Cataloging
Encyclopedia
Cataloging is the process of listing or include something in a catalog. In library science
is is the producing of bibliographical descriptions of books or other kinds of documents. Today the study of cataloging has broaden and merged with the study of metadata
("data about data contents") and is sometimes termed resource description and access
.
The larger a collection, the more elaborate cataloging rules are needed. Users cannot and do not want to examine hundreds of catalog entries or even dozens of library items to find the one item they need.
Currently, most cataloging rules are similar to, or even based on, the International Standard Bibliographic Description
(ISBD), a set of rules produced by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
(IFLA) to describe a wide range of library materials. These rules organize the bibliographic description of an item in the following areas: title and statement of responsibility (author or editor), edition, material specific details(for example, the scale of a map
), publication and distribution, physical description (for example, number of pages), series, notes, and standard number (ISBN). The most commonly used set of cataloging rules in the English speaking world are the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd Edition, or AACR2
for short. In the German-speaking world there exists the Regeln für die alphabetische Katalogisierung, abbreviated RAK. AACR2 has been translated into many languages, however, for use around the world. AACR2 provides rules for descriptive cataloging only and does not touch upon subject cataloging.
Library items that are written in a foreign script are, in some cases, transliterated
to the script of the catalog.
and MARC standards
for a long time been internationally accepted standards. In subject databases such as Chemical Abstracts, MEDLINE and PsycINFO is no standards, but the "Common Communication Format" (CCF) is ment to serve such databases. In archives and museums are other principles followed. Resource Description and Access
is a recent attempt to make a standard that crosses the domains described above. It should be considered that all these standards differ from the standards used by authors to refer to their sources (see Citation
. All these standards represent alternative way of bibliographical recording.
"Early in its deliberations the Group undertook a comparison of all of the data elements in:
-- the Reference Manual [Martin, 1974; Simmons & Hopkinson, 1992],
-- UNIMARC [IFLA, 1987],
-- ISDS Manual [ISDS, 1983],
-- MEKOF-2 [ICSTI, 1979],
-- ASIDIC/EUSIDIC/ICSU-AB/NFAIS Interchange Specifications [ASIDIC, 1978], and
-- the USSR-US Common Communication Format [USSR, 1978].
With these six standard formats as a guide, the Group identified a small number of data elements which were used by virtually all information-handling communities, including both libraries and abstracting and indexing organizations. These commonly used data elements formed the core of the CCF. A technique was developed to show relationships between bibliographic records, and between elements within bibliographic records. The concept of the record segment was developed and refined, and a method for designating relationships between records, segments, and fields was accepted by the group. The first edition of CCF: The Common Communication Format [UNESCO, 1984] was published in 1984." (Hopkinson, 1996).
See also Wilson (1989).
). Indexing is the assignment of characterizing labels to the documents represented in a record. Classification is a kind of controlled vocabulary
while indexing may use controlled vocabulary
, free terms, or both.
Library science
Library science is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the...
is is the producing of bibliographical descriptions of books or other kinds of documents. Today the study of cataloging has broaden and merged with the study of metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
("data about data contents") and is sometimes termed resource description and access
Resource Description and Access
Resource Description and Access or RDA is a set of instructions for the cataloguing of books and other materials held in libraries and other cultural organizations such as museums and galleries. RDA is the successor to the second edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules , the current...
.
Cataloging rules
Cataloging rules have been defined to allow for consistent cataloging of various library materials across several persons of a cataloging team and across time. Users can use them to clarify how to find an entry and how to interpret the data in an entry. Cataloging rules prescribe which information about a bibliographic item is included in the entry and how this information is presented for the user; It msy also aid to sort the entries in printing (parts of) the catalog.The larger a collection, the more elaborate cataloging rules are needed. Users cannot and do not want to examine hundreds of catalog entries or even dozens of library items to find the one item they need.
