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Unit 13: Subject Cataloguing

1. To distinguish an item from all other items and to describe its scope, content, and biblio- Notes
graphic relation to others, and
2. To present these data in a form which permits integration with the descriptions of other
items and which will respond best to the interests of most users of catalogues.
Second, they state certain generalizations about how the objectives are to be achieved:
1. That a physically complete copy shall be described,
2. That the description shall be no more extensive than necessary,
3. That the terms used in the item itself shall form the basis of the description,
4. That the data shall be organized in a manner most useful to patrons and best suited to
integration with other catalogue entries,
5. That documentation shall be given only in unusual cases, and
6. That a uniform style shall be adopted for all entire.
The principles of subject cataloguing ought to be similar in structure, though, of course, not in
detail. They should be concerned with such questions as:
1. What is the purpose of subject cataloguing?
2. What form is the subject’ catalogue to take?
3. To what depth shall subject analysis ordinarily be attempted?
4. What shall be the form of entry for the subject catalogue? and
5. What ought the language and terminology of the subject to catalogue to be?
As assessing the current situation in subject cataloguing, it is apparent that some of these principles
have already been established by common practice, if not by common agreement. For instance,
the alphabetic subject catalogue, either alone or as an integral component of the dictionary catalogue,
has come to be the most general form in U.S.A if not outside. Library of Congress subject heading
forms are virtually standard. And, in general, there is wide agreement in U.S.A, even among
specialists, that the English language and common and popular terminology shall be used for the
subject headings in catalogues. It should be apparent; however, that each of these principles which
has come to be widely accepted is dependent upon the purpose of the subject catalogue. Yet this is
a point upon which we have not yet reached wide concurrence. We are in the somewhat curious
position then of having agreed to generalizations about something whose aim is not yet clearly
determined. It is this failure to define the objective with sufficient precision which has contributed
to the long, still unsettled controversy over the most suitable form for the subject catalogue to
take. It is this same failure which has led in our time to some confusion between the functions of
subject cataloguing and subject indexing, and to criticisms of the subject catalogue because it does
not provide the sufficiently deep analysis of the contents of our libraries required or sought by
some users of library materials.
Haykin has stated that “the primary purpose of the subject catalogue is to show which books on a
specific subject the library possesses.” This presumes that subject entries will be made for specific
concepts, and that the reference structure of the catalogue will be designed to facilitate the isolation
of specific subject, and for no other end. In contrast, Charles A. Cutter speaks of cross references as
correspondents to and substitutions for the arrangement in a systematic catalogue. Since it is an
accepted function of the systematic catalogue through its arrangement and its index to reveal all of
the relevant material on a subject which is recorded within it, it is apparent that we have here two
diametrically opposed objectives.
The first aim is to facilitate the identification of a particular reference or a few selected references;
the second is to present a bibliography of all there is to be found on a particular subject within a
specific collection. Obviously the techniques required to achieve selectivity on the one hand and
comprehensive coverage on the other will be different. Julia Pettee, S. C. Bradfrd, and B.C.Vikery,
as well as others, have asserted the dependence of the alphabetic subject catalogue upon

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