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Cataloging in Digital Libraries

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Database Systems

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Synonyms

Cataloging; Classification

Definition

Cataloging is using standard rules to create a mainly text surrogate that describes an object sufficiently in detail so that the object is uniquely differentiated from all other objects. Without looking at the object, a user may know enough about the object to know if it suits the user’s needs. It is generally considered to include bibliographic description, and the application of subjects, both as words and as classification.

Historical Background

Devising and using methods of arranging and describing information – respectively termed, within the standard library world, classification and cataloging – have been primary concerns of libraries ever since libraries began, in the ancient world of the Greeks and the Romans. A collection of information without classification and cataloging is not a library. The whole point of classification and cataloging is to make access quick and easy for users; it was discovered very early that putting like...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, American Library Association, Chicago, 2005.

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  2. Borgman C.L. From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000.

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  3. Chan L.M. Cataloging and Classification: An Introduction. Scarecrow Press, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 2007.

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  4. IFLA Study Group. Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR). K.G. Saur, Munchen, 1998, (UBCIM publications, new series; vol. 19). Available online at: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm.

  5. IFLA Study Group. International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD), (Preliminary consolidated edn.). K.G. Saur, München, 2007 (IFLA series on bibliographic control; vol. 31).

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  6. Kochtanek T.R. Library Information Systems, From Library Automation to Distributed Information Access Solutions. Libraries Unlimited, Westport, CT, 2002.

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  7. Libraries. Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropedia 7:333–334; Macropedia 22:947–963. Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago, 2002. Available online at: http://search.eb.com/.

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  10. Reitz J.M. Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Libraries Unlimited, Westport, CT, 2004.

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  11. Svenonius E. The Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000.

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  12. Tennant R. Bitter Harvest: Problems and Suggested Solutions for OAI-PMH Data and Service Providers. California Digital Library, Oakland, CA, 2004. Available online at:http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/harvesting/bitter_harvest.html.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Mary Lynette Larsgaard

Authors
  1. Mary Lynette Larsgaard
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    LING LIU (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. TAMER ÖZSU (Professor and Director, University Research Chair) (Professor and Director, University Research Chair)

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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Larsgaard, M.L. (2009). Cataloging in Digital Libraries. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_47

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