Organization of College and University Libraries

THE C A T A L O G department's primary function is to incorporate books and other materials into a library's cataloged collections in such a fashion that the reader may readily ascertain what the library's holdings are and get hold efficiently of the particular item he wants to use. Classifying, shelf-listing, descriptive cataloging, and subject cataloging are the principal processes involved in accomplishing this function. Traditionally, in libraries large enough for departmentation, these are the minimum duties assigned to a catalog department, although it is frequently made responsible also for certain others more or less closely related to these major functions. Examples are accessioning, physical preparation of books for the shelves, and maintaining location records for books shelved more or less permanently in branches, departmental libraries, or other special readers' service units. Study of the organizational structure of large catalog departments reveals a surprising lack of uniformity even in libraries of a single type which are comparable in size. hloreover, because of the number and diversity of the elements on which organization of cataloging work may be based, the pattern of individual departments is usually complex. A casual examination of organization charts shows that among these elements the following are considered to be especially important: function, subject, language, form or type of material, degree of difficulty of material, and level of treatment to be accorded various categories of material. Theoretically, the organization of work in catalog departments along strictly functional lines seems both natural and logical. Yet few departments have set up separate divisions for classifying, descriptive cataloging, and subject cataloging. A stronger preference has been

Organization and Administration of Cataloging Processes

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Susan M. Haskins

Papers

Something New in Cataloging