Card catalogues

The RSAL catalogue system includes сard catalogues

The alphabetical public catalogue of Russian language items and other languages based on Cyrillic has been kept from 1922. The chronological range of the publications covers the period from the 18th century to the year of 1997. The size of the catalogue is over 216 thousand cards

The alphabetical public catalogue of foreign language items (English, French and German) ranges from the 17th century to the year of 1997. It includes over 45 thousand cards. The alphabetical catalogues describe various kinds of documents: books, synopsis of theses, albums, exhibition catalogues and serial publications (the serial publications catalogue is a component part of the alphabetical catalogue).

The classified catalogue, which was started in 1977, consists of 13 subject headings reflecting the entire scope of the Humanities and cultural life, including items in many European languages. The size of the catalogue is over 360 thousand cards.

The Subject catalogue was started in the 1930s. Its chronological span is from the 18th century to the year of 1977; its size is over 500 thousand cards. The subjects are theatrical, graphic and decorative arts. There is a separate file with personalias. Subject headings and subheadings are listed in alphabetical order and reflect information about books and articles from collections. References enable the reader to see every phenomenon as a part of a general entirety.

The Electronic catalogue has been kept from 1997. It combines search capabilities of alphabetical, subject and classified catalogues. At the beginning of 2010 the size of the catalogue was over 40 000 entries. The catalogue is available at the library website http://liart.ru/opacg/nog.htm. The library uses for description of new acquisitions a new program Automated library system OPAC from 2004. It has great search capabilities and is easy to use. The library is a member of the Union Electronic catalogue of Russian libraries from 2004.