BSIS 102: ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION 1: CATALOGUING THEORY

ASSIGNMENT 1
DISCUSS:
a) Cataloguing policies: centralized and cooperative cataloguing.
b) Management of cataloguing department/section.

ASSIGNMENT 2
Analyze:
a) Recent developments in cataloguing.
b) Conversion of the concept catalogue to Meta data

AN INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL

Definition of terms
AACR2 — Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed.: a code for the descriptive
cataloging of book and non-book materials. Published in 1978, adopted in 1981. Revised
in 1988 and again in 1998 (AACR2R).
Access point — A term under which a cataloging record may be searched and located.
Added entry — An entry other than the main entry by which an item is represented in
the catalog.
Bibliographic record — A unit describing a work in a bibliographic file, e.g., a catalog
card.
Chief source of information — The preferred source of cataloging data, usually the
equivalent of the title page.
CIP — Cataloging-In-Publication, a joint project of the publishing industry and the
Library of Congress, providing preliminary cataloging information printed in the
published work.
Corporate body — An organization or group of persons that may act as an entity, e.g.,
associations, institutions, government agencies, firms.
Descriptive cataloging — The phase of cataloging concerned with the identification and
description of an item and the proper recording of that information.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 1

Item — A document or set of documents in any physical form, treated as an entity, and
forming the basis of a single bibliographic description.
ISBD — International Standard Bibliographic Description: a format for representing the
descriptive information in a cataloging record.
ISBN — International Standard Bibliographic Number.
LC — Library of Congress.
LCCN — Library of Congress Control Number (was Library of Congress Card Number).
LCSH — Library of Congress Subject Headings.
MARC — Machine Readable Cataloging: a standard format for the encoding and
transmission of cataloging information in machine-readable form.
Main entry — The complete cataloging record of an item, presented in the form by
which that item will be uniformly identified and cited; The primary access point.
Series — A group of separate items related to one another by the fact that each item
bears, in addition to its own title proper, a collective title applying to the group as a whole.
The individual items may or may not be numbered.
Statement of responsibility — A statement, transcribed from the item being described,
relating to persons or bodies responsible for the intellectual or artistic content of the item.
Tracings — The list of subject headings and added entries under which a bibliographic
record has been filed.
Uniform title — The standardized title by which a work is to be identified for cataloging
purposes.

Information storage and retrieval is the systematic process of collecting and

cataloguing data so that they can be located and displayed on request.
Catalogue
-A list of books, maps, coins any other medium that constitute a collection.
-An organized set of bibliographic records that represent the holdings of a particular
collection. A collection may consist of any similar types of materials e.g books,
periodicals, maps, CD-ROMs, diskettes, coins, sound recordings, paintings, video and
audio tapes.
Cataloguing

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 2

The process s of identification and description of a bibliographic item, the recording of
this information in form of catalogue record and the selection and formation of accessible
points.
The process of describing documents held in a library collection and providing entry
points to them. The end product of this process is a library catalogue which is used in the
identification and location of documents in an information centre. The process is done
according to a set of rules of a certain cataloguing code.
Catalogue Cards
A plain or ruled card on which catalogue entries may be made.
Library Catalogue
A list of items contained in a library collection or a group of libraries arranged according
to a systematic order.
Publisher’s Catalogue
It is a list of items published by a given publisher.
Descriptive Cataloguing
A part of the cataloguing process concerned with the identification of an item and with
recording the information about the item in a bibliographic record (e.g. a library
catalogue) so that the item may be identified precisely. It’s purpose is to consistently
record and describe each item in the library such that it is distinguishable from all others.

Bibliographic description
The description of an item containing details like; title and statement of responsibility
areas, edition area etc.
Subject Cataloguing
The process of determining the subject contents of a work so as to assign the appropriate
subject heading(s).
Analytical Cataloguing
The process of cataloguing that involves preparing entry points of a part of an item e.g.
an article in an encyclopaedia.
Collocation
The process of bringing together entries of items that are related.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 3

Call Number
A symbol that provides identification of an item and its location in a library collection.
Classified Catalogue
A subject catalogue consisting of classed entries arranged logically according to the
notation derived from a classification scheme used for the shelf arrangement of items in
the library.
Cross-reference
A direction from one entry point or heading to another. e.g. see and see also.
Unit card
This is the basic catalogue card containing the bibliographic record of an item, showing
the main entry heading, bibliographic description in several short paragraphs, the tracings
for subject and added entries, and various control numbers.

INFORMATION-STORAGE-AND-RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS
Computers and data processing techniques have made possible the high-speed, selective
retrieval of large amounts of information for government, commercial, and academic
purposes.
There are several basic types of information-storage-and-retrieval systems:
1. Document-retrieval systems store entire documents, which are usually retrieved by title
or by key words associated with the document. In some systems, the text of documents is
stored as data. This permits full text searching, enabling retrieval on the basis of any
words in the document. In others, a digitized image of the document is stored, usually on
a write-once optical disc (CD-ROM).
2. Database systems store the information as a series of discrete records that are, in turn,
divided into discrete fields (e.g., name, address, and phone number). Records then can be
searched and retrieved on the basis of the content of the fields (e.g., all people who have a
particular telephone area code). The data are stored within the computer, either in main
storage or auxiliary storage, for ready access.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 4

3. Reference-retrieval systems store references to documents rather than the documents
themselves. Such systems, in response to a search request, provide the titles of relevant
documents and frequently their physical locations. Such systems are efficient when large
amounts of different types of printed data must be stored. They have proved extremely
effective in libraries, where material is constantly changing.

Information Storage (IS)

This is the process of transmitting information in time, while ensuring the composition of
the material carrier of the information (paper, photographic film, magnetic tape, punched
cards).
In general, information storage is based on the memory effect of a storage device of a
fixed memory.
In particular, information storage may refer to the storage of documents. Information
storage is closely connected with information retrieval and therefore must be
implemented with the principle of addressability. One must also foresee the possibility of
withdrawal of the information from the storage device and its reproduction in one form or
another.

Information Retrieval (IR)

Information retrieval is the activity of obtaining information resources relevant to an

information need from a collection of information resources. Searches can be based on
metadata (“data about data") or on full-text indexing (full text index contains location
information about each significant word in a string field of a table).

Automated information retrieval systems are used to reduce "information overload".

Many universities and public libraries use IR systems to provide access to books, journals
and other documents. Web search engines are the most visible IR applications.

Information Retrieval System is a combination of an information retrieval language,

rules for translating from natural language into the information retrieval language and
vice versa, and match criteria that is designed to perform information retrieval.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 5

It is necessary to distinguish information retrieval systems from information retrieval
devices, which are special machines or specific methods for organizing a combination
of technological facilities designed for the practical accomplishment of information
retrieval.
Components of an Information Retrieval System

Some components of a specific information retrieval system are:

a) Information retrieval language,

b) Rules of translation, and match criteria,

c) Means for its technical implementation,

d) Body of texts (documents) in which the information retrieval is accomplished, and

e) Personnel directly involved in the retrieval.

Information retrieval systems are divided into two basic types:

a) Documentary and

b) Factual.

The indexes in a book and a library catalogue or stacks are examples of specific
documentary information retrieval systems, whereas a telephone book, an address book,
and a catalog of goods are examples of factual information retrieval systems.

A factual information retrieval system, in contrast to a logical information processing

system, does not provide for the extraction of new information from that contained in it
but only helps in quickly locating the facts or information that were put into it.

A variant of a documentary information retrieval system is a bibliographic information

system designed to retrieve only bibliographic descriptions of texts (documents)
containing the essential information and not the texts themselves.

RETRIEVAL TOOLS IN INFORMATION CENTERS

Retrieval Tools
Systems created for retrieval of information. Retrieval tools are essential as basic
building blocks for a system that will organize recorded information that is collected by
libraries, archives, museums, etc.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 6

Basic Retrieval Tools
 Bibliographies
 Catalogs
 Indexes
 Finding Aids
 Registers
 Online Databases

Bibliographies
 A list of information-bearing items. Bibliographies bring together lists of sources
based on subject matter, on authors, by time periods, etc.
 Bibliographies can be a part of a scholarly work and consist of the information
sources that were consulted to by the author or compiler, or they can be completely
separate entities--an individual list of lists.
 Some bibliographies include annotations, brief notes or abstracts that offer additional
comment or summary of a particular work.
 Each information-bearing item has a unique description that will include: author(s),
title, edition, publisher, place, and date of publication, etc.
 Bibliographies have a particular focus and/or arrangement: subject, author, language,
time period, locale, publisher, form. Oftentimes, bibliographies have a combination of
focuses.

Catalogues
 Catalogues provide access to individual items within collections of information
sources (books, videocassettes, computer files, etc.
 Each information source is represented by a physical description, classification, and
subject analysis. Access points are determined, subject headings are assigned, and
authority control terms are applied.
 The description is constructed according to a predetermined standard.
AACR2 - library, archives, and some museum collections.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 7

 GILS - for some government information.
Dublin Core - for some internet information sources.
 Catalogs are used by librarians, museum personnel, and patrons of libraries and
archives.
 Online catalogs are beneficial when searching for known-item searching or browsing
by patrons.

 Practically speaking catalogs should be able to:

1. Enable a person to find an information-bearing item(s) of which either the
author, title, and/or subject is known.
2. Show what a collection has by a given author, on a given subject, in a given
kind of literature.
3. Assist in the choice of material(s) as to the edition (bibliographically) and as
to its character (literary or topical).
4. Provide an inventory of the collection.

Forms of Catalogues
 Book
 Card
 COM (Computer Output Microform)
 OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog)

Arrangements of Catalogues
 Alphabetically
Authors
Titles
Subject

 Numerically
An internal accession numerical sequence.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 8

 Classification
-Subject analysis. Use of Classification Scheme (i.e. Dewey Decimal
Classification System of the Library of Congress Classification System.
Indexes
 Provide access to the analyzed contents of "bibliographic entities" (i.e. articles in a
journal, short stories in a collection, etc.)
 Indexes are not limited to what is available in a local setting, and they do not usually
give location information as.
 Indexes are available in print, CD-ROM, or on-line.
 Indexes are arranged in alphabetical order with entries offered for authors, titles, and
subjects.
 There is not a standard of arrangement, organization, or online searching.
Finding Aids
 Long descriptions of archival collections. Also referred to as an inventory.
 Finding aids are often cataloged, that is an alternative record that provides the name,
title, and subject points to the item(s).
Registers
 The primary control tools for museums, also referred to as an accession log.
 Registers function like catalogs, although they have additional kinds of access points,
such as the identification of the object, the donor, a history of association (i.e. where
or with whom previously owned the item), any insurance related information.
 An identification number (accession number) is assigned. The accession record
becomes one or more files that help to provide organization to a museum's collection.
Online Databases
 Electronic catalogs, where records are encoded for computer display and are stored in
computer memory or on CD-ROM disks.
 Online databases are built on the technical logic supported by relational database
theories. Databases that have records that are all stored within the same file.
 Records are link by a unique identifier and are linked to related databases that share
this unique identifier.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 9

 Online databases conserves storage space, allows for faster searching, and allows for
easier modification o records.

Types of Searches

There are particular types of searches you can use in most academic databases to retrieve
information sources more effectively. While each search engine has its own
characteristics or features most provide these types of searches:

 Subject or descriptor

 Keyword or free-text

 Title

 Author

Comprehending database structure is helpful for using these types of searches effectively.

Types of Searches: Subject Search

A subject search retrieves records with the search terms in the designated subject field.

