Electronic Cataloging

Kathleen Forsythe, Cataloging

Have you ever wondered how items get processed to be included in the UW Libraries Catalog? Every day catalogers exercise their art and skills describing items that have been selected for the collections of the University Libraries. They are now performing these tasks electronically.

As a cataloger examines the first item to be processed for the day, she clicks on an icon that automatically accesses the world's largest database of bibliographic records. Searching a database of over 37 million records, she usually finds one that matches the item. When a record is not found, the cataloger contributes a cataloging record to the database for use by other libraries around the world.

If a record is found, the cataloger edits it to provide the best access for users at the University Libraries. Opening another icon, she starts a session that contains all the Library of Congress subject headings. Headings appropriate to the item are copied and pasted from the electronic documentation into the cataloging record. The primary heading also contains a hotlink to a call number in the Library of Congress classification schedule that is then copied into the record.

Next the cataloger opens a telnet session into the local catalog to browse the call number list. Comparing this list with an alphanumeric table open in another window, she completes the call number so that it interfiles correctly with the rest of the materials in this part of the collection. With two keystrokes, the record is completed.

A scenario from the future? Not at all. This electronic multi-tasking is happening today behind the scenes in cataloging units at the University Libraries. Workstations combine the latest in Windows software, telecommunications, networking, and documentation databases to seamlessly bring together electronic resources on the desktop. The bibliographic record database described above is located in Ohio, the library catalog is in Computing & Communications, and the CD-ROM documentation from the Library of Congress is in Suzzallo Library. UW cataloging procedures are on Web pages running from a local server, and other Web resources used in cataloging, such as a database for geographic names, are in other parts of the country.

This electronic environment is an important contribution to catalogers' abilities to provide accurate and timely access to information for the UW community. As more documentation becomes available electronically, and interfaces become more uniform, the new technologies will continue to dramatically impact day-to-day worklife in technical processing.