Cataloging and Classification
Plymouth State University
LM 5020
Nancy J. Keane, MLS, MA
Who are we?
Syllabus
Time line
History of Catalog(u)ing
My library hero
Five Laws of Library Science
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Books are for use.
Every person his or her book.
Every book its reader.
Save the time of the reader.
The library is a growing organism.
How do we achieve these?
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One way is through cataloging
But what is that?
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cat·a·log or cat·a·logue
ŏg') Pronunciation Key
n.
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(kāt'l-ôg', -
A list or itemized display, as of titles, course offerings, or
articles for exhibition or sale, usually including descriptive
information or illustrations.
A publication, such as a book or pamphlet, containing such a
list or display: a catalog of fall fashions; a seed catalog.
A list or enumeration: "the long catalogue of his concerns:
unemployment, housing, race, drugs, the decay of the
inner city, the environment and family life" (Anthony
Holden).
A card catalog.
-- dictionary.com
v. cat·a·loged or cat·a·logued,
cat·a·log·ing or cat·a·logu·ing,
cat·a·logs or cat·a·logues
v.
tr.
To make an itemized list of: catalog a record
collection.
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To list or include in a catalog.
To classify (a book or publication, for example)
according to a categorical system.
v. intr.
To make a catalog.
To be listed in a catalog: an item that catalogs for
200 dollars.
Why do we need a catalog?
First catalogs
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Inventory lists
Librarian responsible for collection
and could be charged for lost
materials
Shelf order
The next wave
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Babylonia and Assyria too large for
inventory list
Subject arrangement
Call numbers used
The art of catalog(u)ing born
Types of Catalogs Used
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Book Catalog (used until late 19th
century)
Advantage – Portable. Multiple
copies could easily be made.
Remote access.
Book Catalog
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Disadvantage – Not flexible. Costly
to update - Difficult to revise Susceptible to wear and tear and
loss
Came back into vogue in 1960s
Card Catalogs
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Came into use in the late 19th
century. Used 3x5 cards which
could be purchased from LC in 1901
Advantages – Easy to add to and
discard from. Very flexible
Card catalog
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Disadvantages – can reach
enormous size. Doubled every 20
years. Expensive to maintain.
Vulnerable to theft or destruction.
Computerized catalogs
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Came into vogue in late 1970s.
Found in most libraries today.
Advantages – Extremely flexible.
Never out of date. Easy to
maintain.
Computerized catalog
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Disadvantages – expensive!!
Initially, much more work than
conventional catalogs. Cannot be
used without expensive equipment.
Variations of computerized catalog
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Fiche catalog
Book catalog
Card catalog
CD-ROM catalog
Web catalog
Organization of the catalog
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No matter what form, the catalog
must be organized or it is unusable.
Arranged in a logical, consistent
manner
Early schemes
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Classed catalog
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Like the shelf list but material can have
more than one class number.
Virtually extinct
Dictionary catalog
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Late 19th century
All entries interfiled (author, title,
subject)
Allows patron complete access to
collection from single file.
In card catalog, filing was a
nightmare.
Divided catalog
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1930s
Author/title
Subject
Easier to maintain
Harder for patrons. (eg
Shakespeare as author or subject)
Cataloging rules
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A set of rules is essential to
maintain order
Patrons must be able to depend on
consistency of elements
Cataloging rules
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As many rules as there are libraries!
Sir Anthony Panizzi in 1841 – first
major set of rules – “Rules for the
Compilation of the Catalogue” Catalogue of Printed
Books in the British Musuem.
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It had been developed for the
British Museum in 1839 and
consisted of 91 rules – 5 pages
long.
Jewett’s rules (1850s)
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Charles Jewett based his rules on
Panizzi’s.
Developed for Smithsonian
33 rules
Earliest attempt at codifying subject
heading practice
Jewett proposed “stereotyped”
cataloging (was eventually fired for his radical
ideas)
Cutter’s rules (1876)
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Contained 369 rules covering
descriptive cataloging, subject
headings, and filing.
Have had a great impact on current
rules
Defined why we catalog:
Objects of catalog
AA 1908
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American Library Association (88 p.)
Represented the first joint effort
between American and British
librarians in developing a code
Geared to major libraries “of a
scholarly character” not public
libraries (Cutter took care of these)
No subject access addressed
Prussian Instructions (1908)
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Standardized instructions for
Prussian libraries
Major difference with AngloAmerican edition:
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Grammatical title
No corporate author
Vatican Code (1920s)
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Developed for cataloging books in
the Vatican
Best structured code at the time
Called the most complete statement
of American practice
Used examples throughout
ALA draft (1941)
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Intended to be international but
with outbreak of World War II, it
didn’t happen
Now 408 pages long (up from 88)
Standardization needed for
centralized processing
Two parts – entry and headings ;
description
Library of Congress rules (1949)
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Since most libraries buying cards
from LC, need to publish rules used
Not totally compatible with ALA
rules
Description only
Many formats addressed
ALA Rules (1949)
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Complemented LC rules
Only rules for entry and headings.