Currently, most cataloging rules are similar to, or even based on, the International Standard Bibliographic Description
International Standard Bibliographic Description
The International Standard Bibliographic Description is a set of rules produced by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions to describe a wide range of library materials within the context of a catalog. The consolidated edition of the ISBD was published in 2007...
(ISBD), a set of rules produced by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions is the leading international association of library organisations. It is the global voice of the library and information profession, and its annual conference provides a venue for librarians to learn from one another...
(IFLA) to describe a wide range of library materials. These rules organize the bibliographic description of an item in the following areas: title and statement of responsibility (author or editor), edition, material specific details(for example, the scale of a map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
), publication and distribution, physical description (for example, number of pages), series, notes, and standard number (ISBN). The most commonly used set of cataloging rules in the English speaking world are the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd Edition, or AACR2
AACR2
AACR2 stands for the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition. It is published jointly by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK. The editor is Michael Gorman, a British-born...
for short. In the German-speaking world there exists the Regeln für die alphabetische Katalogisierung, abbreviated RAK. AACR2 has been translated into many languages, however, for use around the world. AACR2 provides rules for descriptive cataloging only and does not touch upon subject cataloging.
Library items that are written in a foreign script are, in some cases, transliterated
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
to the script of the catalog.
Standards
In libraries have versions of the AACR2AACR2
AACR2 stands for the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition. It is published jointly by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK. The editor is Michael Gorman, a British-born...
and MARC standards
MARC standards
MARC, MAchine-Readable Cataloging, is a data format and set of related standards used by libraries to encode and share information about books and other material they collect...
for a long time been internationally accepted standards. In subject databases such as Chemical Abstracts, MEDLINE and PsycINFO is no standards, but the "Common Communication Format" (CCF) is ment to serve such databases. In archives and museums are other principles followed. Resource Description and Access
Resource Description and Access
Resource Description and Access or RDA is a set of instructions for the cataloguing of books and other materials held in libraries and other cultural organizations such as museums and galleries. RDA is the successor to the second edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules , the current...
is a recent attempt to make a standard that crosses the domains described above. It should be considered that all these standards differ from the standards used by authors to refer to their sources (see Citation
Citation
Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated...
. All these standards represent alternative way of bibliographical recording.
Common Communication Format
"The users of the CCF on the other hand [compared to MARC], coming from many different backgrounds (some indeed national libraries), would never consider aiming at such a level of homogeneity between records originating in different systems. They have been able to accept that there will be different practices in record creation resulting in records which, when merged into a database, will show their different origins." (Hopkinson, 1996)."Early in its deliberations the Group undertook a comparison of all of the data elements in:
-- the Reference Manual [Martin, 1974; Simmons & Hopkinson, 1992],
-- UNIMARC [IFLA, 1987],
-- ISDS Manual [ISDS, 1983],
-- MEKOF-2 [ICSTI, 1979],
-- ASIDIC/EUSIDIC/ICSU-AB/NFAIS Interchange Specifications [ASIDIC, 1978], and
-- the USSR-US Common Communication Format [USSR, 1978].
With these six standard formats as a guide, the Group identified a small number of data elements which were used by virtually all information-handling communities, including both libraries and abstracting and indexing organizations. These commonly used data elements formed the core of the CCF. A technique was developed to show relationships between bibliographic records, and between elements within bibliographic records. The concept of the record segment was developed and refined, and a method for designating relationships between records, segments, and fields was accepted by the group. The first edition of CCF: The Common Communication Format [UNESCO, 1984] was published in 1984." (Hopkinson, 1996).
Descriptive cataloging
"Descriptive cataloging" is a well-established concept in the tradition of library cataloging in which a distinction is made between descriptive cataloging and subject cataloging, each applying a set of standards, different qualifications and often also different kinds of professionals. In the tradition of documentation and information science (e.g., by commercial bibliographical databases) the concept document representation (also as verb: document representing) have mostly been used to cover both "descriptive" and "subject" representation. Descriptive cataloging has been defined as: "The part of cataloging concerned with describing the physical details of a book, such as the form and choice of entries and the title page transcription." (Office of Library Development, the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, 2004)See also Wilson (1989).
