Card cataloque

The alphabetical card catalogue is in the catalogue Room (room 140, first floor) and occupies the upper part of the card catalogue cabinets.

The alphabetical card catalogue includes all volumes and items in the collections of the University Library, i.e. books, leaflets, pamphlets, serials (periodicals, newspapers), atlases, musical scores, librettos, etc., published after 1800 (i.e. from the year 1801) as well as cartographic collections published between 1801-1968. Old prints, manuscripts, iconographic material, etc. is to be found in separate catalogues that are in particular relevant study rooms. The old books and manuscript catalogue is also available in the Library’s digital catalogue  DIGIT CARDS

The alphabetic card catalogue can be used when we know:

– the name of the author (authors) of a publication we are after, the name of the translator or the editor of a collective work,

– the title of a collective work (compiled by more than three authors).

There is no separate journals catalogue. Periodicals are to be found in the alphabetical catalogue (see the information above). Access to periodicals, journals and newspapers is restricted to reading rooms only.

The answer is ”A”. The first word in the title counts; no definite or indefinite articles or other grammatical articles (e.g. German der, die, das, ein and eine or English the, a, an, or French la, le, l’, les, un, une) are taken into consideration. If these grammatical articles or any other group of characters occur further on in the title they constitute a regular element of a title.

There is  no ”Ł” character (letter) in the catalogue.

While using the alphabetical catalogue the knowledge of the general rules for filing catalogue cards is essential. The catalogue entries are given in the Latin alphabet, complemented with the letters “K” and ”W”. What follows is that all diacritical marks are omitted; the letters: ą, ć, ę, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż are listed in the same sequence as the original forms from which they have been derived, i.e. a, c, e, n, o, s, z (the same applies to other alphabets, e.g. ö=o, ü=u, ä=a, and so on). The letter “J” is combined in sequencing with the letter „I”, whereas the letter “Ł” with the letter “L”, which means that “J” is to be found under “I” and ”Ł” under “L”.

Books published in languages that do not use Latin characters, e.g. Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Greek or Hebrew are transliterated. The letters of these alphabets are replaced with corresponding letters from the Latin alphabet.

Transliteration tables are with the librarian on duty.

Please note: The alphabetical card catalogue includes, beside the main catalogue cards (that include bibliographical descriptions of individual documents),  auxiliary cards, the so-called cross-reference cards.

The answer is no. For example, with the author’s surname in Polish: Szołochow we have a cross-reference card: Szołochow Michaił Aleksandrowicz  see:  Sholokhov Mikhail Aleksandrovich

Yes. In addition, cross-reference cards that include the place names and the names in individual titles are also introduced, e.g. under the entry ”Sienkiewicz Henryk”, first the books on his life and works are listed, then the works he wrote; under the catalogue entry “Poznań” you will find a list of publications on the city.

Some names of authors are listed under Polonised versions (in cross-reference cards), e.g. Kartezjusz   see: Descartes

There are also auxiliary cards that help find a book when only the name of just one of three co-authors of a book is known. The same applies to editors of a collective book or translators.

Periodicals and serial publications that have changed their titles have cross-reference cards with their original titles. The title of the oldest year’s issue in the collections of the library is given priority in the bibliographical record.

Constructed collective entries are created to help support queries.

All published reports of institutions and collective bodies are combined into a single file, e.g. under the entry heading “Reports of institutions and collective bodies’. Within thus constructed entry the following elements in sequencing include: the name of town/city (the seat of an institution), name of institution, e.g.: Reports of institutions and collective bodies, Poznań, Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk (Poznań Society of Friends of Sciences).

In a similar way, under a constructed collective entry – annual reports, lists of personnel or lists of lectures, etc. are sequenced. Schools are divided into “higher academic institutions”, ”grammar schools”, ”secondary schools”, “vocational schools” and “special schools”.

Works that are included into numbered serial publications, such as Biblioteka Problemów and Biblioteka Narodowa, or research works published at universities and research institutes  are given entries in the alphabetic catalogue, just as all other books, but additionally are introduced to collective cards with the name of a serial publication.

The decisive criterion while sequencing entry cards in the card catalogue  is the criterion of separate words or their abbreviations and not strings of letters.

It should not be forgotten that:

– with identical last names, the further elements in sequencing are the alphabetical order of first names, while initials of names are treated equally with full names;

– surnames that include two or more proper names, e.g. C. Clive-James, are placed after family names with just one element, whereas the second element of the family name is treated as the next word in the entry sequencing;

– surnames with partitive articles and prepositions, as well as prefixes and modifiers, are treated as single words even though they are spelled out separately, e.g. “La Fontane”, ”O’Connor” are to be found under “L” and ”O”, respectively ;

– nobiliary particles in family names and prepositions denoting an individual person’s place of residence in Germanic languages are placed following the name of an author, e.g.: Goethe Johann Wolfgang von.

In no way is this information comprehensive. Rather, the intention is to provide the user with an overview of the general ordering of catalogue entries in the catalogue. When in doubt, consult a librarian on duty.

Each catalogue card in the alphabetical catalogue has a unique symbol at the bottom right corner of the document. Symbols relate a particular document to a relevant domain in the subject catalogue to enable the user to expand the search. In general, the symbol does not have to be included in the call slip.

It is recommended to order books through the web-based Digital Catalogue  – DIGIT CARDS 

In addition, books from the card catalogue can be ordered to particular reading rooms (fill out a paper call slip to request an item). You will need to find appropriate call numbers of requested material in the main catalogue first. Completed call slips are to be placed into the designated locked boxes or are to be handed directly to a librarian on duty in a given reading room.

Each call slip is divided into two separate sections that have to be filled out legibly. The fields to be filled out in the upper part include: the library card number, the borrower’s first and last names, call number(s)  (4 at the most), the author’s name, title of the volume to be borrowed (or the title only, in the case of collective works – copy the data from the catalogue card), legible signature, name of a faculty, address and date. The lower section of the call slip has to include the same data. Completed calls slips are to be placed in designated locked boxes in reading rooms.

Note: If a given catalogue card has the stamp ”HORIZON” on it, this means that this bibliographic record is also included in the online catalogue.

Requested books can be collected at the pick-up location in the Circulation Department (Student Library)  (building B, tel. 61 829 38 51):

Electronic ordering – ordered material can be collected on the same day:

Monday – Friday

from 9.00 am. to 8.00 pm.

Saturday

from 10.00 am. to 5.00 pm.

Calls slips are collected from reading rooms every half an hour, while actual borrowing may take a couple of days due to the fact that some books need to be introduced to the Library’s online catalogue first.