Cataloguing Definitions

Question 1

Cataloguing

Answer 1

• The sum of actions needed to develop, manage, and maintain a catalogue of bibliographic records.
• A catalogue contains information about all of the holdings in a library.
• Catalogues should be systematically organised to allow finding a resource by multiple means e.g. by title, author, subject, etc.

Question 2

Divisions of Cataloguing

Answer 2

1. Descriptive Cataloguing
   a) Description of a bibliographic resource
   b) Determination of access points
2. Subject Cataloguing
   a) Classification according to some notation
   b) Assignment of subject headings

Question 3

Original Cataloguing Cataloguing

Answer 3

Describing bibliographic records from scratch when a library acquires a new item.

Question 4

Copy Cataloguing

Answer 4

The process of…
- Finding a matching existing bibliographic
record from elsewhere for the item at
hand.
- Editing the record as necessary.
- Using the amended record in the local
catalogue.

Question 5

Bibliographic Record

Answer 5

• A uniform description of the item’s characteristics.

Includes both
- Physical description (title, author,
number of pages)
- Intellectual description (main subject of
item)

• Usually also includes its position in the physical library space e.g. the number of
  the shelf where it is located.

Question 6

Access Points
/ Entry Points

Answer 6

• Different items of information used for locating specific bibliographic records.
• Each patron may have a different access point, e.g., one patron may only know the title of the work, another may only know the name of the author. Another patron may not have a specific work in mind, only the subject they are interested in.

Question 7

Authority Control

Answer 7

• Following a recognised or established form when cataloguing all bibliographic records i.e. using a single distinct spelling or form of a name.

E.g.
Getty Museum
vs.
J. Paul Getty Museum

• All works by an author are catalogued under the same access point.
• As long as the cataloguer always uses one established form, all the books will be found in this one place in the catalogue.
• Used to minimise the needs for establishing an access point each time when a work by the same author is catalogued.

Question 8

Benefits of Authority Control

Answer 8

• Better researching
  (Enables a researcher to query a few words of an entry to bring up the already established term or phrase).
• Makes searching more predictable
  (Increases chances that a given search will return relevant items).
• Consistency of records
• Efficiency for cataloguers
  (They can see which records have already been cataloged and can therefore avoid unnecessary work).
• Easier to maintain the catalogue
• Fewer errors
  (Helps catch errors caused by typos or misspellings which can sometimes accumulate over time, sometimes known as quality drift).

Question 9

Authority Files

Answer 9

• Contain authorised forms of the headings used in a catalogue (each name, title, series, heading, references to any other possible unauthorised forms).
• Used to maintain uniformity across headings.

E.g. An author may publish under different names or different forms of name.

• Variations also exist in titles, series, and subject heading.

Question 10

Bibliographic Control

Answer 10

• The organisation of information in library and information studies.

“The sum of all the practical operations a librarian undertakes to organise documents and their descriptions so that relevant ones can be located most directly and efficiently in answer to any user’s expressed needs.”
- Hagler (1997)

Question 11

Class Number

Answer 11

• A numerical or alphanumerical code assigned to each item.

E.g.
025.32
The DDC for the topic “descriptive cataloguing”

• Serve as the basis for defining Call Number.

Question 12

Call Number

Answer 12

• A unique code assigned by the cataloguer to define the location of the item on the shelf.

E.g.
025.32MAX
or
025.32MaxRm1997

(“MAX” is the first three letters of the main author’s name)

Question 13

Classification

Answer 13

• The process of arranging objects into categories.
• Deals with the determination of the primary subject of a work and the assignment of a specific notation.

Used for
- Retrieval purposes
- Ordering items in a systematic catalogue
- Shelving the item with other items on similar
subjects

Question 14

Cutter’s Rules (1876)

Answer 14

States the objectives of cataloguing to be

1. To enable a person to find a book of which either
   
   • The author
   • The title
   • The subject
     are known
2. To show what the library has
   
   • On a given author
   • On a given subject
3. To assist in the choice of a book
   
   • As to its edition (bibliographically)
   • As to its character (literary or topical)