Subject headings are predetermined words or phrases that describe the content of the
sources; sometimes called controlled vocabulary. The words or phrases can be developed
in-house or by a larger professional organization. Two examples are the Library of
Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Medical Subject Headings (MESH)
The advantage of using a subject search is that it focuses your search by conducting a
search in only one field in the record. Once you have a good subject term, finding sources
is very quick and easy. The disadvantage may be trying to identify a suitable term. If you
are unfamiliar with a database's terminology, look for a link to a thesaurus or the option
to "browse by" subject or descriptor.

Types of Searches: Title Search

A title search will retrieve records with the search terms in the title field. The advantage
of this search type is that it saves time when you have the title of a source. Another
advantage to searching the title field is that you will frequently find additional sources

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 10

about your topic. If your search term appears in the title, most likely it is about your topic.
The disadvantage of this is it excludes relevant sources without the terms in the title.

A library catalog often has only one title field, whereas an academic database often has
two title fields, periodical title and article title.

Types of Searches: Author Search

An author search retrieves records with the search terms in only the author field. The
advantage is that is allows you to find materials written by a person, an institution, an
organization, or a conference. This search does not find information about the author.

Typically, you must enter the author's name in a very specific format. Omit beginning
articles, but include articles occurring within the name.

Creating Search Statements

When searching for information on a particular topic, you must take complex concepts
and translate them into search statements appropriate for the search engines you will be
using. A search statement makes it possible to search effectively and efficiently for
sources related to your topic or thesis statement.

Once you've identified the terms you want to use for searching in a database, the next
step is to think about how these terms can be used in conjunction to each other.
Combining multiple search terms is powerful way to retrieve relevant information from a
database.

There are two important elements to an effective search statement: relevant search terms
and appropriate operators. Operators are words or symbols that are inserted between
search terms to instruct the computer on how to search the records.

Search Term Selection

A search term is any word or phrase that is significant or meaningful to your topic. These
are the terms you type into the search box of a search engine. Usually, a search term is a
noun or an adjective, and sometimes a verb, that are concrete concepts. Avoiding certain
terms eliminates irrelevant or unfocused search results.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 11

Before choosing search terms, you should articulate your information need. Having a
clear idea of the scope of your topic and what, if any, aspects of the subject area you wish
to focus on make it easier to search for information. Use your thesis statement or concept
map to highlight the significant words and phrases that convey the major concepts.

The next step is to create more search terms. Once you have multiple terms you will
combine these search terms together in your search statements.

Search Terms to Avoid

Some words entered into your search statement may prevent you from retrieving effective
search results. The following types of terms are best avoided when selecting your search
terms.

Stopwords are words that have a high frequency of use in the English language. Called
stopwords because they can slow down or invalidate a search. Many databases and search
engines are programmed to ignore these words. Examples:

 articles (a, an, the)

 prepositions (of, on, in, with)

 conjunctions (but, however)

Common words are often terms so heavily used in a given database that they will
retrieve too many records to be useful. For example, using the search term "education" in
the Education Full Text database would retrieve almost every record in that database.

Abstract words or concepts can be difficult to describe search terms, such as "causes
of" or "impact on." These are a reflection, analysis, and evaluation of your research rather
than a concrete, descriptive term. Use of these typically generates invalid search results.
Some of the abstract terms to avoid include:

 impact  development  contrast

 influence  significance  cause

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 12

  importance  comparison  characteristics

 effect

OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS OF A CATALOGUE.

Purposes and Functions of Cataloguing

 Catalogues are prepared whenever a collection grows too large to be remembered

item for item.
 They facilitate retrieval of item or parts of items for actual use.
 They are also useful inventory records since in especially a large collection they
help us to know what has been acquired, lost, replaced, withdrawn or shifted to
another section.

Objectives of a Catalogue
According to Cutter (1876), a library needs a catalogue;
(i) To enable a person find a book of which:
(a) The author is known
(b) The subject is known
(c) The title is known
(ii) To show what the library has
(d) By a given author as entered in the library
(e) On a given subject
(f) In a given kind of literature
(iii) To assist in the choice of a book as to its;
(g) Edition
(h) Character (literary or topical)
These objectives were defined more than 100 years ago by a prominent American
librarian called Charles Ami Cutter.
These objectives still hold good today but the word book should be replaced by “items”
or “documents” and word “author” should be replaced by a responsible person. This is

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 13

because librarians are now concerned with far more than printed work e.g. audio and
video recording, CD-ROMs, computers, films, microforms etc.
Further, it should be noted that today computerized catalogues and bibliographies can
offer a far more flexible search facilities than could ever have been envisaged. E.g. The
user may need to know only part of an author or part of a title in order to find a particular
entry.
Ranganathan (1964) gives the objectives of a library catalogue as;
(i) To disclose to every reader his/her book
(ii) To secure for every document it’s reader
(iii) To save the time of the reader and
(iv) To save the time of the staff

Functions of a Catalogue (How it works)

1. Records each work in the library by it’s author, editor, translator, illustrator,
commentator, series or by any other person, body or name under which a reader might
look.
2. Arranges author entries in such a way that all the works of an author will be found
together under the same name. This procedure makes it possible for readers to either find
a specific work or to survey the literary output of an author as represented in the library.
3. To record each work in the library and even parts of a work under the subject under
diswhich are to be removed. E.g. A library like UoN which has several branches in
different campuses, an analytical catalogue may be appropriate.
4. To arrange subject entries so that like topics will fall together and related topics will be
systematically correlated. E.g. the term ingestion, absorption, assimilation, alimentary
canal, should be correlated to the term digestion by the use of “see references”.
5. To record titles as they appear on the chief source of information which is usually the
title page.
6. To employ cross references by which a reader may be guided from one entry in a
catalogue to another.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 14

7. To provide a full description of each work by giving its heading, body of entry,
physical description, series notes, the standard number, and full traces of each work, so
that the work can’t be mistaken for any other.
8. To record the call numbers of works by which books may be located or obtained on the
shelves. (Locative function)

TYPES OF CATALOGUES

Traditionally, there are the following types of catalogues:

 Author card: a formal catalog, sorted alphabetically according to the authors' or

editors' names of the entries.
 Title catalog: a formal catalog, sorted alphabetically according to the title of the
entries.
 Dictionary catalog: a catalog in which all entries (author, title, subject, series) are
interfiled in a single alphabetical order. This was the primary form of card catalog
in North American libraries just prior to the introduction of the computer-based
catalog.
 Keyword catalog: a subject catalog, sorted alphabetically according to some
system of keywords.
 Mixed alphabetic catalog forms: sometimes, one finds a mixed author / title, or an
author / title / keyword catalog.
 Systematic catalog: a subject catalog, sorted according to some systematic
subdivision of subjects. Also called a Classified catalog.
 Shelf list catalog: a formal catalog with entries sorted in the same order as
bibliographic items are shelved. This catalog may also serve as the primary
inventory for the library.

PRINCIPLES OF CATALOGUING
Most present-day catalogues are online, and this makes them far more comparable than
they were previously to online information retrieval systems, or to search engines on the
world wide web ... in the past there have been printed catalogues, card catalogues, slip

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 15

catalogues and various microform catalogues, film or fiche. An online catalogue is now
usually known as an OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue), and normally gives a far
wider range of access points (ways of looking things up) than any of the previous forms
Core Principles. 1. Ranganathan’s Five Laws
• Books are for use.
• Every book its reader.
• Every reader his book.
• Save the time of the reader.
• A library is a growing organism.
These should underpin best practice in every area of information provision. Each
pertains to the catalogue.
Core Principles. 2. Cutter’s Objects
1. To enable a person to find a book of which either
(A) the author
(B) the title
(C) the subject is known.
2. To show what the library has
(D) by a given author
(E) on a given subject
(F) in a given kind of literature
3. To assist in the choice of a book
(G) as to its edition (bibliographically)
(H) as to its character (literary or topical
Core Principles. 3. Cutter’s Means
Author-entry with the necessary references (for A and D)
1. Title-entry or title-reference (for B)
2. Subject-entry, cross-references, and classed subject-table (for C and E)
3. Form-entry and language-entry (for F)
4. Giving edition and imprint, with notes where necessary (for G)
5. Notes (for H)

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 16

Core Principles. 4. Cutter’s Reasons for Choice
Among the several possible methods of attaining the OBJECTS, other things being
equal, choose that entry:
1. That will probably be first looked under by the class of people who use the
library;
2. That is consistent with other entries, so that one principle can cover all;
3. That will mass least in places where it is difficult to so arrange them that
they can be readily found, as under names of nations and cities.

Core Principles. 4. Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)

ASSIGNMENT: discuss FRBR
International Statement of Cataloguing Principles 2009
General principles:
 Convenience of the user
 Common usage
 Representation
 Accuracy
 Sufficiency and necessity
 Significance
 Economy
 Consistency and standardization
 Integration

Purposes and Functions of Cataloguing

 Catalogues are prepared whenever a collection grows too large to be remembered

item for item.
 They facilitate retrieval of item or parts of items for actual use.
 They are also useful inventory records since in especially a large collection they
help us to know what has been acquired, lost, replaced, withdrawn or shifted to
another section.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 17

ARRANGEMENT AND FILING OF RECORDS
Definition
Is the action of arranging papers, documents, records, etc into predetermined sequence;
also the subsequent insertion of additional items in their correct places.
In, a library, after the catalog entries have been prepared, the next very important job is to
file or arrange the cards in the trays of the catalogue cabinet.
Cards are filed to enable user to utilize the resources of a library effectively.

Rules for filing catalogue cards

There are at least 9 basic rules that a user should be familiar with in order to effectively
use a card catalogue.
1. Surname rule—all personal names should be filed under the surname e.g.
Charles Njonjo = Njonjo, Charles
Mary Mwenda= Mwenda, Mary
2. The Initial Articles rule – Definite and indefinite articles at the beginning of titles and
other headings are ignored e.g. a, an, and the, and filing be done under the first letter of
the next word.
a. The academic Library – e.g. filing should be under Academic
b. An airport
c. The American team
d. An American Primer
e. A story to tell
f. An annual review
3. Abbreviations and acronym rule
Abbreviations are filed as if they were written in full e.g.
KTTC—Kenya Technical Teachers College
UNEP—United Nations Environmental Programme.
4. Prefix rule
Surnames with prefixes before them should be filled under the first letter of the prefix.
In other words the prefix is considered and should accompany the surname. Examples,
Mac, Mc. Ole, Bin etc

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 18

5. Numerical rule
Numbers are filed as if they were spelled out or written as words e.g.
1984--Nineteen eighty four
20th Century—Twentieth Century
680 Hotel—Six Eighty Hotel
6. Punctuation marks rule
Punctuation marks are ignored in filing e.g.
Literature – Dictionary what a life!
Literature – History what is in a name?
Literature: Nigerian Writers
7. Royal and religious titles rule
This rule states that these names should be filed under the titles. e.g.
Queen Elizabeth—to be filed under Q
Bishop Wairimu---to be filed under B
8. St. rule
The rule states that should be considered as if spelled out in full i.e. saint

9. Pseudonyms
These are other names used by authors who want to conceal their identity and prefer to
use other names rather than their real names. In this case filing should be done under the
pseudonyms.

10. Letter by Letter and Word by Word Filing

Alphabetical arrangement is either letter by letter or word by word.

