The Science Museum Library

ON entering a library for the purpose of obtaining information on a given subject, the first things the visitor wishes to know are what books or pamphlets the library possesses relating to the subject, and how is he to obtain them. There are usually card indexes available, but even with these at his disposal the reader may well be at sea unless he possesses a key to the system on which they are arranged. The publication of a new edition of the “Classification for Works on Pure and Applied Science in the Science Museum Library” (London: H.M. Stationery Office. 55. net.) provides such a key to the finest science library in Great Britain. It should be studied by every one who uses the Library. It contains an explanation of the Universal Decimal Classification of the International Institute of Documentation in use at the Library, a list of about six thousand classes into which knowledge is divided for the purpose of indexing, and a copious alphabetical index comprising some five thousand entries. In the preface to the “Classification”, Dr. S. C. Bradford says: “The titles on the cards in the Subject Catalogue are numbered and arranged in accordance with the Universal Decimal Classification. Under each number the titles are in chronological order. To ascertain what books the Library possesses on a given subject, readers are recommended to look first in the index, and then refer to the classification, before consulting the cards.” By following this advice, those not already familiar with the system used in the Science Museum Library will undoubtedly save themselves both time and labour. It may be added that, in the last Report on the Science Museum, it was stated that the Library now possesses 252,515 volumes, the total of periodicals currently received is 9,468, while the Subject Matter Index contains 2,248,423 references.