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Library Cataloging Theory

The purpose of this research is to examine certain consequences to cataloging praxis proceeding from evidence that library cataloging theory seems at least as much a social construction as either art or science. Apparent blind spots with regard to the social content of even thoughtful cataloging analyses create conceptual impediments against resolving to this day what Osborn, writing in 1941, terms a cataloging "crisis."

Wilson, whose focus is on the tensions inherent in manual and online systems, distinguishes between "what catalogs are supposed to do" and "how and to what extent they do it" (Wilson 256), and this sentiment is echoed in various ways throughout the literature. But it is misleading to assume (and Wilson does not) that settling the tension between 3x5 hard copies and online media will settle controversial cataloging issues. Of more significance is the sociology of cataloging theory.

Osborn's call for a pragmatic approach to cataloging instead of one bogged down by "legalistic" definitions and classifications, "perfectionistic" identification, or ultradescriptive bibliographic annotation of attributes and contents in part acknowledges that cataloging needs of (say) a scholarly library may be different from those of engineering or fine-arts libraries. While virtually all libraries can make use of LC cards, "this does not mean that such libraries should adopt any more Library of Congress standards than are right and proper for their . . . institution" (402). To put it another way, institutional idiosyncrasies, or what is commonly called a corporate culture, may be an important factor of catalog analysis. But pragmatic, commonsense adaptation of a catalog to needs of a prevailing corporate culture may not be as progressive as it seems.

Undoubtedly it is reasonable and progressive to suggest, as Osborn does, that rather too much emphasis has been placed on the classification (and reclassification) of knowled...

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Library Cataloging Theory. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:36, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712146.html