Library catalog facts for kids
A library catalog is like a giant list of all the books and other items a library owns. Think of it as the library's inventory! It helps you find exactly what you're looking for. This list can include books, computer files, pictures, maps, and even real objects. If a library is part of a bigger group of libraries, their combined list is called a union catalog.
For many years, people used card catalogs. These were cabinets filled with small cards, each describing a book. Today, most libraries use an online public access catalog (OPAC). This is a computer system that lets you search the library's collection from a screen. Some people still call the online catalog a "card catalog," even though there are no physical cards.
Some libraries still have old card catalogs, but they are rarely updated. They are mostly there for historical reasons. Many libraries have removed their card catalogs to make space for more books or study areas.
The biggest library catalog in the world is WorldCat. It's managed by a non-profit group called OCLC. In 2021, WorldCat had over half a billion records!
Contents
What is a Library Catalog For?
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Long ago, people like Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi (in 1841) and Charles Ammi Cutter (in 1876) worked on creating rules for library catalogs. Cutter explained what a good catalog should do.
According to Cutter, a library catalog should help you:
- Find a book if you know the author, title, subject, or when it was published.
- See what the library has by a certain author, on a specific subject, or in a particular type of literature (like science fiction).
- Choose a book by showing you different versions or what the book is about.
These ideas are still important today. In 1998, a new set of guidelines called Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) said that a catalog helps users to: find, identify, select, and get library materials.
Basically, a catalog acts like an inventory of everything the library owns. If you can't find an item in one library's catalog, you know to look somewhere else.
The Story of Catalog Cards
A catalog card was a small piece of paper with details about one library item. It included the author's name, the title, and where to find the item.
The first card catalog appeared around 1780 in Vienna, Austria. Before this, libraries used large, inflexible lists made of marble, clay, or handwritten books. These were hard to update when new books arrived. Cards were much easier to change and add to. The very first cards might have even been French playing cards, which had one blank side!
During the French Revolution in 1789, many books from religious buildings were collected. To organize them for new public libraries, people wrote book information on the backs of playing cards. This became known as the "French Cataloging Code of 1791."
In 1815, English inventor Francis Ronalds used a card catalog for his own book collection. This was one of the first practical uses of the system. Later, in the mid-1800s, an Italian publisher named Natale Battezzati created a card system for booksellers.
Melvil Dewey, a famous American librarian, strongly supported using card catalogs. He saw how useful they were because you could easily add new cards for new books. Before this, some libraries organized books by their size, or just by the author's last name. This made finding books very tricky!
The first issue of Library Journal, a magazine for librarians, said that libraries needed a standard way to catalog books. The American Library Association (ALA) then suggested using cards that were about 2-by-5-inch (5 cm × 13 cm) or 3-by-5-inch (8 cm × 13 cm). The larger 3-by-5-inch (8 cm × 13 cm) card became the standard because it was the same size as postcards.
Melvil Dewey also created the Library Bureau. This company sold everything a library could need, from machine-cut index cards and cabinets to tables, chairs, and even date stamps. This helped libraries across the country become more uniform in how they operated.
Dewey and others developed a system to organize books by subject. Within each subject, books were alphabetized by the author's name. Each book got a special code called a call number. This number told you the book's subject and where it was located on the shelf. The call number on the card matched the number on the book's spine.
In 1860, Ezra Abbot designed a way to keep catalog cards neat and secure in their drawers. He put cards on edge between two wooden blocks. Many American libraries adopted his idea.
The American Library Association set standards for card sizes in 1908. This made it easier to make cards and cabinets that fit everywhere. OCLC, a big supplier of catalog cards, printed its very last one in October 2015.
In a physical card catalog, each item's information was on a separate card. These cards were filed in drawers. For non-fiction books, librarians often used Charles A. Cutter's classification system. This system helped people find books quickly.
Here's a simplified look at Cutter's system:
- A: Encyclopedias, magazines, club publications
- B–D: Philosophy, psychology, religion
- E–G: Biographies, history, geography, travel
- H–K: Social sciences, law
- L–T: Science, technology
- X–Z: Languages, book making, lists of books
Different Kinds of Catalogs
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Traditionally, there were several types of library catalogs:
- Author catalog: This catalog listed items alphabetically by the author's name.
- Subject catalog: This catalog organized items based on their main topic or subject.
- Title catalog: This catalog listed items alphabetically by their title.
- Dictionary catalog: This was a very common type in North America. It combined author, title, and subject entries all in one alphabetical list.
- Keyword catalog: A subject catalog that used keywords to help you find items.
