THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

ined, indicate the exterior parts, the chapters, the sections and the
paragraphs; the binding consists of the drawer itself, the movable rod
of which functions as the spine... The classification numbers on the
cards are really a pagination for a work whose contents table is the
table of the Decimal Classification. Such a book is consulted as readily
as any other. It is necessary only to flick the cards over on their
lower edge, as one would turn the pages of a book, in order to read
them with the greatest ease.
The advantages of card repertories over other kind of repertories
compiled in the form of registers, books or notebooks are as follows:
1. Successive daily intercalations of new material are permitted;
2. Classification can be maintained steadily in a strict and rigorous
order;
3. Indefinite addition to the amount of material is possible;
4. Immediate utilisation of material already collected, without needing
to wait for the completion of the work begun, is possible;
5. Preparation of notices by a great number of people working at the
same time, however distant they might be from each other, is facilitated.
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This work, this great bibliographical volume growing in.
size and complexity in the Salle des Repertoires at the International
Office of Bibliography, 1 Rue des Musees, Brussels,
was intended for wide public consultation. The Salle des Repertoires
was thrown open daily from 9 a. m. until Noon, and
from 2 p. m. until 6, much after the fashion of a library's
Reading Room. But in order to make what were conceived of
as its riches available yet more readily, a card copying service
was instituted in 1896, and the OIB's staff undertook to
consult the Repertories comprising the RBU in response to requests
received through the mails. Even though only recently
begun, and by definition far from complete, consultation of the
RBU as early as 1896, it was thought, could offer inestimable
aid to scholars and men of letters in their work
The problem of accurately formulating search requests was
well understood at the Office, and brief instructions were issued
to help potential clients make the best use possible of the
repertories. The dangers in a request of terms too general or
too narrow in signification were described, together with the
superabundance or meagreness of the material with which the
repertory might respond to them. It was also suggested that
requests should be accompanied by relevant decimal numbers.
The staff of the OIB would then know at once where in the Repertories
to start searching and what kind of material was required.
In the tables of the Classification «the degree of generality
and specificity of each question is exactly determined
by the context*. Indeed, the tables, by displaying «divisions
and different aspects of particular questions*, might usefully
help a searcher in formulating his request, prompting him towards
bibliographic completeness as well as towards exactness.
It was decided at the Office that whenever the number of
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