A comprehensive treatise on Library

Cataloging

By

Jitendra Varma

M. A., M. L. I. Sc

Director, VILSnewdelhi

Purpose to compile a Library Catalogue

A library is a collection of various types of materials used by

users of the library to gain knowledge and gathering

information. The variety of materials are being acquired by

the librarian for this purpose. Each type is distinguished by its

designation. With huge collection of such consultation

material a librarian is at a loss to retrieve the required

material to serve his/her users.

An inventory of such various type of collection in the library so

becomes necessary to locate them in the library. We can call

this inventory as list.

There are basically two types of material acquired in the

library

1. Books

2. Non-books

Under the category books are

1. Single books

2. Multi-volume

Books can also be categorized as

1. Published books

2. Unpublished books

When a title is published periodically with latest information

on a topic related to the title, we call it a serial publication.

We can categorize books again as

1. Monographs

2. Serials

Usually monographs have a fixed content, which is being

revised in new editions. But in serials the content changes

with each issue.

Unpublished books are usually named as manuscripts.

Monographs are either monographs or serials as in the case of

published books.

In almost all libraries we find non- books material.

Some examples of non-books materials found in libraries are

1. Maps, globes,

2. Art objects:

3. Films, videos,

4. Museum objects

5. Slides, microfilms/microfiches

6. Computer files

7. Museum objects

8. Et al

AACR2 lists them as GMD. (General Material Designation)

They are

‡h [art original] ‡h [microscope slides] ‡h [art reproduction] ‡h [model] ‡h [chart] ‡h [motion picture]

‡h [diorama] ‡h [picture] ‡h [electronic resource] ‡h [realia] ‡h [filmstrip] ‡h [slide] ‡h [flash card] ‡h [sound recording]

‡h [game] ‡h [technical drawing] ‡h [graphic] * ‡h [toy] ‡h [kit] ‡h [transparency]

‡h [microform] ‡h [videorecording]

The basic purpose of such a list is to search required material

in the library.

Another name of a list is a catalog.

A catalog is not only a list but a list of material which indicates

their place in the library and the position there in where they

are kept. An item can be approached by a user in different

ways. He/she can approach an item by its author/s, editor/s,

title, subject/s, and like. The user’s purpose is to locate

his/her material by consulting the Library Catalogue.

By consulting the catalogue, the user gathers information

regarding what to consult from the shelves of the library

With the above discussion it is has become clear that the

Library Catalogue is not only a list of material kept in the

library, but a powerful tool to search the material available in

the library by tagging the title with different tags like type of

material, its author/s, editor/s, subject/s, keywords, and the

like.

The purpose of a Library Catalogue is to find what material is

available in the library,

i. By author/s, editor/s

ii. By its title and edition

iii. By subject/s, keywords, feature headings

Another purpose of a library catalog is to locate an

item, included in the text which does not go with the

subject/author/editor/title of the document

By preparing analytical entry

iv. An analytical item hidden in an item

v. Link every item with its location on shelf, and inside

books, if a any.

To conclude, Library catalogue is a tool which fulfills

multipurpose approach.

The first encounter of a user who enters in the library is a

Library Catalogue. The best Library Catalogue is the one

whose purpose is in unison with the purpose of a User of

Library collection.

We will go step by step to compile a Library catalogue in the

overflow pages of this document