Letter by letter means arranging/ alphabetizing a word letter by letter to the end of
each word.
Word by Word means observing the breaks which occur at the end of each word, so
that each word is considered as a unit by itself, before you start alphabetizing the next
word i.e. nothing before something.
The two arrangements therefore follow different sequences. E.g.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 19

 Letter by Letter Word by Word
Newark New Hampshire
Newcastle New Haren
Newfoundland New York
New Hampshire New Zealand
New Haren Newark
Newman, Arthur Newcastle
Newport Newfoundland
Newspapers Newman, Arthur
New York NewPort
New Zealand Newspaper

Word by Word Letter by Letter

Court Court
Court baron Court auld
Court customs Court baron
Court-martial Court customs
Court Masque Courtenay
Court auld Courtesy
Courtenay Court-martial
Courtesy Court Masque
Courtship Courtship

PHYSICAL FORMS OF CATALOGUES

The term physical form as used in connection with catalogues refers to the make-up of
physical materials, on which catalogue entries are made. This is distinctly different from
kinds (types) of catalogues which are concerned with the actual arrangement of the
bibliographic information e.g. dictionary catalogue, classified catalogue etc.
Physical form of catalogue is the manner (output) in which the catalogue is presented for
use. There are several forms of catalogues but the following are the common ones used
in many libraries.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 20

(i) Printed book catalogue or computer book catalogue.
(ii) Sheaf catalogue
(iii) Card catalogue
(iv) Guard book catalogue
(v) Microform catalogue (Fiche catalogue)
(vi) Machine-Readable Catalogue (MARC)

NB: Forms of library catalogues can be grouped into 3 categories:

(a) Manual catalogue
These are the traditional catalogues that include; card catalogues, printed book catalogue.
(b) Semi-mechanized catalogues
These are outputs on special cards and require devices for recording the data and for
manual, electrical or optical selection e.g. punched cards.
(c) Computerized catalogues
Are recorded on computer-readable media e.g. hard disks, magnetic tapes that can only
be accessed using a computer.

The following are the main physical formats of catalogues universally used:
1. PRINTED BOOK CATALOGUE/BOOK CATALOGUE/PRINTED
CATALOGUE.
This was the commonest form of catalogue at the turn of the last century (1901)
particularly in public libraries which had closed access systems. The details of libraries
holding are printed in the form of a book. To keep the catalogue up to date, one has to
have supplements at regular intervals. The supplements will take care of additions from
the time the previous printing of the catalogue took place.
Withdrawals are made through the cancellation of entries for the withdrawn items but this
can only be done on the catalogue held by the library but not on those that might have
been borrowed or given out to library users. It is produced via a computer and its
computer typeset presented in a book bound form.
Features of a printed book catalogue.
(i) Several catalogue entries are presented on a printed page.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 21

(ii) The pages consisting of printed catalogue entries are bound together into a book
form.
(iii) It’s computer produced.
Advantages of a printed book form catalogue.
(a) It is very easy to use because you can run your eyes (scan) through the page
which contains several entries. This saves time especially when compared to a
card catalogue. The users scan several entries simultaneously.
(b) It can be produced into multiple copies via a computer for use in various types of
libraries and patrons can even have copies for consultation at home.
(c) It occupies very little floor space as compared to the card catalogue.
(d) Individual volumes of the books are portable.
(e) It is durable if properly handled.
(f) It is easily guided through color codes during its preparation before printing.
(g) Using computer processing makes updating easy.
(h) Multi-access by users is possible as they can consult different volumes.

Disadvantages of a printed book form catalogue.

1. The catalogue is only up to date the moment its ready for printing, otherwise its
always out of date.
2. It is expensive to keep the catalogue up to date by producing supplements at
regular intervals or produce complete new editions of entire catalogue every so
often.
3. It is inflexible in that though supplements can be used to accommodate new
additions they can’t amend the original catalogue.
4. Withdrawals are difficult to reflect in this catalogue.
5. Due to its portability, loss or damage can easily occur.
6. It’s cumbersome to consult many volumes and supplements printed.
2. SHEAF CATALOGUE
This is a catalogue written on paper slips each bearing a single entry, held in loose-leaf
binders. The use of this form of catalogue dates from the 3rd quarter of 19th century (1875)
possessing certain advantages over the then prevalent book catalogue.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 22

The paper slips or sheaf slips are of several standard sizes, but the most common is 7 ½”
x 4”. (18.75cm x 10cm). The complete volume of binder may hold between 500 and 650
slips or sheafs. These binders are filed in pigeon holes forming a catalogue cabinet.
Each file of these binders is therefore a hardy volume and can even be consulted in out of
the library.

Distinct Features
(i) Presented on paper slips measuring 19 x 10cm.
(ii) Each slip contains a single entry.
(iii) The paper slips are held together in loose-leaf-binders.
(iv) The binders are filed in pigeons holes to form a sheaf catalogue.

Advantages of Sheaf Catalogues

1. As each slip carries a single entry the catalogue is very flexible and allows
both insertions and withdrawals of entry as books are either added or withdrawn
from the library.
2. Since this catalogue is like a book., it can easily be handled and carried like a
book even to the shelves.
3. It’s more economical than some other formats such as card catalogue because the
slips are cheaper than cards, although the slips are less durable.
4. It takes much less floor space than card catalogue.
5. It’s possible to make duplicate entries by use of ordinary carbon paper.
6. Because of the ease of duplication, it can and has indeed been used in compilation
of many union catalogues.
7. It’s compact.
8. Multi-access is possible by the use of different loose-leaf binders.
Disadvantages of Sheaf Catalogues
1. Slips of paper are not reasonably durable and therefore will call for replacement
every now and then.
2. Finding the correct place for insertion of a slip is more difficult than in a card
catalogue as many of the entries may need to be removed first.
3. It wastes more time in searching than the card catalogue.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 23

4. The sheaf catalogue is not as easily guided as in a card catalogue.
5. Maintenance costs are high due to replacement.
6. Due to portability of loose-leaf binders, they can get lost or misplaced.
7. Hard to consult especially for several loose-leaf binders for the same alphabetic
limit or range.
8. Once a given loose-leaf binder is full, another binder must be used.

3. CARD CATALOGUE
This is the most commonly used form of catalogue today. It’s known to have been in use
since the 1790s in France. It consists of entries on cards usually 5” x 3” in size.
Each card holds details for a single title. The cards are filed in shallow drawers or trays
which are in turn housed in catalogue cabinet. Each standard catalogue drawer holds
approximately 1,000 cards. The cards are held securely in their rods which go right
through holes at the bottom of the card. This is principally to prevent the cards from
being disarranged should the drawer be accidentally dropped or upset.

Advantages of Card Catalogue

1. It’s extremely flexible and additions and withdrawals can be performed easily.
2. It’s very easy to use and can be consulted at the same time by many users unlike
the book catalogue.
3. Can also be easily guided through use of colour codes to distinguish between
different kinds of information. Other guiding can be done through the use of
cards with raised tabs. Colour code is useful especially for different collections
e.g. Africana, Thesis, Teaching Practice etc.
4. It’s easy to produce many copies through use of mechanized means such as a
minigraph duplicator.
5. The cards are relatively compact (occupy little space).
6. Individual cards and trays are portable.
7. It’s durable compared to the printed book form catalogue.
8. Economical to produce and maintain due to the ease of reproducing into multi-
copies.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 24

Disadvantages of Card Catalogue

1. It’s very bulky and has the disadvantage of taking up too much floor space.
2. Going through single card is much slower process than running the eyes on a page
in a book catalogue.
3. It’s wasteful to use cards which are more expensive than the sheafs especially for
very brief entries i.e. brief bibliographic details.
4. A number of persons wanting to use the same catalogue drawer may experience
inconveniences.
5. A reader can’t consult any part of catalogue away from the catalogue area
whereas the book catalogue can even be consulted(even) at home.
6. It can be laborious to produce cards by individual typing if the number per book
is insufficient to justify mechanical means of reproduction. Also creates a lot of
work when interfiling in the catalogue, new or amended entries.
7. One user can monopolize the catalogue.

Steps to be followed in retrieving a book from a card Catalogue

1. Consulting the catalogue at the relevant entry point i.e. author, subject, title, etc. The
catalogue enables a user to find out whether the book in question is part of the library
stock or not.
2. If the book record is available, copy the call number situated at the top left hand side
of the card on a piece of paper.
3. Replace the tray and proceed to the shelf indicated on the call number i.e. the 1st item
on the call number which is the symbol representing the subject or topic of the book.
4. Search the shelf content, first alphabetically then numerically (if the notation is
alphanumeric) for subject topic, then alphabetically for book number or author mark,
before reverting to numerical for part of the author mark. Do not search the book by
colour or size (although, if one knows, how the book looks like, the mental image
formed may quicken retrieval).
5. If the book is missing after a careful search inform the staff at the circulation desk.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 25

6. If the book has been borrowed, request a reservation so that when the book is returned,
you will be given the priority of borrowing it.
NB: Remember, you should have either of the following information to be able to
search the library catalogue:
a. Title of book or periodical
b. Author’s name
c. Subject matter of the book.
d. The author’s list includes names, of editors, illustrators, joint author, corporate
authors, main author etc.

4. MICROFORM CATALOGUE
It usually appears in two types.
(a) Microfilm (b) Microfiche but also (c) Micro card

Microfilm catalogue is one that is to be found on a roll of film bearing a number of micro
images i.e. it’s a piece of film.
Microfiche catalogue is one of a sheet of film also bearing a number of micro-images.
Microform catalogue has become popular with development of Computer Output
Microform (COM).
The most common is microfiche catalogue. This catalogue has at the top of each fiche
eye-readable label that indicate the sequence or alphabet covered. To read the
information on the rest of the fiche, one needs a reader (microfiche reader).
A sheet of fiche will hold entries equivalent to what can be held by a printed book
catalogue of 96 pages.
Features of microform catalogue
i) Information of micro-images is presented either on microfilm, microfiche or micro-
card.
ii) A microfiche/film/card reader is required to access the contents of the catalogue
iii) The microfiche has at the top eye readable labels to indicate what is covered in the
catalogue

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 26

iv) Its compact and stores a lot of information, e.g. Sheet of microfiche can hold entries
equivalent to 96 pages of a printed book with the same entries.

Advantages
1. It’s very compact and therefore takes very little space.
2. It can be moved out for consultation and does not have to be in a fixed place only
like a card catalogue.
3. It is cheaper to produce in comparison with the others.
4. It is durable if carefully handled
5. Multi-copies can be produced through computer processing
6. Easy to update through computer processing.
Disadvantages
i. If it is not through computer processing it is not easy to update.
ii. It is machine /equipment dependent as readers are required
iii. It is power dependent as power is needed to run the equipment used for reading
the catalogue
iv. It can easily be misplaced due to its size and portability.
v. Users suffering from technophobia or fishbowl effect may shy away from using
the catalogue.

