Page 36 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

20 Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians

Clas si fi ca tion Schedules, again depend ing on the choice of the par ticu-
lar library. A book num ber is added to the clas sification num ber to
complete the pro cess. The book num ber is assigned accord ing to C. A.
Cutter’s Three-Fig ure Author Table.
sub ject head ing: This term is used in library cat alogs to describe the
subject mat ter of the mate rials and as an added access point for
retrieving the materials using the sub ject approach.

INTRODUCTION

To prop erly cat a log li brary ma te ri als and to main tain con sis tency,
rules need to be followed. It is even more im portant to follow the
rules rig idly when the library joins a net work and the cat alog be -
comes part of the shared da tabase. Ref erence books or the elec tronic
versions of ref erence books must be ac quired and the rules prac ticed.
These ref erences are called cat aloging tools or tools for cat aloging.
Cataloging is done in two ways: orig inal cat aloging and copy cata-
log ing. Orig i nal cat a log ing means that the en tire pro cess of cat a log -
ing is com pleted lo cally by the li brary staff. In copy cat aloging, a
shortcut is taken that en tails copy ing the nec essary in formation from
a source that con tains works al ready cat aloged. Most cat aloging can
be done by way of copy cat aloging, thus avoid ing the un necessary
time and effort spent in du plicating the cataloging pro cesses. This is
es pe cially true in au to mated li brar ies, where the needed cat a log ing
information can be found in the da tabase to which the library has ac -
cess. On oc casion, how ever, for some very spe cial or unique ma terials,
nec es sary in for ma tion for copy cat a log ing can not be found. In such
cases, orig inal cat aloging must be per formed. Many odd doc uments
and pub lications of lo cal in terest be long in this category. While copy
cataloging is done for the majority of li brary ac quisitions, some ma te-
rials are al ways wait ing to be cataloged lo cally. In the past, li braries
used the cat a log li brar ian to per form orig i nal cat a log ing, while as-
signing to the library tech nician the job of copy cat aloging. With the
con tin u ous em pha sis on better train ing and more ed u ca tion, many li-
brary tech nicians now per form both jobs.