Librarianship

A library is not a heap of books with shelves but a system on two levels: el asiento catalográfico describes what a work is, and la ubicación en el estante says where this one copy stands. Confusing the two is the commonest beginner's mistake. Among the words for acquisition stands el canje entre instituciones, the swapping of publications between libraries, and English hands that job to a word it makes work very hard. « Exchange » is the swap of publications; it is also where money is changed, el cambio; it is the place where shares are traded, la bolsa; it is the switchboard that connects telephone calls, la centralita; and it is a sharp passage of words, el intercambio. Five Spanish nouns for one English one, and only the first of them belongs on this list.