5. MACHINE-READABLE CATALOGUING (MARC) FORMAT

Botha, Hanneri…et al. (2001) defines machine-readable cataloguing as, “a group of
formats employing a particular set of conventions for the identification and arrangement
of bibliographic data for handling by a computer”. Machine-readable cataloguing
(MARC) first emerged in the United States in 1966. In the MARC format, all
bibliographic elements required by AACR2 are included. However, other additional
elements included in a MARC record are:
i) Dewey Decimal Classification and Library of Congress Classification Scheme
numbers
(ii) Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
iii) PREerved Context Index System (PRECIS)

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 27

 (i) COMputer subject System (COMPASS)
(ii) Subject entries
(iii) Library holding notes
(iv) Abstract
(v) Keywords, etc.
MARC is used by most information centres worldwide. It is used in doing the following:
i) selection
ii) ordering and cataloguing of information materials
iii) information retrieval and
iv) Compilation of bibliographies.
The development of MARC necessitated the emergence of standards specifically to
address cataloguing, as AACR2 does not address MARC formats. The latest standards
guiding MARC formats are MARC21. MARC21 has formats/areas as described by
Botha…et al (2001) as below
i) Bibliographic data: this format is concerned with the identification and
description of bibliographic items such as books, journals, manuscripts and
archival materials.
ii) Authority: its concerned with the creation and maintenance of MARC authority
records eg name, authorities for uniform titles, series, and subject authorities
iii) Holdings and location: these provide for the identification and encoding of data
elements in MARC holding reports
iv) Community information: this information accommodates the description of
programmes, services, individuals, organizations and events in a particular
community
v) Classification data: provides for the Dewey Decimal Classification and Library of
Congress classification numbers
Features of MARC format
- The cataloguing information is stored on computer storage media, e.g. CD-ROMs,
magnetic tapes, hard disks etc
- A computer must be used to access the catalogue contents
- has high storage capacity

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 28

- Multi-access is possible if it’s networked. (such mode of access yields Online public
Access Catalogue (OPAC)

ADVANTAGES OF MARC STANDARDS

i) It facilitates exchange of bibliographic information and cooperation
ii) It allows for worldwide exchange/sharing of bibliographic resources and
exchange of cataloguing information amongst information centres
iii) Prevents duplication of cataloguing work in individual libraries
iv) Enables libraries to obtain predictable and reliable cataloguing information
v) Enables small libraries to make use of the commercially available library
automated systems for management of the library operations
vi) Makes it possible for libraries to replace one library operating system with
another with assurance that data is still compatible
vii) Facilitates the production of accession lists, union cataloguing etc

ADVANTAGES OF MARC FORMAT

i. the catalogue has high storage capacity
ii. the removable storage media used in storing the catalogue entries are portable
iii. easy to produce multi-copies
iv. easy to update through computer automatically
v. a computer automatically does filing of entries
vi. multi-access is possible via OPAC
vii. offers immediate access to information
viii. can be used to produce other physical forms of catalogues e.g. Computer Output
Microform (COM).

DISADVANTAGES OF MARC FORMAT

i) Machine (computer) dependent because a computer is needed to access the
catalogue content
ii) Power dependent as power is needed to run the computer
iii) Users suffering from technophobia or fish bowl effects shy off from using it

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 29

 iv) Initials costs of installing computer systems are high
v) Faces security risks like virus

OPAC
The OPAC is a module of ILS and is usually offered as an add-on module that is it is
integrated with the cataloguing module.
The importance of this module and recent developments associated with it by saying that,
for many years, the OPAC has held a prominent place in academic libraries. They further
say that the development of the graphical user interface…a new generation of OPAC is
being developed based on Z39.50 or WWW or both; the OPAC is developing from a
finding list for local holdings into an interface between the libraries users and its services
including the library itself.
Most ILS offers an OPAC that enables both phrase and keyword searching, with search
qualifiers and symbols, for example Boolean operators and truncation in most systems
applied implicitly. Other features in a modern OPAC include dial-in access from remote
locations and statistics on the type of search performed.

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE COMPUTER CATALOGUE

i) It’s easy to construct once the cataloguer has acquired the necessary skills
ii) It can be integrated with a computerized circulation module to enhance the
circulation services
iii) It can be integrated with a computerized acquisition module to enhance the
selection and ordering services
iv) It’s easy and quick to access after the user has acquired basic instruction in its use.
v) It facilitates the management of a library system with multi-site libraries
(branches) if all the libraries are interconnected.
vi) Many users are able to access the catalogue simultaneously through different
computer terminals.
DISADVANTAGES OF MARC (OPAC)
i) It’s expensive to install as a powerful host server and terminals for users are
required.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 30

 ii) The catalogue is prone to human errors resulting from data entry mistakes.
iii) The catalogue needs a manual back up as the computer is switched off for
maintenance purposes.
iv) The computer is prone to breakdown just like any other machine.
v) The computer is prone to power supply problems e.g. power outrages or surges
vi) If the catalogue serves many multi-site libraries, then it increases the amount of
entries included. This lowers its speed of searching.
vii) The catalogue faces computer risks e.g. virus attack.

OTHER FORMS OF LIBRARY CATALOGUES

The other outdated forms of catalogue are: Visible index and guard book.
(i) Visible Index
There are two types of visible indexes that can be adopted for use as library catalogues:
(a) Those holding cards with only a given depth of the card visible so that headings can
be scanned. The cards are held in metal trays. The cards measure 12.5 x 20 cm.

(b) Those made up of narrow strips of about 0.62 cm wide mounted one below another
frame. The strips are filed in metal trays.
(ii) Guard (Book) Catalogue
It consists of several entries on a page. The entries are each on it’s own paper slip. The
paper slips are pasted onto the stout pages of a book.

COMPARISON OF THE MAJOR FORMS OF LIBRARY CATALOGUES

Hunter and Bakewell (1991) use different criteria/factors to compare the different forms
of catalogues. These factors/criteria are:
(a) Ease of use
A printed book catalogue, guard book sheaf catalogue and visible index are easy to use.
It’s debatable on whether a card catalogue and microfilm catalogue are easy to use.
A MARC and OPAC, on CD-ROM are easy to use after initial training is done.

(b) Ease of keeping up-to-date.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 31

A card catalogue, sheaf catalogue, visible index, microform catalogue and OPAC are
easy to update.
MARC on CD-ROM is easy to update though costly.
A printed book catalogue is not easy to update.
A guard book can be updated with some effort.

(c) Ease of scanning several entries

A printed book catalogue, guard book, visible index and microform catalogues are easy
to scan.
It is not possible to scan several entries on a card catalogue unless multiple entries are
made this makes updating difficult.
OPAC and MARC on CD-ROM are not easy to scan unless several entries are displayed
on the screen or page.
(d) Ease of reproducing multi-copies.
A printed book catalogue is easy to reproduce into multi-copies.
It is possible to reproduce a guard book into multi-copies but impossible to achieve.
It is possible to easily reproduce a card catalogue into multi-copies.
It is not usual to reproduce a sheaf catalogue into multi-copies but it is possible.
Visible index is not easy to reproduce into multi-copies.
A microform catalogue is easy to reproduce into multi-copies.
A machine-readable online access catalogue achieves this as it provides multi-access
through remote terminal (OPAC)
MARC on CD-ROM achieves this as it provides multi-access through remote terminal
(OPAC).
(e) Bulkiness of the catalogue
A card catalogue is bulky.
A printed book catalogue, guard book, sheaf catalogue, microform catalogue, machine
readable OPAC and MARC on CD-ROM are not bulky.

(f) Ease of guiding the catalogue

-A printed book catalogue, guard book and card catalogue are easy to guide.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 32

-OPAC and MARC on CD-ROM are easy to guide since they have on screen help and
guidance.
-A sheaf catalogue and microfilm catalogue are not easy to guide.

(g) Other factors

-A guard book is time consuming to compile and withdrawal of entries is a problem.
-One user can monopolize a whole section of the card catalogue.
-Binding mechanism for a sheaf catalogue can be awkward. The paper slips are flimsy.
-A microform catalogue requires a machine to access information contained.
-OPAC is the most flexible and powerful form of catalogue.
-The transportability of a machine-readable catalogue on CD-ROM is useful for union
catalogues.
Qualities of a good form of library catalogue.
1. Easy to use.
2. Legible and easy to guide.
3. Flexible and easy to keep up-to-date.
4. Able to allow for access of several entries at the same time.
5. Easy, quick and cheap to produce into multi-copies.
6. Portable.
7. Compact.
8. Cheap to produce and maintain.
9. Compatible with the library’s other retrieval tools and catalogues used by other
libraries.

NB: Unfortunately no one physical form of catalogue possesses all these qualities and
therefore it beholds upon the librarian to decide which physical format is most
appropriate in the library/ information centre/resource centre that they are working in.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 33

CATALOGUE CODES AND STANDARDS
Historical Development of Cataloguing Codes
Origin of Cataloguing Codes

The first cataloguing rules were prepared by individuals.

1. Panizzi’s British Museum Rules for the compiling of the catalogue (1841) was the
first major modern statement of principles underlying cataloguing rules. It has
extended an influence on every western world code, which has been published
since its publication.
2. Cutter’s rules for a dictionary catalogue in its 4th edition at his death in 1903,
presented the first complete set of rules for a dictionary catalogue.
From the beginning of the twentieth century codes have been drawn up by committees,
but the influence of those early far sighted individuals continued through,
3. LC rules on printed cards (1903) through the (1930s),
4. LC rules for descriptive cataloguing (1949)
5. ALA rules (1908, 1941, 1949)
6. AACR, (published in 1967) and
7. The present AACR2 (1978).
8. RDA (RESOURCE DESCRIPTION AND ACCESS) -2013 (April)
The ALA rules of 1908 were the results of a seven-year study by a committee of ALA
and the (British) Library Association. In 1901 the Library of Congress began its printed
card service with the result that libraries became interested in ways to use LC cards with
their own cards. One of the important responsibilities of the committee was to formulate
rules to encourage incorporation of LC printed cards into catalogues of the libraries.

The committee attempted to reconcile the cataloguing practices of LC with those of other
research and scholarly libraries. The use of LC cards increased dramatically between
1908 and 1941 and standardization of library catalogue codes progressed. However, the
ALA rules were not expanded during this 33 years period, drastically curtailing attempts
of cataloguing practice to stay in touch with cataloguing done at the LC.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 34

In 1930 a sub-committee was appointed by ALA to begin work on a revision of
cataloging rules and the problems were outlined.
Dissatisfaction with the 1908 code expressed on the grounds of “omission” of the basic
rules was not in question. Expansion was required to meet the needs of large scholarly
libraries or specialized collections.
The preliminary edition, published in 1941, expanded the rules of 1908 to make more
provision for special classes of material i.e. serial publications, government documents,
religious bodies’ publications, anonymous classics, music and maps to amplify existing
rules to cover specific cases of frequent occurrence. The revised edition of 1949 states
that:
“The chief changes from the preliminary edition are a rearrangement of the material to
make the sequence of rules logical as far as possible; reduction of the number of alternate
rules; omission of rules for description; rewording to avoid repetition or to make the
meaning clearer and revision where possible of rules inconsistent with the general
principles.”

The 1941 and 1949 rules were sharply criticized for being too elaborate and often
arbitrary. The emphasis having shifted from clearly defined principles to a collection of
rules developed to fit specific cases rather than the conditions that the cases illustrated.
One of the committee members known as Lubetzky commented that any logical
approach to cataloguing problems was blocked by the maze of arbitrary and repetitious
rules and exceptions to rules. Because of the omission of rules for description from 1949
ALA rules, the LC published its rules for descriptive cataloguing in the LC also in 1949.
This set of rules was much more simplified than had been the rules in part II of the 1941
ALA preliminary edition. These were not criticized as were the rules for entry and
heading and were incorporated virtually intact into the next edition of rules published by
ALA in 1967.

Summary of Major Cataloguing Codes

(i) British Museum code (1839)
(ii) Prussian Instruction (1908) rules for alphabetical catalogues of the Prussian

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 35

 libraries.
(iii) Cutter rules for a dictionary catalogue (1876)
(iv) LA cataloguing rules for author and title entries.(1908)
(v) ALA cataloguing rules second edition (1908)
(vi) LC rules for descriptive cataloguing in the LC (1949)
(vii) Vatican library rules for the catalogue of printed books.
(viii) Anglo-American or joint code (1908)
(xi) Anglo-American Cataloguing rules 1967 (AACR I)
(x) AACR II (1978)
(xi) RDA (2013)

NB: catalogue codes are formulated to serve the following functions.

1. To assist information centres develop a uniform approach to the cataloguing of
information materials.
2. To encourage the use of the same cataloguing rules so as to facilitate preparation of
union catalogues.
3. To facilitate and promote inter-library lending and co-operative cataloguing.
4. To provide rules to be adopted by any library, without the library staff thinking of how
to prepare catalogue entries.

