CAAAL Manual
The Classified Abstract Archive of the Alcohol Literature (CAAAL) is a collection of approximately 20,000 abstracts, prepared by Center staff from 1939 through 1977, of the scientific and scholarly alcohol literature (journal articles, published and unpublished reports, and monographs). The publication of CAAAL ceased in 1978.
A manual is available for use in subject searching: Keller, M., Efron, V., & Jellinek, E. M. (1965). CAAAL manual: A guide to the use of the Classified Abstract Archive of the Alcohol Literature. New Brunswick, NJ: Publications Division, Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies.
The abstracts were printed on McBee sorting cards that were punched around the edges according to subject codes listed in the CAAAL Manual.
The CAAAL items can be browsed and searched by author (either though the library’s master catalog or in a print catalog currently in the Rutgers University Library Annex), by CAAAL reference number, or by subject using a needle-sort method.
The McBee punch card provides information available for each article, including author, title, publication data, and an abstract, usually written by CAS staff. In addition to the English-language literature, publications in several other languages were covered as well.
The original documents abstracted in CAAAL are found in the Raymond G. McCarthy Memorial Collection, housed in special cases in the Rutgers University Libraries Annex. In addition, the McCarthy Collection also contains the original texts of all items abstracted in the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol(now the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs).
The documents are filed by their CAAAL or McCarthy numbers (for items not included in CAAAL). Access to the McCarthy Collection is provided by author through the master catalog, by author or subject using the abstracts and indexes of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol, or by subject searching CAAAL.
There are also topical bibliographies, prepared by Center staff, that include items from the McCarthy Collection.
From the Digital Alcohol Studies Archives
- Browse sample content on McBee punchcards
- Download the CAAAL Manual from RUcore, the Rutgers University Community Repository
- Read the first edition of the Manual published in 1953