The phrase \"theory of bibliographic control\" evokes considerable interest among librarians, partly because they are not sure that any theory exists and partly because they wish that it did. The skepticism which young American librarians often express concerning bibliographic theory may be typical of those who have witnessed the development of elaborate cataloging systems, observed their contradictions and inconsistencies, and concluded that librarianship, in the United States at least, is \"long\" on bibliographic control and woefully \"short\" on theory. The thesis of this paper is that American librarianship suffers not from a lack of bibliographic theory but from a multiplicity of theories. Further, it is contended that these theories reflect the history and social setting of the United States. In order to present this point of view systematically and comment upon it, this paper will address itself, first, to the distinctively American context out of which our current bibliographic systems emerged; second, to the dual structure of library catalogs and published bibliographies which characterizes American attempts to control materials; and, third, to some contemporary questions, the answers to which may help in the development of a coherent theory of bibliographic control in the United States.

An Inquiry into Library of Congress Cataloging Delays.

Citations

Theory of Bibliographic Control in Libraries

References

Theory of Bibliographic Control in Libraries

Related Papers (5)

An Investigation on Catalogs and Cataloging in Korean Academic Libraries

The Other Half of Cataloging.

Cataloging U.S. Depository Materials: A Reevaluation

Cataloging and classification an introduction / Lois Mai Chan

Introduction to cataloging and the classification of books