LIBRARY CATALOGING IN AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT

Library Cataloging in an Online Environment

Library Cataloging in an Online Environment

Subject cataloging has a long history of being questioned. Even though Cutter (2000) convinced librarians to use subject headings in dictionary catalogs by the beginning of this century, the concept of subject searching remained a disreputable one. Many catalog use studies showed that most searches were for known items, or at least were for a known author. Even though some studies showed a majority of subject searches, especially in public libraries, these tended to be ignored.

Recently, Robert (2005) gave major funding to six projects working on creating digital libraries, and the title of one news article about this is quite telling. Marcia (1989) says that the items that we do catalog should be done according to a standard, and that standard is likely to be the Core Record mentioned earlier. The Core Record requires "at least one or two subject headings at the appropriate level of specificity."[ 29] Just as some librarians question the need for controlled vocabulary, some question the need for the practice of "specific entry.

Karen (2004) notes that the heading should be as specific as the topic it is intended to cover. As a corollary, the heading should not be broader than the topic; rather than use a broader heading, the cataloger should use two specific headings which will approximately cover it. A weakness of the concept of specific entry is that subjects must be described in terms that are constantly changing. If something is cataloged before a suitable term has been added to a standard list, one must choose a term at the next level of generality; so early works on a new topic are sometimes separated from the later ones.

Specific entry means that if a whole book has been ...