Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
How a library catalog thinks
A catalog thinks in records and headings, not by reading every sentence on the shelf.
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From the opening
A library catalog thinks by making records that describe works and the items that carry them, then filing those records under controlled headings. It does not think by reading the book the way a person does, and a search succeeds when your words meet the record's words, which were chosen so many books could be found under stable names. The opening covers how headings gather variant names, why a keyword can miss a book, and what a record claims and ignores.
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Inside
- How headings gather variant names
- Why a keyword can miss a book
- What a record claims and ignores
- Where records describe whole boxes
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Authority control and library subject headings
- Bibliographic records that describe items rather than full text