Arguing that inadequacy of subject access in online catalogs lies with the database used as a foundation, this essay discusses the weaknesses of Library of Congress subject cataloging and MARC records, electronic card catalogs, enhancement of data, publisher warnings, Boolean search strategy inadequacies, and changes in the national standard. (EJS)

This manual, the first in a series of practical, "how-to" publications, describes the experiences of the Non-Formal Education Information Center (NFEIC) in setting up and maintaining a specialized resource center for print materials related to nonformal education and development. A description of the NFEIC is followed by an outline of…

This essay addresses issue of uniformity or consistency in application of subject headings--as distinct from consistency among headings--to books on any given topic. Discussion covers purpose of subject headings or descriptors, reliability of choices made by catalogers when assigning subject headings, and card and online catalogs. (18 references)…

Though recent technological developments have promised solutions to the costly problems of expanding card catalogs and changing cataloging practices, at the University of California libraries the problems have been compounded by a desire to stay compatible with the changing conventions of the Library of Congress and by an increasingly stringent…

This paper analyzes proposals for augmenting library bibliographic records for improved subject searching in online catalogs by providing access to parts of books. Arguments for and against adding book content indexing, possible fields for enrichment, and feasibility of 11 alternatives for providing such information are presented. Twenty-two…

Designed as a beginning, how-to guide, this handbook lists 20 short steps to cataloging library materials for a church or synagogue library. The guide opens with a history and a brief explanation of the Dewey Decimal System, with special attention given to the divisions and subdivisions that fall under the category "Religion." Several references…

Designed for use in school libraries, this manual outlines simplified procedures for cataloging, defined as the indexing of an item; for classification, defined as the assignment of a subject number to the item; and for processsing, defined as the preparation of the item so that it can be borrowed from the library. The manual is divided into 10…

Changes made at Library of Congress (LC) are considered and analyzed for their impact on the library at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The four LC changes analyzed are (1) the adoption of the International Standard Bibliographic Description for monographs (ISBD(M) ); (2) desuperimposition (the return to use of the smallest,…

Authority records were compared for established headings that are identical in "Library of Congress Subject Headings" (LCSH, 18th edition) and "Moving-Image Materials: Genre Terms" (MIM). Both quantitatively and qualitatively, pairs of identical headings differ sufficiently from each other that the creation of authority records…

To study the format, content, and rationale of public catalogs used at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) libraries, a questionnaire was sent to each of the campus libraries. The data collected included information on: 1) number of volumes in the library's collection; 2) number of drawers in its catalog; 3) physical arrangement of…

The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs Library began a small automation project when complete library automation was not possible. Despite limitations, the library has successfully integrated technology into its daily operations, including computer literacy programs for the staff, maintaining offline circulation records, and producing…

The Simple Index Method overcomes the difficulties in building a core list for serials in interdisciplinary fields by using multiple indexes which cover various aspects of the subject. Collection-development librarians can develop a core list when standard bibliographies or specific indexing and abstracting tools are lacking and can tailor that…

A method is defined for library cataloging of magnetic tape files. The needs of the reference librarian and the patron are taken into consideration, as well as the particular requirements inherent in the form of material. Basically, the catalog record must serve three functions: (1) it must present a conventional and approachable record of library…

Faced with an old and increasingly complex card catalog and with proposed changes in the Library of Congress (LC) cataloging system, the Subcommittee on the Future of the Catalogs at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) Library considered methods for dealing with these joint problems of catalog renovation and…

Reviews the 1990 literature that concerns subject analysis. Issues addressed include subject cataloging, including Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH); classification, including Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), Library of Congress Classification, and classification in online systems; subject access, including the online use of…