History of digital cataloging
Jeeya S -
Hello fellow students! My name is Jeeya Shah. To research about future innovation for cataloging, it is important to learn about the past. So, for this blog post I figured I would share a brief overview on the history of digital cataloging (something I had to learn for my training). First catalogs were handwritten books, then cards (which were easier to change once a collection changes), then printed cards. Then the Library of Congress developed the LC MARC format in 1960s to automate procedure of producing catalog cards. In 1970s computers began to organize the catalog cards into a computerized card catalog. Now, libraries make their catalogs available to the public electronically on computers through online public access catalog (OPAC). OPACs can be standalone systems (The catalog is only for the items held by that library or its branches) or a shared system (more than one separate library share an OPAC, they share bibliographic records with separate item records). OCLC WorldCat and Copac are examples of Union catalogs, which do not function as a circulation system. They only show what materials are owned by an institution, and then it is up to the institution to find another circulate inventory (this is where libraries might buy a MARC/bibliographic record from OCLC). Tune in next time for me to discuss the three levels of cataloging!
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