The Library Cataloging Tradition

Marty Kurth (mk168@cornell.edu)CS 431February 9, 2005[slides stolen from Diane Hillmann]

From the beginning ...

The traditional catalog and its boundaries

How catalogs have evolved

Library catalog content standards

Catalog metadata transmission format (MARC)

The Boundaries of the Traditional Catalog

BooksSerials/Journals at the title level Article level access left to commercial

services

Archival collections at the collection level Sub-collections and individual items

described in finding aids

“Funny Formats” not always integrated or traditionally cataloged

Evolution of “The Catalog”

Book catalogs

Card catalogs

Union catalogs

Union lists

Online catalogs

Bibliographic utilities

The Card Catalog lives on ...

LC card distribution begins in 1890s

MARC developed (by Henriette Avram) at LC in the 1960s

OCLC (first bibliographic utility using MARC) in the early 1970s

AACR2 (takes effect in 1981) pushes libraries into the online catalog era

... and on

MARC Format Integration prepares MARC for rational extensionSecond (third?) generation library management systems bring on web-based catalogs in 1990sAACR2 and MARC extended to remote resources in mid-1990sMetadata other than MARC begins to filter into libraries

From Cutter’s “Objects” (1875)

To enable a person to find a book of which either the author, the title, the subject is known

To show what the library has by a given author, on a given subject, in a given kind of literature

To assist in the choice of a book as to its edition (bibliographically), as to its character (literary or topical)

To the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (1998)

Description (FRBR: identify, select)

Access (FRBR: find) Subject access

headings classification

Other access points

Holdings (FRBR: obtain)

Description & Access

AACR2 divided into two major parts: Description

Organized by format, with specific rules for describing each type of materials

Headings, Uniform Titles, and References Choice of access points Headings for persons, geographic names,

corporate bodies, etc. References to guide readers to the correct

heading

Subject Analysis, the third estate

Can be either term based (alphabetically arranged) or alphanumeric (arranged by topic)

US research libraries generally use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Classification (LCC)

Ranganathan: Colon Classification

S. R. Ranganathan developed Colon Classification System in the

1930’s based on the concept of “facets”

subdivides each of 42 main classes into facets, which are then combined to make subordinate classes as needed (which yields a polyhierarchical result)

Art & Architecture Thesaurus and PRECIS based on this model (so is Yahoo, in a simplified way)

Dewey Classification

Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC) first published in 1876 by Melvil Dewey

Most widely used classification system in the world (used in 135 countries)

In this country used primarily by public and school libraries

Dewey, continuedDDC is divided into ten main classes, then ten divisions, each division into ten sections The first digit in each three-digit number represents the main class. “500” = natural sciences and mathematics.

The second digit in each three-digit number indicates the division. “500” is used for general works on the sciences “510” for mathematics “520” for astronomy “530” for physics

More Dewey

The third digit in each three-digit number indicates the section. “530”is used for general works on physics “531” for classical mechanics “532” for fluid mechanics “533” for gas mechanics

A decimal point follows the third digit in a class number, after which division by ten continues to the specific degree of classification needed.

Library of Congress Subjects

Essentially an artificial indexing language

Based on literary warrant

Entry vocabulary provided in the form of reference structure

Moving slowly towards a real thesaurus structure (not there yet)

Not faceted—subdivisions pre-selected, based on individual heading or “pattern” heading

LCSH Example

Digital libraries see from “Electronic libraries” see from “Virtual libraries” see broader term: “Libraries” see also “Information storage and

retrieval systems”

Library of Congress Classification

21 basic classes, based on single alphabetic character (K=law, N=art, etc.)

Subdivided into two or three alpha characters (KF=American Law, ND=painting, etc.)

Further subdivision by specific numeric assignment

Author numbers and dates arrange works by a particular author together and in chronological order

MARC Formats (Bibliographic)

BooksSerialsMapsVisual materialsSound recordingsComputer filesArchives and manuscripts

Control fields (00X)

Number & code fields (0XX)

Access point (1XX = main entry)

Title, publisher, etc. (2XX)

Physical description (3XX)Series (4XX)

Notes (5XX)

Subject headings (6XX)

Local fields (9XX)

From Holdings Record

Authorized heading

Cross-references

Source where data found

Authorized heading

Place/Publisher

Treatment codes

Source where data found

Authorized heading (topic)

See also ref.

See also from (broader)

See also from (related)

Information in other headings

LC Classification

BibliographicRecord

(paper version)

Heading (name) Heading (series) Classification (subject)Heading (subject)

Holdings(paper)

BibliographicRecord

(digital version)

Holdings(paper)

Holdings(digital)

Traditional library digital libraries?

MARC and AACR2 categorizations by physical format break down for digital resources

Efforts to integrate digital materials ongoing

Catalog boundaries are at issue

Current Questions

What will be cataloged?

How can we further maximize automation to minimize costs?

How much catalog data is enough?

What will catalogs look like?

How will catalogs integrate with other retrieval systems?