Offers illustrations of anomalies and prejudices found in common information retrieval tools: "LC Subject Headings" (9th edition), "Dewey Decimal Classification" (19th edition), "Universal Decimal Classification" (3rd abridged edition). Index terms in areas of sexual bias, social strata, politics, knowledge, customs,…

When the Mississippi State University (MSU) Library undertook a major reclassification project in March 1989 to convert 175,000 Dewey Decimal titles into the Library of Congress Classification, the Technical Services staff involved in the planning realized that communicating policies and procedures to all levels of library personnel would require…

The retiring editor of Dewey Decimal Classification recounts the development of the system from the 16th through the 19th editions, i.e., 1956-1980. During this period, the system has undergone major changes to internationalize its character. Special provisions have been incorporated for branches of history, geography, language, literature, the…

Describes the substantial changes in existing catalog formats, products, and the National Bibliography entailed in the British Library's commitment to AACR2 and Dewey 19. The conversion involved not only headings but an algorithmic conversion of the descriptive cataloging. Included are the impact on services, retrospective conversion, and common…

Despite some inroads by the Library of Congress Classification and short-lived experimentation with Universal Decimal Classification and Bliss Classification, Dewey Decimal Classification, with its ability in recent editions to be hospitable to local needs, remains the most widely used classification system in Australia. Although supplemented at…

National bibliographic developments worldwide are planned with awareness of international context and of advantages of following internationally used standards. The information gap between librarians in rich and poor countries through unavailability of high technology in poor countries where international bibliographic tools are in use appears to…

Since an alphabetically arranged newspaper clipping file often separates those items which should be together, a classified system would be more useful in a newspaper library. The system used at the "Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald" is based on major categories numbered 1-100, with related items in proximity. Subdivisions are provided by…

This paper describes the development of an automated authority control system for the Genealogical Society of Utah, which has large holdings of microfilmed records from many nations, including civil registration, parish registers, local records, and census records. The key function of the library is the identification of people. From the…

This paper establishes a classification for the different types of ephemeral publications that are common in museums (e.g., educational, commercial, internal). To this purpose, it sets forth an elementary system of automated technical treatment that provides a secure system for storage, retrieval, and diffusion of this data by using MARC format in…

Papers on cataloging, classification, and coding systems which were presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "Numbering and Coding Systems for Bibliographic Control in Use in North America" by Lois Mai Chan (United States); (2) "A Project Undertaken by the Library of…

This paper discusses the current resurgence of interest in authority files and describes the automated authority files of the National Library of Canada. Factors contributing to this interest in such files include cooperative programs between libraries, the development of international standards, and the impact of computer technology and…

The World Wide Web and browsers such as Netscape and Mosaic have simplified access to electronic resources. Today, technical services librarians can share in the wealth of information available on the Web. One of the premier Web sites for acquisitions librarians is AcqWeb, a cousin of the AcqNet listserv. In addition to interesting news items,…

The 10 papers in this collection were presented at an open forum and meetings of three sections within the Division of Bibliographic Control: (1) "Review of the Work of the Section on Cataloguing 1989/1990" (Nancy R. John and Inger Cathrine Spangen); (2) "Report from the Section on Classification and Indexing" (Dorothy…

Discusses possible technical services functions in electronic libraries of the future. Highlights include acquisition of electronic information; bibliographic control, including MARC format, bibliographic utilities, subject headings, and classification; systems planning, development, and evaluation; systems support; organization of technical…

Papers on the collection and processing of official or government documents which were presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "The Definition of Official Publications" by E. Johansson (United Kingdom), which provides a proposed definition and a 1979 IFLA discussion paper on…