Page 65 - DLIS104_MANAGEMENT OF LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION CENTRES

Management of Libraries and Information Centres

Notes information Cataloguing and Classification for Library Technicians, Second Edition, is an ideal
text to use in programs for library technical assistants and a handy reference for practicing library
technicians.

9.2 Cataloguing and Filling Routines

A library catalogue is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries,
such as a network of libraries at several locations. A bibliographic item can be any information
entity that is considered library material, or a group of library materials, or linked from the
catalogue as far as it is relevant to the catalogue and to the users (patrons) of the library. The card
catalogue was a familiar sight to library users for generations, but it has been effectively replaced
by the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). Some still refer to the online catalogue as a “card
catalogue”. Some libraries with OPAC access still have card catalogs on site, but these are now
strictly a secondary resource and are seldom updated. Many of the libraries that have retained
their physical card catalogue post a sign advising the last year that the card catalogue was updated.

Did u know? Some libraries have eliminated their card catalogue in favour of the OPAC for
the purpose of saving space for other use, such as additional shelving.

Goal
Charles Ammi Cutter made the first explicit statement regarding the objectives of a bibliographic
system in his Rules for a Printed Dictionary Catalogue in 1876. According to Cutter, those objectives
were:
1. to enable a person to find a book of which either (Identifying objective)
the author
the title
the subject
the category
2. to show what the library has (Collocating objective)
by a given author
on a given subject
in a given kind of literature
3. to assist in the choice of a book (Evaluating objective)
as to its edition (bibliographically)
as to its character (literary or topical)
These objectives can still be recognized in more modern definitions formulated throughout the
20th century. 1960/61 Cutter’s objectives were revised by Lubetzky and the Conference on
Cataloguing Principles (CCP) in Paris. The latest attempt to describe a library catalogue’s goals
and functions was made in 1998 with Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)
which defines four user tasks: find, identify, select, and obtain.

Catalogue card
Arif, Abdul Majid.
Political structure in a changing Pakistani
villages / by Abdul Majid and Basharat Hafeez
Andaleeb. 2nd ed. Lahore: ABC Press, 1985.
xvi, 367p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 969-8612-02-8 (hbk.)
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