The Alexandrian library’s scale forced the first systematic cataloguing systems.

Evidence

A collection of this magnitude necessarily required careful organisation. Scrolls were stored in recessed alcoves, where they could be stacked in organised groups. The sheer size of the Alexandrian library demanded far more systematic cataloguing, with books split between many different chambers. The texts were stored alphabetically, though presumably also organised by genre, the leading principle of classification in every institutional library thereafter. A feature of the Alexandrian library was the high quality of the scholars recruited as librarians. One, Callimachus of Cyrene, completed the first ever bibliographical dictionary of authors. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 56

Categorization

• DEFINE: Describes the earliest cataloguing principles: alphabetical and genre-based classification in alcoves.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 56
• XREF: connects to: Alexandria pioneered alphabetical and genre-based cataloguing that became the standard — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 56; Libraries arranged books by scholarly faculty until the eighteenth century — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 210

Broader Connections

• Alexandria pioneered alphabetical and genre-based cataloguing that became the standard #expands (0.85) — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 56
• Libraries arranged books by scholarly faculty until the eighteenth century #complicates (0.70) — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 210