Page 141 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

The Cataloging Department 127

CATALOGING ROUTINES

After the ma terials are re ceived and properly checked in, they are
sent to the cataloging de partment, where the first step of cat aloging
be gins. The li brary tech ni cian first searches for cat a log ing in for ma -
tion from the iden tified print sources or matches the ti tles with the ex -
isting ti tles in the da tabase. If in formation for copy cataloging is not
avail able, then the li brary tech ni cian will per form orig i nal cat a log -
ing, the de tails of which were discussed in Chap ters 4, 5, and 6. At
this point, in formation is en tered into the MARC work form with the
library’s code at tached, and the cat aloging is done. Li braries that con-
tinue to use cards no lon ger pro duce the card sets on-site. In stead,
commercially pro duced cards are used to save staff time and to en -
sure the qual ity of the pro duction.
Please be aware that ev ery li brary has its own rules and practices
for cat aloging rou tines. Most pro cedures man uals list tasks in or der
as fol lows:

1. Materials are received.
2. Search database or other identified sources for cataloging in-
formation.
3. If information is found, do copy cataloging.
4. If cataloging information is not found, do original cataloging.
5. For libraries with OPAC, enter all information onto the screen.
6. For libraries with cards, prepare and produce cards or buy cards
from commercial vendors.

The num ber of cards needed is de termined by the number of added
entries: a card for each sub ject heading, one main entry card, and one
shelflist card. Most of ten li braries will buy not only the card sets from
commercial ven dors but also the com plete pro cessing ser vice, such
as spine la bels, pock ets, cards, etc. For libraries that pro duce their
own cards, a com puter pro gram such as The Li brarian’s Helper: The
Pro fes sional Cat a loging Pro gram should be used. This type of pro -
gram is used on a stand-alone com puter and is de signed to pro duce
catalog cards in con formity with AACR2R stan dards, and to print la-
bels, pock ets, and cards. Such pro grams as the OCLC’s Cat a loging
Label Program al low the cataloger to print la bels from the text files.