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JEWISH BOOK ANNUAL
and suspect tha t o the r subject areas were overlooked, one can
not say tha t Rabbi Kiev’s scheme o f classification limited the
topics he felt were essential to the library. Subjects like Islam
o r mysticism were not given the ir own call numbers, bu t they
were rep resen ted u n d e r “R” for religion.
Within each category, the call numbers may be fu r th e r sub
divided numerically o r shelved according to a p rede term ined
orde r. Although the system is functional once it is understood ,
it is not easily learned. T h e library maintained a closed-stack
arrangem en t th roughou t Kiev’s tenure , so tha t only the library
attendan ts had to be knowledgeable about retrieving books us
ing this system.
Periodicals are arranged alphabetically by title in the Hebrew
and Roman alphabets. T h e periodicals are far-rang ing in sub
jec t area and include many n ineteenth-century as well as
twentieth-century publications.
The main catalog is a dictionary catalog (that is, authors, titles,
and subjects interfiled), and two smaller files containing Hebrew
and Yiddish titles only. As no authority list for subjects was
kept, there was a certain inconsistency in assigning subject head
ings. Titles were rarely cross-referenced, so tha t access is gained
by au tho r o r ed itor ra th e r than by title. Books on lite ra tu re
and collective biography were analyzed, and rep rin ts were cat
alogued separately.
It was repo rted by all who knew him, tha t Kiev had a ph e
nomenal memory so that the catalog was not as essential to the
patrons as was the librarian. Not only could he locate any vol
ume, bu t he could also recite on the spot a supp lem entary u p
dated bibliography on the subject o f the research from mem-
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ory.
Irvin W e intraub’s 1951 study o f the HUC-JIR Library cited
the strengths o f the library as Bible and Near Eastern archae
ology, Rabbinics, education textbooks, Zionism, Israel, Jewish
history, sermons, philosophy, and bibliography, and a good pe
riodical collection. W eintraub stated tha t even though research
materials were not sought, “the library — whether consciously,
th rough p lanned acquisition, o r fortuitously, th rough the ac
ceptance o f gifts and bequests — has succeeded in building re
15. Interviews with Rabbis Jerome Malino, April 9, 1987, Harold I. Saperstein,
May 11, 1987, early graduates o f the JIR, and Dr. Miller, April 1, 1987.