Subject cataloging
This is mostly known as classification and (subject) indexing. Classification is the assignment of a given document to a class in a classification system (such as Dewey Decimal ClassificationDewey Decimal Classification
Dewey Decimal Classification, is a proprietary system of library classification developed by Melvil Dewey in 1876.It has been greatly modified and expanded through 23 major revisions, the most recent in 2011...
). Indexing is the assignment of characterizing labels to the documents represented in a record. Classification is a kind of controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. They are used in subject indexing schemes, subject headings, thesauri, taxonomies and other form of knowledge organization systems...
while indexing may use controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. They are used in subject indexing schemes, subject headings, thesauri, taxonomies and other form of knowledge organization systems...
, free terms, or both.
Cataloging terms
- Main entry or access point– generally refers to the first author named on the item. Additional authors are added as "added entries." In cases where no clear author is named, the title of the work is considered the main entry.
See also
- AACR2AACR2AACR2 stands for the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition. It is published jointly by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK. The editor is Michael Gorman, a British-born...
- Authority controlAuthority controlAuthority control is the practice of creating and maintaining index terms for bibliographic material in a catalog in library and information science. Authority control fulfills two important functions. First, it enables catalogers to disambiguate items with similar or identical headings...
- BibliographerBibliographer"A bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. The result of this endeavor is a bibliography...
- Bibliographic controlBibliographic controlIn library and information science, bibliographic control is the process by which information resources are described so that users are able to find and select that information resource. An information resource could be a book, a movie, or an image, among other things...
- Cataloging in PublicationCataloging in PublicationIn publishing and library science, Cataloging in Publication is basic cataloging data for a work, prepared in advance of publication by the national library of the country where the work is principally published or by the library of a publishing organisation such as a government department...
- Collaborative CatalogingCollaborative CatalogingCollaborative Cataloging isshared action of a group making bibliographic records available to its participants in order to prevent duplication of bibliographic records...
(shared cataloging) - Functional requirements for bibliographic recordsFunctional Requirements for Bibliographic RecordsFunctional Requirements for Bibliographic Records—or FRBR, sometimes pronounced —is a conceptual entity-relationship model developed by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions that relates user tasks of retrieval and access in online library catalogues and...
- International Standard Bibliographic DescriptionInternational Standard Bibliographic DescriptionThe International Standard Bibliographic Description is a set of rules produced by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions to describe a wide range of library materials within the context of a catalog. The consolidated edition of the ISBD was published in 2007...
- ISO 690ISO 690ISO 690 is an ISO standard for bibliographic referencing in documents of all sorts. It includes electronic documents, and specifies the elements to be included in references to published documents, and the order in which the elements of the reference should be stated...
- Knowledge OrganizationKnowledge organizationThe term knowledge organization designates a field of study related to Library and Information Science . In this meaning, KO is about activities such as document description, indexing and classification performed in libraries, databases, archives etc...
- Knowledge Organization SystemsKnowledge Organization SystemsKnowledge Organization Systems is a generic term used in Knowledge organization about authority lists, classification systems, thesauri, topic maps, ontologies etc.-See also:*Controlled vocabulary*Ontology...
- Library catalogLibrary catalogA library catalog is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations...
- MARC standardsMARC standardsMARC, MAchine-Readable Cataloging, is a data format and set of related standards used by libraries to encode and share information about books and other material they collect...
- MetadataMetadataThe term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
- Paris PrinciplesParis PrinciplesThe Paris Principles were defined at the first International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights held in Paris on 7-9 October 1991. They were adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Commission by Resolution 1992/54 of 1992, and by the UN General...
- Resource Description and AccessResource Description and AccessResource Description and Access or RDA is a set of instructions for the cataloguing of books and other materials held in libraries and other cultural organizations such as museums and galleries. RDA is the successor to the second edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules , the current...
- Subject access point
- Supply chain managementSupply chain managementSupply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...