ANGLO-AMERICAN CATALOGUING RULES 1967 (AACR I)

After the publication in 1949 of ALA code, the American LA invited Lubetzky in 1951 to
prepare a general analysis of the code in particular the rules for corporate authors and a
discussion of the objectives and principles which should underlay the revision of the rules.
Lubetzky was at the time a consultant on bibliography and cataloguing policy in the LC.
His report was compiled and published in 1953 and was in 3 parts.

PART 1
This considered the necessity or otherwise of each rules of 1949. The main question was
‘Is this rule necessary?”. He concluded in this part that many rules were not properly

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 36

related to each other mainly due to poor wording and irrelevant definitions and
distinctions.
PART II
This considered the corporate authorship complex. Lubetzky in his report favoured the
idea of a distinctive name i.e. no place names were to be entered as main entry headings.

PART III
Addressed itself to design of the code and Lubetzky in part recommended a direct entry
principle leaving collocation to references i.e. “see and “see also” references.
At the same time, the ALA reconstituted catalogue code revision committee in its
statement of objectives and principles for catalogue codes in 1956. It produced a draft
code in 1960.
In 1961, an International Conference on Cataloguing principles held in Paris produced
the Paris principles which were endorsed by revision committees of ALA and LA which
had started working closely together since 1960. By 1967, the new AACR was published
in 2 versions: The British and American text.
Characteristics of AACR 1
1. The 1967 code is designed for large research libraries but can still be used by
other smaller libraries.
2. The code covers rules for design and style of author/title heading as well as
descriptive cataloguing.
3. In addition to monographs other special materials e.g. maps, films, music etc have
been given separate treatment.
4. The principle of main entry as distinguished from added entries is recognized,
although that of multiple entries through the use of unit entries is also accepted.
5. Lubetzky’s preference of direct catalogue entry based on information found on
the documents and principally on the title page is much reflected in the code.
6. Collocation has been considered an important objective of the code and indeed
it’s a basic principle of the code that as far as possible, works by the same author
should be collocated.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 37

ANGLO-AMERICAN CATALOGUING RULES 2 (1978)
The reasons for AACR 2
The (1) numerous changes to rules in AACR 1 and the (2) progress towards an
international standard for description not only for monographs, but of serials and all
media, were two of the reasons for the meeting in 1974 of representatives of the national
library associations and national libraries of Canada, UK and US to plan for the
preparation of AACR 2.
Two other reasons were (3) a proliferation of other rules for non-book materials that
reflected dissatisfaction with AACR 1’s treatment of these materials and (4) LC’s
announcement of intention to abandon the policy of superimposition.
Thus after the publication of AACR 1 in 1967 a number of changes were found desirable
during the succeeding years. These were:
i) One of these was in connection with corporate bodies in which entry under place
was dropped in 1974.
ii) In addition to this change, about 40 other rules were developed.
iii) One other very important factor was the emergence of the programme of ISBD
(International Standard Bibliographic Description) from the international
meeting of cataloguing experts, held in Copenhagen in 1969, under the
auspices of IFLA (International Federation of Library Association).
The primary objective of ISBD is to provide a standard for preparing the
descriptive portion of bibliographic entries, including catalogue entries,
prepared by National Bibliographic and Cataloguing Agencies (NBCA) of all
countries. The first of these ISBD was officially adopted in 1961 by IFLAs
Committee on Cataloguing in its meeting in Liverpool.
ISBD standardizes the elements to be included in a bibliographic description and also
assigns an order of these elements. It further specifies a system of symbols to be used in
punctuating elements eg. . : ; . --- . By providing for a
standardized cataloguing of materials of all kinds, ISBD facilitates the international
exchange of bibliographic information. The changes referred above in connection with
1967 AACR and the development of ISBD promoted a meeting of representatives of the
national library of Canada, Britain and the USA in 1974 to plan the publication of

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 38

AACR 2.

The objectives of publication of AACR 2 as established during the 1974 meeting:

(i) To reconcile in a single text, the 1967 British and North American text.
(ii) To incorporate in a single text all amendments and changes hitherto agreed upon and
implemented under previous mechanism.
(iii) To consider for inclusion in the AACR any new proposals, for amendments then
under discussion between the American library Association (ALA), the Library
Association (LA), library of congress (LC) and Canadian library Association
(CLA).
(iv) To consider for inclusion under AACR any new proposals put forward under the
above bodies plus the British Library and any proposals from the other National
Committees from other countries in which the AACR was used.
(v) To provide for international interest in AACR, by facilitating its use in other countries
other than the US, Canada and UK i.e. to include other authors and languages in other
non-English speaking countries.
During this meeting a Joint Steering Committee (JSC) for revision of AACR was
established with one voting and one non-voting member from each of the 5 other
organizations. The establishment of this steering committee culminated with
publication in 1978 of AACR2. Though substantially different in presentation the
AACR2 claims to be only a continuation of AACR1 having the same principles
and objectives. Included in the AACR2 are some of the newer materials which
cataloguers have increasingly to deal with. Also AACR2 has introduced some
changes in a new direction that will lead to differences in bibliographic record and
in types and forms of heading at which it is displayed.
Examples of these are to be found in the description, corporate headings, uniform
titles and fullness of names.
ISBN has been taken seriously in the AACR2 and although it is not listed as one of
the revision objectives, it was so considered by the steering committee in its
declaration of terms of references. In the AACR2 the spellings adopted were those
of Webster’s New International Dictionary and where Webster gives an alternative

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 39

 spelling, the British spelling is adopted.
E.g. the word Centre (British) but Center (American)
Catalogue (British)
Catalog (American)
There has also been an agreement on terminology; at times you find an American word
adopted rather than British and vice versa.
E.g. Parenthesis (American) but Bracket (British) period (American) but Fullstop
(British).
The AACR2 provides 3 levels of description therefore allowing catalogues to exercise
judgement in interpreting the rules, in right of the users being served. Details increase at
each level, but the 3 levels meet the standard called for in the ISBD. The choice of the
level of description of any library should be based on the purpose on which the catalogue
is made. The punctuations which can be said to be vital in ISBD are covered in rules
1.O.D.
NB:
(a) AACR2 (1978) was published to meet the challenges of the 1970’s. The code was
published because of the following reasons:
i.e. NEED FOR AACR 2
(i) Urgent need for international standardization necessitated by the emergence of
MARC.
(ii) Different countries were developing new rules that differed even though they were
based on Paris principles e.g. European countries preferred to enter works produced by
compilers and editors under title entries.
(iii) There were inadequate rules for Non-Book materials (NBM) in AACR1.
(iv) There was need to achieve uniformity by revising various sections of AACR1. This
was necessitated by International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) for
monographs initiated in 1971.
(b) With increased MARC, there was need to revise the AACR2 edition. This led to the
1988 edition being published.

Criticism of AACR2 (1988) Second Edition.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 40

(i) It does not give MARC tags for computerized cataloguing.
(ii)Has confusion in the use of terminology, e.g. entry, heading, access point.
(iii) Though it has a glossary, it has inadequate coverage of NBM terminologies.
(iv) It does not include rules for filing and subject cataloguing.
(v) Though it produces 3 levels of description, it’s hard to understand even the first level
of description.

PARTS OF A GOOD CATALOGUING CODE

A good cataloguing code should (have) the following parts
(i) Preliminaries: They should cover guiding principles of cataloguing instructions on
how to use the cataloguing code, terminology used, etc.
(ii) Auxiliaries: Cover rules pertaining to choice and form of access points.
(iii) General entry: Describe the procedure for subject cataloguing, how and when to
prepare cross-references.
(iv) Specific entry: Covers rules for given publications like periodicals, multi-volumed
books.
(v) Lists other than the library catalogue: provide rules for preparing union catalogues,
indexing and abstracting journals.
vi) Documents other than conventional books and periodicals: They provide rules for
cataloguing such documents like NBM.
vii) List of abbreviations and a glossary of difficult terms.

RULES THAT CATALOGUING CODES SHOULD COVER.

(i) Choice and form of main entry heading.
(ii) Instances when the title entries should be made.
(iii) Choice and form of added entry headings, cross-references, uniform titles,
subject headings and subject cross-references.
(iv) The elements to be included in a bibliographic description.
(v) Filing rules.
(vi) Rules for limited cataloguing.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 41

Standards, formats, schemes
Descriptive Cataloguing
AACR2 (soon to become RDA)
(international cataloguing standard)
MARC 21
(international format for data exchange)

WHAT IS RDA?
Resource Description and Access (RDA) is the new cataloguing standard jointly
published by the American Library Association (ALA), Canadian Library Association
(CLA) and Facet Publishing. It is the successor to the second edition of the Anglo
American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2). Its aim is to provide guidelines and instructions
for all types of resources.

The guidelines are accessed through the RDA Toolkit. RDA aims to be flexible and
extensible so that we can describe all types of materials now and into the future. It has
been designed as a metadata standard with data elements, controlled vocabularies and a
governing model. This will allow its use in a non-MARC, web environment.

RDA is broader in scope than AACR2 by incorporating both bibliographic data and
authority data, by adding flexibility for an international audience, and by aiming to
describe data for different types of resource discovery, not just library catalogues and lists.
What is the RDA Toolkit?
The RDA Toolkit is the web-based product for cataloguers to work with the RDA
guidelines themselves as well as several other associated tools:
 RDA Element Set
 AACR2
 LC-PCC Policy Statements
 RDA Examples
 RDA Workflows

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 42

  Mappings between RDA and MARC
TUG cataloguers are subscribed to RDA through their institution. The subscription is
based on IP address therefore you do not need to login if you are on-campus or using
remote desktop from home.
Access the RDA Toolkit.

What is FRBR?
Why do we need to know FRBR?
RDA is built on the foundations of AACR2 but also on two conceptual models developed
by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA):
 Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)
 Functional Requirements of Authority Data (FRAD)

It is important to have some understanding of FRBR because RDA is arranged around

FRBR entities and relationships, RDA gives intructions an describing FRBR attributes
and RDA uses the vocabulary of FRBR in its instructions.
FRBR is a conceptual model that describes the bibliographic universe -- what are the
important things when we are talking about bibliographic information? What are our
users trying to accomplish when they search for bibliographic information? How do the
different things in this environment relate to one another? What pieces of information do
we need to know about these things?
The "things" of interest in a model are called entities. The "pieces of information" about
these things are called attributes. The "relationships" are, well, relationships!

There are three groups of things or entities in FRBR.

Group 1 - products of intellectual or artistic endeavor (our resources!)
work
a distinct intellectual or artistic creation
when a user says "I need to know Hamlet for my English exam" she is looking for a work!
expression

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 43

intellectual or artistic realization of a work in the form of alpha-numeric, musical or
choreographic notation, sound, image, object, movement etc., or any combination of such
forms
when a user says "I need an audio version for commuting" he is looking for a particular
expression!
manifestation
physical embodiment of an expression of a work
when a user says "I prefer a paperback copy because the hardcover is too heavy for
traveling" she is looking for a particular manifestation
item
single examplar or instance of a manifestation
when a user says "I need to find the copy I borrowed because it is overdue" he is looking
for a particualr item!
Group 2 - those responsible for group 1 entities (authors, publishers, etc.)
 person
 family
 corporate body
Group 3 - subjects (the topics that our users want to find information on)
 concept (e.g. Philosophy)
 object (e.g. Apples)
 event (e.g. Winter Olympics)
 place (e.g. Waterloo, Ont.)
Relationships
Each of these entities can have relationships between them. For example, one work can
be based on another work; an expression can be a translation of a particular work; a
manifestation can be a reproduction of another manifestation; a person can be a creator
of a work; or a corporate body could be the successor to a previous corporate body.
FRBR helps us group like things together and highlight relationships to help users find
and select appropriate resources.

DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUING

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 44

(i) Descriptive Cataloguing.
This is that part of cataloguing process which is concerned with the choice and form of
entries, transcription of title page details, collation etc.

(ii) Area of description.

A major section of the bibliographic description of a catalogue entry, comprising of a set
of related data elements e.g. title and statement of responsibility area, edition area.

(iii) Chief source of information.

The source of bibliographic data to be given preference as the source from which the
bibliographic data is to be derived e.g title page.

(iv) Half title.

A title of a publication appearing on a leaf preceding the title page.
(v) Parallel title/Title proper
Script recorded in the title and statement of responsibility area indicating the main title of
the work.

(vi) Cataloguing code.

A set of rules that guide cataloguers in preparing entries for catalogues so as to ensure
uniformity in treatment. E.g. Rules for subject cataloguing, filing and arranging entries.

When using AACR2 the processes are as shown below: (procedure for descriptive
cataloguing)

Describe the item

Choose Access points e.g. heading under

which the item entered.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 45

 Decide the form each heading will take. Consider uniform title
.

Persons, geographical names, corporate body.

Formulate references from alternative forms of headings as titles.

1. Describing the item

Every item to be catalogued must be described using a standard format. This must
always contain the same basic component. This must always be cited in the same order
and preceded by consistent punctuation. Such standardization facilitates the local and
international exchange of materials and is particularly important in computerized systems.
It should be noted however that not all libraries need the full description under all the
headings outlined above in the catalogue. Because of this the AACR2 makes provision
for 3 levels of details in descriptive cataloguing.
The 3 levels are outlined under general rules. E.g.
First level of description (AACR 2 p.15)
1. Title proper/first statement of responsibility, if different from main entry heading
in form or number or if there is no main entry heading . ____
2. Edition statement . ____
3. Material (or type of publication) specific details . ____
4. First publisher, etc date of publication etc. . ____
5. Extent of item . ____
6. Note (s) . ____

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 46

 7. Standard number
Second level description
1. Title proper (general material designation) == parallel title: other title
information / first statement of responsibility; each subsequent statement of
responsibility . ____
2. Edition statement / first statement of responsibility relating to the edition. ----
3. Material (or type of publication) specific details . ____
4. First place of publication etc: publisher, etc, date of publication etc . ____
5. Extent of item: other physical details; dimensions . ____
6. (Title proper of series / statement of responsibility relating to series. Title of sub-
series, ISSN of series; numbering within series, ISSN of sub series; numbering
within sub series) . ____
7. Note(s) . ____
8. Standard number
Third level of description
Includes all elements set out in the following rules that are applicable to the item being
described. Rules are on Page 15 of AACR2.
Exercise: using the following details prepare a catalogue entry.

Improving your garden /by Oliver Dawson. – London:Heinemann,

1987.
212p.: ill.--- (Heinneman UK series)
Note (eg. this book is also in French)

ISBN:

Information that is included in Description

 Author

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 47

  Place of publication
 Title
 Number of publication
 Illustration
 Date of publication
 Publisher
Information to be included in description is extracted from the prescribed source. i.e.

Information Prescribed source

1. Title and statement of responsibility Title page

2. Edition Title page, preface, introduction,
verso.
3. Imprint Title page, preface, introduction,
verso.
4. Physical description (collation) Whole publication
5. Series Title page, cover
6. Notes Any source e.g with answer.
7. Standard number Title Page, Verso

Descriptive area and Punctuations

The basic descriptive areas with the required preceding punctuations are:
-Title and statement of responsibility. – edition . – material imprint (specific details). –
physical description (collation). – (series). – Notes. – standard number.

Substituting details relating to an actual item could give the following.

Modern Mathematics/ by L Horwood. – second edition. – London: Heinemann
educational, 1970. – ix, 212p. ill; 23cm. – (Heinemann’s Modern Mathematics Series). –
with answers. – ISBN 0-50253-0

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 48

The above is the basic description layout for a given monograph using puntuations. Note
that paragraphing will replace full stop, space, dash, punctuations. Paragraphing is
optional and whether paragraphing is adopted or not and to what degree it is adopted will
depend upon the in-house style of the particular library.

Assignment
Produce a description for the following:
Small garden series. Improving your garden by John Smith. place of publication is
London .ISBN 0330028960.
The book has eleven preliminary and 200 numbered pages. It is also profusely illustrated
published in 1990 by Longman.
Present the above bibliographic information using paragraphs and punctuations.

Basic layout for other media.

Basic layout for other media is very similar to that of printed monographs but there will
obviously be differences in details especially where physical description is concerned.
E.g.
Rates and services: How you pay and what you get (prepared by pictorial charles).
Educational trust. – revised edition – London: P.C.E.T. 196 - ?. – wall chart. Col. ;
76x101 cm. Folded to 19x20cm.

Compare this description with that of printed monograph given above and note that only
the following areas are present in this instance:
Title and statement of responsibility
Edition
Place of publication
The publisher
Date of publication
Physical description
The following is a description of a serial/periodical:

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 49

Home beer and wine making: - (volume 1, number1 January 1990). – Wirrel: Foremost
press, 1970 . – v. : ill. 28 cm. – monthly. – ISSN. 0041 – 090x.

The above description contains – title, area, physical description area and a note i.e. the
frequency (monthly)

The sample descriptions for the 2 media considered above have been given some
direction of the overall object are of part 1 of AACR2. Although such basic layouts are
useful from this point of view it must be appreciated that these were simple illustrative
examples.
In practice the cataloguer encounters many hurdles of different and sometimes very
difficult problems. To solve such problems, the appropriate rules in the general chapter
and in the chapter relating to the particular medium should be referred to.

Additional notes on Descriptive Area.

1.Title and statement of responsibility area.
A title is transcribed from an item exactly as to the wording order and spelling but not
necessarily as to capitalization, punctuation and type. E.g. AN ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL HISTORY OF BRITAIN SINCE 1700 would become An economic and social
history of Britain since 1700.
The general capitalization rule, for titles in the English language is that the first letters of
proper nouns are capitalized. Otherwise lower case letters are used except for the first
letter of a title, hence only the first letter “A” and “B” of Britain are capitalized in the
above example. Any additional unit of title, information for example a sub-title is
preceded by a colon. E.g. The two Elizabeths: a jubilee concert. A parallel title is
preceded by an equal sign. Tumbelina=Tomelise.
Long titles may be abridged (shortened) but only if this can be done without loss of
essential information. Any omissions are indicated by a mark of omissions i.e.3 dots (…).
If an item lacks the prescribed sources of information from which a title may be extracted,
a title must be supplied from the rest of the item or a reference source or elsewhere, such
supplied title must be enclosed in square brackets e.g.[wooden chair].

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 50

(b) Statement of Responsibility
It is preceded by a diagonal forward slash recorded in or on the item. E.g. “O” level
maths/ by S. Smith. When a statement of responsibility relates to more than 3
persons/bodies all but the first of these are omitted. The omission must be indicated by 3
dots (…) and et al must be added in square brackets e.g. America’s radical
right/Raymond Wolfing …[et al].
If no formal statement of responsibility appears in an item then AACR2 instructs that one
is not to be constructed nor extracted from the text of the item. If they are three but not
more, then you write the 3 and use semi colons.

2. Edition statement.
This is transcribed as found in the item but standard abbreviations and numerals are used
instead of words. E.g. 2nd ed. Rev. ed.
3. Series area.
The series area like other area is preceded by full stop, space then dash then space. But
unlike other areas, the series area is enclosed by parenthesis.
Statements of responsibilities appearing in the chief source of information are given if
they are considered to be necessary for the identification of the series.
E.g. (Technical memorandum/Beach Erosion Board) as statement of responsibility.
437 P. : ill. ; 20 cm. – (Technical…)

4. Notes area.
Notes are is intended to amplify/clarify the more formal elements of the description.
They may take many forms e.g.
(a) Bibliography: p.203-215.
(b) Contents: Rusty bugles/Summer Locke
(c) for children aged 9-12 etc.

2. CHOICE OF ACCESS POINTS.

Having described an item, headings are normally added in order to create catalogud
entries. Headings provide access points in the catalogue. A heading may be a word,

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 51

name or phrase and it appears at the beginning of the entry and fixes the place of the
entry in the catalogue as well as grouping related entries together.
One possible access point is the title proper of an item and in this instance it becomes
unnecessary to add a heading entry being made under the first words of a description.
Possible headings which would be added to description to provide access are:
(i) Persons responsible for the work.
(ii) Series
(iii) Title
(iv) Main subject

Practical Exercise
Select any five books from the CU library shelves and prepare a catalogue entries then
compare what you have got with what CU library catalogue.

Rules for Determining the choice of Access points.

These rules are in chapter 21 0f AACR2. They also give the instruction for the choice of
these access points as the main entry heading. A main entry is that entry where the fullest
information is found, presented in a form by which an item can be identified and listed.
Other entries then become added entries and the headings related to those entries are
referred to as added entry headings.
The main entry heading consists of the name of a person, the name of a corporate body or
a title. The basic rule for determining which of these is to be selected is in rule 21.1 in
AACR2. In case of names of persons AACR2 is primarily concerned with the
responsibility for the intellectual or artistic content of an item.

SUBJECT CATALOGUING
This is that aspect of cataloguing process that concerns itself with subject matter of books
and therefore includes classification and determination of subject headings. Subject
cataloguing indeed involves itself with the provision of subject headings.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 52

Purposes of Subject Cataloguing
1. To provide a facility through the subject to a person requiring information on a
specific topic.
2. To bring together reference materials which treat the same subject regardless of
difference in terminologies.
3. To demonstrate affiliations of relationships among subject fields. These are
affiliations which may depend upon similarities of matters, studies or methods
used or of point of view.
4. To provide a formal description of a subject content of any bibliographic unit in
the most precise terms whether the description is in the form of words or phrase.
5. To provide for the user the means to make a selection from among all the items
chosen set of criteria such as most thorough, most recent and most elementary etc.

Principles used in selecting subject headings.

The principles on which the choice of terms for a subject list must rest are the following:
(i) Reader as focus – The headings in words and structure must be those which the
reader will seek in the catalogue.
(ii) Unity – A subject catalogue must bring together under one heading all the books
which deal mainly or exclusively with the subject whatever the term applied to it
by the authors of books.
(iii) Usage – The heading chosen must represent common usage or at any rate the
usage of a class of readers for whom the material or subject within which the
heading (falls) is intended.
(iv) Specificity – The heading should be as specific as the topic its intended to cover.

NB: Subject cataloguing refers mainly to the preparation of subject part of a dictionary
catalogue.
A dictionary catalogues needs a subject part in addition to its author-title part and the
cataloguer has to make and arrange entries under subjects with which the book deals.
The cataloguer has to ensure that each subject heading is connected up with correlated
ones by means of a scheme of cross-reference.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 53

Factors considered in arrangement of subject headings
(i) The number of books on a subject needing subject heading.
(ii) Subjects or aspects of the subjects treated in a book with their inter-relationship.
(iii) Category of readers.
(iv) Kind of the library.
(v) Whether the library has open or closed access system.
In a big library the subject headings need to be subdivided and new or more complex
subject headings will be required as the library grows.
In open access library the classification symbols provide much reflection of subject
cataloguing and therefore it is more important to show the branches (ramifications)
/branches of the subject dealt within the books.