- Shelf list catalog: This catalog listed items in the exact order they appeared on the library shelves. It was also used to keep track of the library's inventory.
A Brief History of Catalogs
Librarians have been organizing books for thousands of years! By 700 BCE, the Assyrians had rules for their catalogs, based on older Babylonian methods. The Library of Ashurbanipal in ancient Nineveh (around 600s BCE) had 30,000 clay tablets. Its librarian, Ibnissaru, organized them by subject. Back then, libraries mostly used subject catalogs, not author catalogs. This shows that early librarians had a system to keep things consistent. Catalogs helped people know what books were available, especially since ancient scrolls were hard to browse through.
In 1780, Gottfried van Swieten introduced the world's first card catalog in Austria's Imperial Library.
During the early modern period, libraries were organized differently by each librarian. There was no single way to do it. Some organized books by language or material. But most scholarly libraries used categories like philosophy or mathematics. The Sorbonne library in Paris was one of the first to list titles alphabetically under each subject.
Before printing presses, librarians had to write new book titles in the margins of their catalog lists. Then they would create a whole new list. This meant catalogs often couldn't keep up with new books.
When printing became common, many more books were made. This made strict cataloging very important. Printed catalogs, sometimes called dictionary catalogs, started appearing. These allowed scholars outside a library to see what books it had.
The first card catalogs became popular in the late 1800s. They offered much more flexibility than older methods. Then, towards the end of the 1900s, the online public access catalog (OPAC) was developed.
Here are some important moments in catalog history:
- Around 600s BCE: The royal Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh had 30,000 clay tablets, organized by subject.
- Around 200s BCE: Pinakes by Callimachus at the Library of Alexandria was probably the first library catalog.
- 9th century: Libraries in Europe started using catalog systems to organize and lend books.
- Around 10th century: The library in Shiraz, Persia, had over 300 rooms and detailed catalogs.
- Around 1246: The library at Amiens Cathedral in France used call numbers to show where books were located.
- 1595: The Nomenclator of Leiden University Library was the first printed catalog of a library.
- 1791: The French Cataloging Code of 1791 was created.
- 1815: Thomas Jefferson organized his personal library (which became the Library of Congress) using his own system.
- 1961: The Paris Principles (PP) were agreed upon internationally for cataloging.
- 1967: The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) were developed.
How Catalogs Are Sorted
In a title catalog, there are two main ways to sort titles:
- Grammatical sort: The most important word in the title comes first. For example, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" might be sorted under "Adventures." This can be tricky because it needs special rules.
- Mechanical sort: The first word of the title comes first. Most modern catalogs use this, but they usually ignore words like "The" or "A" at the beginning.
Sometimes, names of people are standardized in catalogs. This means the name is always written and sorted in the same way, even if it appears differently on the book. This process is called authority control. It helps you find all works by the same author, even if their name is spelled slightly differently.
Titles can also be standardized. This is called a uniform title. For example, different translations or new editions of a book might all be listed under the original title. This helps you find all versions of the same work.
Sorting alphabetically can be complicated:
- Some languages have different sorting rules. For example, how should "IJ" be sorted in a Dutch catalog?
- Titles with numbers, like 2001: A Space Odyssey, can be sorted as numbers or spelled out.
- Names with special parts, like "de Balzac" or "Ortega y Gasset," can be tricky to sort correctly.
Organizing by Subject
In a subject catalog, librarians choose a library classification system. They pick the right subject headings for each item and give it a unique classification number (also called a "call number"). This number helps to identify the item and also tells you where it belongs on the shelf. Items with similar subjects are placed together, which helps you browse and discover new books on topics you like.
Online Catalogs
Online catalogs, like the Dynix system from 1983, have made finding books much easier. This was possible thanks to MARC standards (which stands for MAchine Readable Cataloging) developed in the 1960s. MARC is a special computer language for cataloging information.
Rules for creating MARC records come from places like the U.S. Library of Congress and OCLC.
MARC was first used to help create physical catalog cards automatically. But over time, it allowed people to search the computer files directly.
OPACs (online catalogs) are much better than old card catalogs because:
- You can sort the results in many ways (by author, title, keyword, or subject) with just a click.
- You can search for any word in a title or other part of the record, making it easier to find things.
- Online catalogs can link different versions of an author's name, so you find everything by them.
- They make information more accessible for people with disabilities, like those who are visually impaired or use wheelchairs.
- They save a lot of physical space in the library.
- Updating the catalog with new books is much faster and easier.
See also
- Cataloging
- International Standard Bibliographic Description
- Social cataloging application