International Conference on
Cataloguing Principles (1961)
Paris Principles
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Addressed the criticism of current
code
Great step toward international
code
Good intentions but cost of change
enormous
Compromise
Two codes developed
AACR (1967)
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North American edition and British
edition
Mixed reviews
Controversial policy of
“superimposition”
ISBD
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Copenhagen 1969
Objective:
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Internationally understood
Records can be integrated
Records can easily be converted to
machine readable form
Two standards adopted:
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ISBD(N) and ISBN(S)
AACR II (1978)
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ISBD
LC doing away with superimposition
International standards
Universal bibliographic control
Worked on from 1973 to 1977
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Draft received over 1000 pages of
comments
Final code 620 p.
AACR II
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2 parts – description (based on
ISBD) – headings, uniform titles
and references (based on Paris
Principles)
Contains options for individual
consideration. Effort to use British
terms.
AACR II Revised 1988
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Revised to cover 10 years of
interpretations
Effort to include new media
677 p.
AACR II Revised 1998
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836 p.
AACR II Revised 2005
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Now published in looseleaf
An incredible 705 p.
What’s next?
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Just so you don’t get too comfortable –
The new rules
RDA – Resource description and
access
What is RDA?
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Resource Description and Access
Working title for a new cataloguing code
based on the Anglo-American
Cataloguing Rules (AACR).
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World’s most used content standard for
bibliographic description and access
Why is it needed?
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To simplify the rules to encourage use as
an international content standard for
metadata
Provide more consistency and less
redundancy for easier use and
interpretation
Improve collocation in displays through
work/expression relationships and a new
approach to General Material Designations
Why is it needed?
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Get back to more principle-based rules
that build cataloguers’ judgement
Founded on international cataloguing
principles
Encourage the application of the
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic
Records model
Recent history
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1997: International Conference on the
Principles and Future Development of
AACR, Toronto.
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Worldwide experts invited by JSC identified
issues:
Principles
Content vs Carrier
Logical structure of the Rules
Seriality
Internationalization
Recent history
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1998: FRBR published by IFLA.
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Reinforces basic objectives of catalogues and
importance of relationships for users to carry
out basic tasks:
Find – Identify – Select – Obtain
Structure allows collocation at
Work/Expression level
Conceptual model of entities, relationships
and attributes independent of communication
format or data structure
FRBR – What Are We
Cataloging?
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• Library collections
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Books
– Serials
– Maps, globes, etc
– Manuscripts.
– Musical scores
– A-V
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• sound recordings
• motion pictures
• photographs, slides
– Multimedia
– “Remote” digital materials
FRBR entities
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Products of
intellectual & artistic endeavor
–Work
–Expression
–Manifestation
–Item
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“Book”
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Physical item
(item)
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“publication”
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at bookstore
any copy
(manifestation)
“Book”
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–Who
translated?
(expression)
–Who wrote?
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(work)
Recent history
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2003-2007: IFLA updates and reaffirms
Paris Principles.
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Regional meetings, world-wide
Incorporates FRBR concepts
Focussing on current environment of online
catalogues and planning for future systems
“Cataloguing” today
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Need to provide access to a wider range
of information carriers, with a greater
depth and complexity of content
Bibliographic metadata is created by a
wider range of personnel
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Authors, administrators, cataloguers,
computers, etc.
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Varying levels of skill and ability (and cost)
Many new metadata formats
Formats
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Metadata packaging (communication)
standards
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MAchine Readable Cataloging (UNIMARC,
MARC21, MODS/MADS, MARCXML)
Dublin Core, Encoded Archival Description,
ISBD, VRA, MPEG7, …!!!
Cataloguing rules need to remain
independent of any communication
format
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JSC Strategic plan
JSC Strategic plan goals
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Continue to base rules on principles, and
cover all types of materials
Foster use world-wide, while deriving rules
from Anglophone conventions and
customs
Make rules easy to use and interpret
Make applicable to an online, networked
environment
Provide effective bibliographic control for
all types of media
Make compatible with other similar
standards
Encourage use beyond the library
community
Strategic plan targets
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New code in 2008
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New introductions; content rules and updated
examples; authority control; FRBR
terminology; simplification to reduce
redundancy and improve consistency
Reach out to other communities to
achieve greater alignment with other
standards
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Web-based product/tool as well as
loose-leaf
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With added functionality (e.g. internal
and external links to specific rules) and
interoperability with cataloguing and
access tools
Demo (http://www.rdaonline.org/)
shows integration with data input
templates and task-oriented workflow
Recap
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RDA is a new standard for resource
description and access, designed for the
digital environment
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Multinational content standard covering all
media
Independent of technical communication
formats
Aimed at all who need to find, identify,
select, obtain, use, manage and organize
information