Subject Analysis
Subject cataloguing is made in order to show what books the library has on a given
subject. A book should be carefully examined to determine its real subject content.
The cataloguers must see:
(i) What the book is about.
(ii) What was the author’s intention in writing the book?
(iii) What class of readers will find it most useful.
In most cases a glance at the title page is sufficient to determine the subject. It may seem
desirable to confirm the subject and therefore the cataloguer should read the title page or
he may have to turn to the preface or introduction. Sometimes the list of contents may be
the useful guide or even in cases of extreme doubt the cataloguer should read the text of
the book.
When the subject of the book is determined the next step is to decide the subject heading
which most truly represent the contents of the book or a considerable part of it. The
subject heading selected should also fit into other books of similar nature as well. This is
because a subject heading is used for a number of books.

GENERAL PROCEDURE FOR SUBJECT CATALOGUING

It involves three main steps:

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 54

Step 1 Determining the real subject of a book.
The cataloguer should establish the main subject, subsidiary subjects and secondary
characteristics e.g. time, geographical place, bibliographic form of the item, etc.
The cataloguer examines various sources of information if need be in order to determine
the subject matter of the work.
The parts of the item and sources of information to be considered are:
-Title page (title)
-Table of contents
-Abstracts if any
-Preface
-Introduction
-Indexes
-Book jackets
-Chapter headings
-External sources like:
-Bibliographies
-Review media
-Reference sources
-Subject experts

Step 2 Expressing the main subjects and subsidiary subjects by explicit words.
The cataloguer describes the subjects by explicit words e.g. organic chemistry
cataloguing, physics etc.

Step 3 Translating the chosen words or terms into the language used in the cataloguing
tools.
The cataloguer consults lists of subject headings or thesauri in order to choose the
accepted subject heading(s) for the chosen words e.g in the Sears List of Subject
Headings “ Organic Chemistry” is represented by the subject heading “Chemistry
Organic”. In this case the subject heading of the book on “Organic Chemistry” is
“Chemistry, Organic”.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 55

SELECTION OF SUBJECT HEADINGS
Principles /Guidelines for selection of subject headings:
1. Subject heading terms should be used by which the subject can be truly
represented. The term should be uniform and clear and should not be ambiguous.
Terms selected should not overlap in meaning. E.g. Cricket - game
Cricket – insect
2. Most specific term should be used. The subject heading should signify accurately
and rightly the subject area. E.g. Marine – Biology, Agricultural – Economics.
3. Subject heading chosen must represent common usage. E.g. Incunabula – early
printed books.
4. Common and popular subject heading rather than scientific and technical
headings should be used except in a special library. E.g. Ornithology – birds,
Toxicology – poison.

5. Plural rather than singular terms should be used. E.g. farms, canals.
6. Terms should be used which express correct point of view. E.g. Preventive
medicine, educational methods.
7. Combined terms should be used for related subjects. E.g. Banking and finance,
mines and metal.
8. Subject headings should be subdivided as and when necessary. E.g. poetry –
collection, poetry – history, poetry – techniques.

Formation of subject headings

Examples of different forms used for the formation of subject headings.
1. Simple or single noun Economics.
2. Compound headings Market and monopoly.
3. Adjective with noun Mechanical printing.
4. Inverted heading Chemistry – physical.
5. Sub-heading Industry – manpower – investment.
6. Regional division Archaeology – Western India.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 56

7. Subdivision of a place US – constitution.
8. Heading with form Philosophy – bibliographies
9. Period subdivision Indian history – ancient period
10. Personal name as subject heading Shakespeare
11. Phrase heading Geographical distribution of plants.
12. Qualified heading Restless Africa
13. Opposite heading Deductive and inductive logic

Methods of Assigning Subject Headings

The following methods can be used by cataloguers:
1. Chain indexing
2. Lists of subject headings
3. Thesaurus

1. CHAIN INDEXING

Chain Indexing Procedure

This is a mechanical procedure for deriving subject headings based on the classification
number of a document.
It was initiated by S.R. Ranganathan. The procedure involves 5 main steps:

1. Setting out the chain.

The class number of the item is written on the left hand column with each digit
separate to clarify what step it represents beginning with the first link of the chain
from the words representing the subject at that level written opposite each digit from
the classification schedules.

The working is continued down the chain step by step.

2. Choice of lead terms

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 57

 The most specific link of the chain usually the bottom term is used as the specific
or lead term.

3. Choice of Qualifiers
Qualifiers are added from the higher links of the chain to show the context. To
keep index entries short and clear only qualifiers required to clarify the lead term
are chosen.
4. Preparation of index entries
The appropriate class number is added to the right of the index entry line. Other
synonyms for the same level are indexed in the same way.

5. Alphabetization
Individual index entries are sorted alphabetically and interfiled with other index
entries into the subject index or catalogue.
Examples of chain indexing steps using DDC (20th edition).
(i) English poetry (class no. 821)
Step 1: Setting out the chain.
800: Literature and rhetoric
820: English literature
821: English poetry
Step 2: Choice of lead term.
Lead term: English poetry.
Step 3: Choice of qualifier
Qualifiers are not necessary for this case.
Step 4: Preparation of index entry.
English poetry: 821
Step 5: – Not applicable
(ii) Crucible steel technology (class number 669.142 9)
Step 1: Setting out the chain
600 Technology (Applied sciences)
660 Chemical and related technologies

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 58

 669 Metallurgy
669.1 Metallurgy of specific metals and their alloys.
669.14 Reduction and refining of ferrous ores
669.142 Production of commercial steel and alloy steel
669.142.9 Production of crucible steel

Step 2. Choice of lead terms

The lead terms are:
(i) Crucible steel production
(ii) Commercial steel production
(iii) Alloy steel production

Step 3: Choice of qualifiers

The qualifiers are:
(i) Metallurgy
(ii) Chemical technology
Step 4: Preparation of index entries
Crucible steel production: metallurgy: 669.142 9
Crucible steel production: Chemical technology: 669.142 9
Commercial steel production: Chemical Technology: 669.142 9
Alloy steel production: Metallurgy: 669.142 9 and the
Alloy steel production: Chemical technology 669.142 9
Step 5: Alphabetization
Alloy steel production: Chemical Technology: 669.142 9
Alloy steel production: Metallurgy: 669.142 9
Commercial steel production: Chemical Technology: 669:142 9
Commercial steel production: Metallurgy: 699.142 9
Crucible steel production: Chemical Technology: 669.142 9
Crucible steel production: Metallurgy: 669.142 9

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 59

 Advantages of Chain Indexing Procedure
1. It gives an alphabetical approach to the classified part of a catalogue through
subject entries.
2. It provides an alternative approach to classified catalogue.
3. The procedure is used to prepare indexes to classification schemes.
4. It’s easy to use as the procedure is based on the classification scheme number and
terminology.
5. It is used in the formation of subject index entries to books, subject catalogues
and indexes.
6. Irrespective of the classification scheme applied, the procedure is applicable
anywhere subject entries are to be prepared.
7. The procedure collocates subjects entries that are scattered in the classification
scheme, thus complementing the classification scheme.
8. It’s systematic as it is derived from a logical classification scheme.
9. It’s comparatively automatic or mechanical.
10. It provides the context or class number of index entries. This facilitates shelf
retrieval of documents.
11. It provides a direct searching procedure as there are no cross-references.
12. There is no limitation or control on the number of index entries as is the case with
lists of subject headings and thesaurus.
13. The setting out of the chain can assist in establishing faults in a hierarchical
classification scheme.
14. Locating subjects within a broader class number is easy because one is directed to
the classified part.

Disadvantages of Chain Indexing Procedure

1. Only the last term of chain is specific, otherwise all the others are broader and are
not suitable specific subject entries.
2. Changes in the classification scheme make it necessary to change the index
entries already prepared.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 60

3. Problems of missing links occur when a step of division goes unrepresented e.g.
at 633-635 (Agriculture) in the DDC.
4. The efficiency of the procedure relies entirely on the effectiveness of the
classification scheme in use.
5. The cross references prepared usually requires professional examination and
manipulation in order to serve their purpose well.
6. The preparation of “see also” reference using this approach is rigid as its limited
to the vocabulary of the classification scheme.
7. It does not easily collocate entries because of its alphabetical arrangement.
8. The fixed citation order in the classification scheme for compound subjects may
provide an order for index entries that are not familiar or common to users.
9. It depends with the classification scheme terminology. Therefore the indexers
must adjust the terminology and spelling where necessary in order to formulate
better subject headings.
10. The procedure may need to be extended in order to ensure that the specific subject
of an item is semi-mechanical. Therefore it requires common sense in order to
make the procedure relevant/strong entries.
11. It’s not easy to automate as the hierarchical structure of the chain index may face
problems such as missing links.

2. CONVENTIONAL LISTS OF SUBJECT HEADINGS

Different methods of preparing the subject index for the classified catalogue have been
identified. In preparing subject headings for dictionary catalogue most libraries prefer the
use of one of the conventional lists of subject headings. The most common being:
(i) Library Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
(ii) Sears List of Subject Headings (SLSH)

1. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS (LCSH)

This is the most comprehensive list in existence today and is meant for large libraries.
Work on the compilation started 1897. This is when LC moved to its own purpose built
accommodation and the list was first published in 2 volumes between 1910 and 1914.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 61

The list is supported by annual supplement which together with the current edition form
the basis of the next edition. The list is based on the stock of LC itself and because of
the size of this stock the value of the list to small libraries is limited. Approved or
accepted subject headings are listed in bold type and these are followed by a list, in light
type of linkable related headings to which “see also” reference may be made preceded by
“s a” e.g. Education and crime (HV 6166)
Sa Education of prisoners illiteracy
Then follows a list also in light type of headings from which “see” references should be
made preceded by letter x e.g.
Education and crime (HV 6166)
X crime and education
Current editions of Library of Congress subject headings have used the following
symbols instead of sa, x or even xx.
UF – used for
BT – Broader term
NT – Narrower term
Currently the list comes in four (4) formats namely:
-Print version
-Machine-readable
-Subject authority file
-Microfiche version

Examples of entries in the modern printed LCSH.

Reference books (in bold)
(Z.711)
UF Bibliography – Reference books
Books, Reference
Libraries – Reference books
Reference books, English
BT Bibliography
Books and reading

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 62

NT Bibliography – Best books
Children’s reference books
Encyclopaedia and dictionaries
NB: The subject heading we are allowed to use in the catalogue is in bold, e.g. “reference
books”.
UF stands for, Used For. This indicates the subject heading(s) that have not been
accepted for use. It implies that at the rejected subject headings there is USE instructions,
e.g. Reference books, English USE
Bibliography – reference books. In this case the cataloguer must prepare “SEE”
reference from the rejected terms to the accepted terms in the catalogue.
E.g. reference books – English SEE
Bibliography – reference books.

USE references:
-Occur where a heading is made up of more than one word, to make it clear which part of
the heading is the filing element, e.g. Criminal law USE law, criminal.
– are used for preferred spelling if necessary e.g. labor, USE. Labour.
-BT and NT stand for Broader Term/Topic and Narrower Term/Topic respectively. This
means that bibliography, books and reading are Broader terms to reference books while
bibliography – best book, Children’s reference books and Encyclopaedias and
dictionaries are narrower terms to reference books. BT and NT are used to prepare SEE
ALSO references where the library has materials on the subject headings related.
E.g. If the library has items on reference books and has other items on children’s
reference books, then a SEE ALSO reference is made as follows: children’s reference
books SEE ALSO reference books; Reference books SEE ALSO children’s reference
books.
RT is also used in LCSH. It stands for Related Terms/Topics and is used to link subject
headings that are related but not hierarchically E.g
Deformations (Mechanics)
RT Rhelogy
Strains and stresses

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 63

General references (SA) are also used in LCSH where a whole group of headings can be
individually differentiated if covered by the library. E.g.
Degree, Academic
SA names of specific degrees e.g. Bachelor of Arts degree, Doctor of Philosophy degree
etc.
Forms of headings in LCSH

1. Topical and form headings.

Topical headings indicate the concept or object dealt with in a work, whereas a form
heading shows the physical form of the item as form of presentation.
They are further subdivided into single noun and phrase headings.

