Why do we Catalog?

1. Why do we Catalog? Lecture 1 Info 660 Daniel Stuhlman

2. 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

3. Collections 2 Size  Larger items on larger shelves  Cars in the garage  Books segregated by size Age  Most recent items on top

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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?

7. Order out of chaos 3 • Aesthetics • Ease of access • Size • Subject • Author • Title

8. 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

9. History of Cataloging 1 • Book catalogs (19th century) • Card catalogs (20th century) • Computer databases (now)

10. History of Cataloging 2 Ancient Library of Alexandria 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.

11. Book Catalogs 1 Advantages • Portable • Low tech • Does not require special equipment to store or use • Disadvantages • Takes a long time to create • Hard to make additions and revisions • Space is limited • Costly to create

12. 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 Library Dictionary Catalog of the Slavonic Division. New York: G.K. Hall, 1974.

13. Card Catalog

14. Library Management Systems

15. 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 the Library of Congress collection.

16. 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.

17. Libraries 2 Dedicated in 1897 as the first permanent home of the Chicago Public Library. In 1991 the main library moved out. This building is now the Chicago Cultural Center. It has a circulating collection, performance auditoriums, and The Museum of Broadcast Communications.