Why do we Catalog

1
Why do we Catalog?

• Lecture 1
• Libr 248
• Daniel Stuhlman

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Collections 1

• Think about your own collections of items.
• How do you arrange them?
• Function
• ? Dishes in the kitchen
• ? Books in the study
• ? Repair tools in the workroom

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Collections 2

• Size
• ? Larger items on larger shelves
• ? Cars in the garage
• ? Books segregated by size
• Age
• ? Most recent items on top

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Collections 3

• Kind of item
• ? Spoons, forks, and knives in their own places
  in the silverware drawer
• ? Books on the book shelves
• ? Fish in the fish tank
• ? Stamps and pictures in albums

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Order out of chaos 1

• Humans need to make order for objects to be able
  to find them when needed
• First we name things to be able to recall them.
  Second we describe them. For cars we give
  vehicle ID numbers and license plate numbers

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Order out of chaos 2

• For books we have informal rules used by non
  librarians or book specialists and formal rules
  used by specialist.
• Think of following collections
• Personal, book store, elementary school
  classroom, research library
• How are they arranged?

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Order out of chaos 3

• Aesthetics
• Ease of access
• Size
• Subject
• Author
• Title

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Charles Ammi Cutter, 1837-1903.

• From his Rules for a Dictionary Catalog (1876)
• To enable a person to find a book when the one
  or more is known
• A. the author
• B. the title
• C. the subject
• To show what the library owns
• by author, subject, or a given kind of
  literature
• To assist in the choice of a book
• as to its edition (bibliographically) as to its
  character (literary or topical)

For more information on Charles Cutter
http//web.utk.edu/ebowker/deadgerman.html
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History of Cataloging 1

• Book catalogs (19th century)
• Card catalogs (20th century)
• Computer databases (now)

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History of Cataloging 2

• Ancient Library of Alexandia
• The ancient Library was the only truly universal
  library. Although no exact count exists, probably
  at its peak it held some 700,000 scrolls,
  equivalent to about 100-125,000 printed books
  today. The Library also encouraged translations.
  The Septuagint, the first translation of the
  Bible from Hebrew to Greek, took place there. The
  Ptolemaic kings paid special attention to enrich
  the Library with the treasures of knowledge in
  all fields and branches of knowledge. They were
  anxious to acquire originals of works and the
  most valuable collections, beyond buying and
  copying books. They searched each ship that
  visited Alexandria and if a book was found, it
  would be taken to the Library to be copied and
  the copy would be returned to the owner.
• The library was burned in 48 BCE and finally
  destroyed in the either the 3rd or 4th century.

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Book Catalogs 1

• Advantages
• Portable
• Low tech
• Does not require special equipment

• Disadvantages
• Takes a long time to create
• Hard to make additions and revisions
• Space is limited
• Costly to create

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Book Catalogs 2

• Examples of published book catalogs
• National Union Catalog, Pre-1965 Imprints a
  cumulative author list representing Library of
  Congress printed cards for books, and titles
  reported by other North American Libraries.
  London Mansell, 1968-1981.
• New York Public Libray Dictionary Catalog of the
  Slavonic Division. New York G.K. Hall, 1974.

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Card Catalog
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Library Management Systems
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Famous Libraries of the past
The library of Columbia University, New York
Citytaken between 1920 and 1940. From the
Library of Congress collection.
Harvard University Library in 1915. From
Library of Congress collection.
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Libraries
Carnegie Library from Houston, TX 1900 or later
Central Building of St. Louis, MO Public Library
about 1965. Opened in 1912, one of the finest
examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in
the city.