I
A) Mix the Author, Title and Subject cards together (with a letter in the corner of each card to denote which site the book is at)?
B) Group the Author, Title and Subject Cards separately (with a letter in the corner of each card to denote which site the book is at)?
C) Group the cards by site and mix the Author, Title and Subject cards together for that site?
D) Group the cards by site and then have separate groups for the Author, Title and Subject Cards?
I’m thinking it might be best to put ALL the Author and Title cards together in one group, and put ALL the Subject cards together in another group. The reason is we also have several hundred pamphlets with subject cards. All the subject cards would be together in one place in our card catalog.
If you use a card catalog with index cards, how do you categorize your cards and why.
David Cranston, Curator
Hadley-Lake Luzerne Historical Society
52 Main St
PO Box 275
Lake Luzerne, NY 12846