Page 26 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2

Library Catalogs

What is a li brary cat alog? A li brary cat alog is a re cord or a list of
the col lection of a par ticular li brary, or of the col lection of many li-
braries that are con nected elec tronically. When it is a com bined list of
the hold ings of many li braries, it is called a un ion cat alog or a shared
catalog. We can also say that a li brary cat alog is an or ganized list of
information resources ar ranged in log ical, pre scribed or der. Why is it
necessary for ev ery li brary to have a cat alog? Cat alogs serve many
different functions that will be explained in this chapter. Ba sically,
catalogs are established so that li brary users are able to re trieve the
needed in for ma tion. A good cat a log is a good in for ma tion de liv ery
tool. To pro duce a good cat alog, all materials must be cataloged so
that they can be found. Cat alogs come in a variety of sizes and for -
mats. When study ing about library cat alogs, it is nec essary to un der-
stand what are known as in dividual en tries that identify each item in
the col lection. As a li brary tech nician, you will be re quired to in ter-
pret the en tries to the us ers, if you work in the pub lic ser vices area, or,
if you are a cataloger, to ac tually work on de termining how to prop -
erly en ter in for ma tion.
A li brary cat alog is never complete be cause the li brary col lection
is a liv ing in stitution. Materials are added on a daily basis as well as
re moved at reg u lar in ter vals. To ac cu rately re flect the col lec tion of
the li brary, it is nec essary to up date the catalog con stantly.
Ma te rials listed in the cat a log rep re sent ev ery thing the li brary
owns, plus col lections from other libraries in the case of a shared cat -
alog. In cluded in the cat alogs are books (also re ferred to as mono -
graphs), pe riodicals (also re ferred to as se rials, which in clude both
pro fes sional jour nals and pop u lar mag a zines, news pa pers, and other

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