From the Annals of Idiosyncracy: One Card Catalogue -- The Handwritten Catalogue of the Institute Library

One of the oddities of one of my favorite oddities (The Young Men's Institute Library) is their catalogue.

This library barely has a telephone, so, no surprise, the catalogue is not computerized. No: it is still written on little cards which are stored in those wooden cabinets that now get tossed by more serious institutions. (Incidentally, if anyone has one of those and wants to give me one, let me know. I've always wanted a card catalogue of my very own.) The Institute Library's card catalogue doesn't use the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress system; rather, it uses its own system, which was devised by god knows who, god knows when, but has never changed since the library was founded in 1826. It is my understanding that there is one other library in the world that uses this same arcane system, and it's in India, and the reason that that other library uses it is that some poor schmo saw the Institute Library's catalogue, said, "Great!" and, without doing further research into the matter, went and built his library in India.

So if you want to find a book at the Institute Library (or, I guess, at this place in India), you can either learn their strange, idiosyncratic system, or ask a librarian for help. Having an MLS will do you no good in this joint. Years of service in the British Museum wouldn't do any good here. The Institute Library is just determined to paddle its own way in deeply murky waters.
My method of dealing with the catalogue, which I view as useless, though gorgeous, is to skip it entirely and just browse the shelves. Though the cards in the catalogue are minor works of art (some of the libarians had really remarkable handwriting), I peruse them not for their supposed usefulness, but for their own beautiful sake.

Nicholson Baker would, I hope, approve.