Cataloging History

“In the 7th century B.C., important libraries in Mesopotamia had author and title catalogues that were posted on walls for user convenience.”

1791 — The first library card catalogs are created by the Revolutionary Government in France. They used playing cards, which were at the time blank on one side and readily available.
1885 — Melvil Dewey (of Dewey Decimal System fame) invents and starts training American librarians on Library Hand — a style of penmanship designed specifically for writing library catalog cards with fountain pens. Library Hand was based on the handwriting of Thomas Edison (of lightbulbs fame).
1901 — The Library of Congress starts mass producing their catalog cards. Libraries around the U.S. could subscribe and get packages of cards in the mail to use in their own catalogs.
1971, August 26 — Ohio University’s Alden Library takes computer cataloging online for the first time, building a system where libraries could electronically share catalog records over a network instead of by mailing printed cards or re-entering records in each catalog. That catalog eventually became the core of OCLC WorldCat — a shared online catalog used by libraries in 107 countries and containing 517,963,343 records.

Introduction to Cataloging

by KDLA Library Development Branch

Cataloging answers the question

In mid to late 1800s, librarians started to consider collecting and collections from a world-wide perspective
Prior to this there were lots of small differences between how libraries would
There were a lot of similarities too, however, which meant there was a lot of duplicated efforts in conclusions made regarding classification and catalog structure

1908, American and British library associations jointly published the first set of cataloging rules, with separate editions for each country
- ALA published second set of rules in 1941, and again in 1949
After years of more international meetings and drafts, British and Canadian library associations jointly published the Anglo American Cataloging rules in 1967
- AACR 2 published 1978
- These were the standard rules for many years, for when 4” by 6” cards were still used to describe primary print items

Bob the Book ! Let’s follow him on his journey.
Original Cataloging vs Copy Cataloging
- Original creates a brand new record from scratch
  - This can take hours depending on the item
  - For rare or local items, this is what librarians used to have to do
- Copy reviews an existing record, makes sure it matches what’s in hand
By introducing shared cataloging, you could mostly do Copy Cataloging to handle most entries by reviewing a record someone else has made, this could take a few minutes instead of a few hours
Today, there are some shared records
- Online Computer Library Center
- Global Library Cooperative
  - These requiremembership
- WorldCat
  - Downloads records into your system
  - 521+ Million records, still growing
- Library of Congress (free)
  - 19+ Million records
- OOLC vs LC is LC is functioning for congress, where OOLC accepts records from differing levels of quality, and some duplication of records. Quality of LC records are much higher and minimal duplicates.
- Z39.50 sites (free) — Internet standard for Computer to Computer Information Retrieval

Description
- Title & Statement of Responsibility
  - Name of Item
  - Who wrote it (include illustrators, translators, editors)
- Editions (1st, Revised, etc)
- Publication
  - Where, by who, and when was it published
- Physical Description
  - Orientation, Dimensions (in cm), Pages long
- Series
- General Notes
  - Summaries, author comments, audience recommendation, language, library-specific info (“our copy is signed by author”)
- Standard Numbers
  - ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
Access Points
- Author
- Subject, what something is about
  - i.e. Agrarian Kentucky
    - sub1 = Agriculture—Kentucky
    - sub2 = Kentucky—History—1928-1934
    - sub3 = Kentucky—History—1952-1957
- Genre/Form, what something actually is
  - Genres note simliar plots, themes, settings, LIKE Mystery, Romance
  - Form are like Audiobook, Artifact, graphic novels, etcs
  - LCGFT - Library of Congress Genre/Forms Terms, actively updated and added to
  - GSAFD - Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction/Drama, no longer updated
Classificaiton and Organization
- 2 Most common systems
  - LCC - Library of Congress Classification
    - More research based
    - for Universities and Libraries
  - DDC Dewey Decimal Classification
    - Dewey Classification System
    - By public schools and libraries
    - 10 main classes, which can be broken down into 10 deeper classes, which can be broken down into 10 more classes, and etc.

Published on November 30, 2023.