How does alphabetization work with card catalog?

Answer 1

With a card catalog, Fiction cards have two entries, author and title. Non fiction cards may also have cards for subjects.

The card catalog files the author card under the last name of the Author first and then under the first name. This may be followed by the date when the author lived. For example Smith, John (1522-1589) would come before Smith, John (1689-1729). Both would come before Taylor, Zachary. Titles are also filed alphabetically with one exception. A book with the title A Man, and a book with the title The Man, would both be filed under Man. The initial letters A, An, and The are ignored. Subjects work the same way. You look up a book under the subject. If you and the card catalog disagree on the name of the subject, the card catalog frequently has "see" references. That means instead of using the term you considered, the catalog used a different term.

I much prefer the old card catalog over the newer computer catalog. Sometimes I can not remember the exact spelling of an author's name or book title but I can get close. If I guess Tailor and he spelled it Taylor, the computer does not let me see it. If I miss guess the title, likewise, the computer will not let me find it if I come close. Close enough does not count with a computer!