Cataloguing Overview (course notes)

Descriptive Cataloguing: description of the item in a bibliographic, or physical manner so that there can be no confusion between the item on hand and any other in the collection.

Subject Cataloguing: deciding what topics the material covers and assigning subject headings and classification numbers to the work.

Housekeeping: additional information -easy reader, big book, local info, holds, missing or discarded items, etc, that is NOT part of the descriptive or subject cataloguing.

AACR2R: Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition, standards governing descriptive cataloguing (English speaking library world). It covers rules governing the description of items to be catalogued and rules governing the choice and form of name access points.

ISBD: International Standard Bibliographic Description
Area 1 - Title and statement of responsibility (author/ editor/artist/illustrator)
Area 2 - Edition (what edition/ special printing of the book)
Area 3 - Material dependent information (scale of map/duration of sound recording/periodical or magazine/volume number or date)
Area 4 - Publication and distribution (company, distributed by another firm, date of publication)
Area 5 - Physical description (number of pages/ number of CDs/ DVD/maps or charts/illustrated/size of item)
Area 6 - Series (name of series/number)
Area 7 - Notes (additional info to help user identify or retrieve material/bibliography or teaching notes/accompanying handbook or CD-Rom)
Area 8 - Standard numbers (ISBN, ISSN)

ACCESS POINTS: file headings in a catalogue that direct users to items in the collection

Name Access Points (NAPs) - authors, editors, illustrators, agencies, or companies that have a part in creating the intellectual content o a resource (not publishers usually). Can be title of resource as well as the name of any series to which the item belongs. When assigning NAP check catalogue to determine which form of a name you have used in the past and make any references regarding variant forms.

Subject Access Points (SAPs) - subject headings and classification numbers.

Principle Access Point (PAP) - usually the author's name, can be the title. Two or three authors then the first named is the PAP. More than that the title is the PAP. Associations, government agencies, performing groups, etc. referred to as Corporate Bodies and can be PAP.


SUBJECT CATALOGUING: consists of two access points, Subject headings and Call numbers. Subject heading selected from Sears List of Subject Headings, Call number Dewey Decimal Classification.