Examples.
(i) Single noun headings e.g.
-Economics
-Cataloguing
(ii) Adjectival phrase headings.
They begin with a modifier followed by a noun/noun phrase e.g. household pests
(iii) Conjuctive headings.
Are composed of two or more nouns with or without modifiers – e.g. wit and
humor, right or wrong.
(iv) Prepositional headings.
Assists cataloguers to express single but complex ideas for which there is no
single word and also to represent concepts or objects that cannot be expressed in
English without use of a prepositional phrase e.g. photography in psychiatry.
(v) Inverted headings.
Serve the alphabetical classed function of subordinating specific descriptors under
their broad generic categories e.g. asylum, right of
(vi) Free floating headings.
Are components contained with any existing heading within designated categories
to form new phrase headings e.g. topic/place in literature.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 64

2. Cross references (syndetic devices)

(i) Use reference

Refers users from the term not acceptable for use to the one accepted for use, e.g.
Emancipation USE liberty.
(ii) Broader topic (BT) reference and narrow topic (NT) reference.
Are used to link hierarchically related terms/topics e.g. poetry,
BT – Literature
NT – children’s poetry, lyric poetry
(iii) Related Topic (RT) reference
Used to link topics that are related but not hierarchically e.g. Entomology
RT Insects
(iv) General reference (SA)
Refers from one heading to a group of headings or to subdivisions used under
other headings. E.g. Atlases
SA subdivisions of maps under names of countries, cities etc. and other topics.

3. Subdivisions of subject headings

Main subject headings may be subdivided by form, topical and geographical subdivisions.
Examples
(i) Topical subdivisions
Are shown following headings and a long dash e.g. dams--- design and
construction, foundations, inspection, law and legislation.
They are added to subject headings to clearly limit the main heading. E.g.
Agriculture – Accounting
Dams – law and legislation
(ii) Form subdivisions
Indicate the physical or structural form of the item catalogued. E.g. abstracts,
congresses, dictionaries, handbooks, manuals etc.
(iii) Chronological or period subdivisions
Are added to a main subject heading in order to limit it. E.g. Albania, History,

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 65

 To 1501, Turkish wars, 15th century, 1501-1912.
(iv) Geographical subdivisions
E.g. Education (may be subdivided geographically). This means that items on
Education in various countries or regions may be subdivided geographically.
E.g. Education – Africa, Education – Kenya, Education – Kenya – Nairobi

4. Subject headings for literature.

(i) Works about literature in general should be assigned headings regarding approach,
type or form of literature e.g. Drama 20th century – congresses.
(ii) For anthologies and collections of literary works by more than one authority a
literary form heading is applied. E.g. Literature – collecting feathers - poetry.
(iii) For works written by individual authors do not assign headings representing
major literary forms except in cases of literary works for children. This is
common only to Sears List of Subject Headings (SLSH).

CRITICISMS OF LCSH
(i) Its lack of principles in making collateral references. Many of the sets of close
references linking related subjects seem to be compiled by chance rather than by
design.
(ii) Its frequent neglect of specificity rule and lack of consistency among sets of
similar headings e.g. the use of the term libraries as the heading you find:
(a) Libraries, academic but libraries, military see military libraries.
(b) Libraries, public health but Nursing, school libraries.
(iii) Confusion in geographical subheadings since many headings subdivided
indirectly are also used as subject subdivisions under names of cities e.g. Libraries
– England – Lancaster but Liverpool – Libraries.
(iv) Authority for ethnic names. It’s hard to figure out how LCSH came to decide on
which name to use. Some ethnic groups are referred to by two or more names.
One name happens to be more widely or better known than others e.g. one tribe in
Tanzania is known as Iraqw and Mbulu. The former is more popular yet LCSH
uses the latter.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 66

(v) LCSH is not economical. This is because after additions of some headings in the
old version you have to copy.
(vi) Its bias to American and Americas.
(vii) No standardization in the use of prefix e.g. Wa Thiong’o.
(viii) It sometimes lacks uniformity e.g. use of two qualifiers which mean the same e.g.
African people and Bantu people.

Advantages/Strengths of LCSH
(i) Since it’s continuously revised its up to date.
(ii) It’s comprehensive in coverage.
iii) Its typography makes it easy to use. i.e. use of bold type face for accepted terms
and light type face for unaccepted terms.
iv) Has a current structure based on thesaurus format of cross-referencing .
E.g. BT
NT
RT
USE
SN
v) Terminologies used are simple and often applied by users.
NB: LCSH is used in academic and research libraries.

SEARS LIST OF SUBJECT HEADINGS (SLSH)

It was first prepared by Minnie Earl Sears in 1923 in response to demand for the needs of
small Libraries. The first subsequent four editions: had the title “Subject Headings for
Small Libraries”. It has now reached the 15th edition .The original list was based on
subject headings used by some small Libraries in USA that were known to be well
catered for.
However Sears recognized pretty early the need to form the list of S.H.with a few
exceptions.
This was a wise decision in that as Libraries grew in volumes they would fully graduate
into full use of LCSH. Approved subjects headings are listed in bold type and these are

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 67

followed in equally bold type by a list of linkable related headings to which “see also” is
written in the light type.
E.g. Communicable diseases (616.9)
See also bacteriology, biological warfare etc

SLSH Omissions
i) Names of persons with a few exceptions e.g. Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (president USA)
ii) Family names with a few exceptions e.g. Lincoln family.
iii) Names of corporate bodies
iv) Place names unless they form an integrated part of the subject headings or must be
included as an example and show certain subdivisions e.g. US.
v) Names of ships.
vi) Natural features e.g. Mountains and rivers.
vii) Structures e.g. bridges, dams, castles, etc
viii) Most religious bodies, sacred books, religious classics etc
NB: SLSH is mainly used in school libraries and public libraries.
Basic features of SLSH.
1. Main Subject Headings:
They take a variety of forms:
a) Single noun headings
They are specific enough to fit the item at hand specifically e.g. Law books, books on
chemistry.
b) Compound phrase headings
Consists of two nouns or noun phrases joined by “and” e.g. coal mines and mining.
Are used to link related topics e.g. clocks and watches, opposite subjects e.g. debtors and
creditors.
c) Modified nouns headings.
They take three forms:
i) Normal word order e.g. health maintenance and organization.
ii) Inverted word order e.g. artificial satellites, Russian.
iii) Explanatory modifier added in parenthesis e.g. hotlines (telephone counseling) etc

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 68

2. Cross-references
Examples
-See reference –this is a direction from one heading not used to one accepted for use e.g.
organic chemistry “See” chemistry, organic.
-See also references –this is a direction from one heading to another related heading e.g.
vehicles “see also” Auto mobiles.

3) Subdivision of Subject Headings

General subject headings may be subdivided in order to show their precise coverage or
bring related works together e.g.
-Subject/topic subdivisions.
-Form subdivisions.
-Place/local or geographical subdivisions.

Disadvav/Criticisms of SLSH
1. Confusion and inconsistency in some subjects. E.g. under library.
Libraries, Business see Business Library, Music see, Music libraries.
But
Libraries, children 027.62
see
Libraries church 027.6
2. Specificity rules are broken
E.g. Christian doctrine, Greek philosophy where the instruction is to see entries
under other broader terms. Headings are not constructed and selected
systematically.
3. Not suitable for large Libraries with extensive collections.
4. Headings are broad and cannot represent complex or specific subjects accurately
constructed.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 69

 5. References are not always systematic and may not be recommended where they
may be appropriate.

Advantages
1. Headings are less complex, numerous and less specific.
This makes it a convenient list for use by small and medium libraries.
2. Terminologies to be used are indicated in bold type face, for those not to be used
are in light type face. This makes it easy to use.
3. The “see references” are listed in the form used in agreement with LCSH list; this
makes the list compatible with LCSH.
4. Its instructions for use are comprehensive to facilitate its application.
5. It’s up to date as it’s constantly revised.
6. It saves time for cataloguers and reduces their frustrations since it uses simple
references.
7. It’s consistent with traditional ideas on construction of alphabetical subject
catalogue.
00

Qualities of a good list of S.H

1. Comprehensive to meet the library needs in respect of subject cataloguing.
2. Compatible with other lists in use
3. Up to date
4. Able to use consistent headings
5. Able to use current terminology
6. Able to apply subject headings relevant to users or those likely to be sought by
users
7. Easy to use
8. A list that complements the headings with correct class marks from a classification.
9. Able to provide clear and well explained procedure on instruction for constructing
cross-reference.
10. Able to provide comprehensive instructions on how it should be used or applied.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 70

 11. Able to provide subdivisions to be added to general subject
12. Able to provide comprehensive cross-reference

ARRANGEMENT OF CATALOGUE ENTRIES

CATALOGUE ENTRIES
Essential parts of a catalogue entry
The amount of details to be entered in a library catalogue entry is depedent on the
purposes of the catalogue. E.g. in research and academic institutions, catalogue details
are fully described where as other small libraries like schools and colleges, finding
lists are sufficient i.e. entry of just minimum details. However, the standard library
catalogue entry has the following essential parts:

1. Heading
This is the name, word(s) or phrase at the beginning of a catalogue entry, by which the
position or place for entry in the catalogue is determined. The heading is chosen by the
cataloguer to indicate some special aspects of the work being catalogued e.g. authorship,
series, titles, subjects, literary forms etc.
Generally name entry headings will consist of a name of an author, editor, compiler,
translator, etc. An author can either be personal or corporate. The choice of headings
and the form in which it is to appear in the catalogue entry are usually determined by
reference to a code of cataloguing rules such as the AACR 2.

2. Title and statement of responsibility area.

This is found on the main body of a catalogue entry which is also the descriptive part
which identifies the document and shows the reader/user whether the document
will satisfy his needs. This part includes the title of the document followed by any
sub-topic or alternative title. A sub title is usually the explanatory title e.g. Geography of
Kenya: A revision series. Alternative title is usually a title in other words or alias, e.g.
Ngahika Ndenda alias I will marry when I want. These elements are followed by author
statement if this is necessary. According to the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 2
(AACR2) the author statement can be omitted, if its inclusion means repeating the name

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 71

found in the heading of catalogue entry and constitutes only simple authorship. If
however the book being catalogued is by more than one author or has been
edited, compiled, translated, adopted etc an author statement to bring aaout this
function should be included.
3. Edition statement area.
The statement of edition follows the author statement if there is one, otherwise it
follows the title. The edition statement is however only added if the work being
catalogued is any other than the first edition. This statement is important in
assisting library users in the choice of the exact edition required e.g. second edition,
third edition etc.
4. Publication distribution details (Imprint)
This is the part of a catalogue entry, which gives publication details and it follows the
edition statement if there is one. The details included are:(i) Place of publication
(ii) Name of publisher (iii) Date of publication

Sample catalogue entry

371 1

DUN Duncan, Robert Kenneth, 1944 _______ 4

2 The study of teaching: a self instruction manual
/ by R.K. Duncan and Michael J. Biddle; edited by John Armstrong .
3 6
_____ 2nd edition. ____ London: Macmillan, 1984.
x, 329p.: ill. ; 24cm. ____ (Macmillan education series number 6).

9 8
5 ISBN: ___
1. Teaching 2. Teachers, Training of
I. Biddle, Michael J. II. Armstrong, John III. Title IV. Series.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 72

 Colour key: Red colour represent Subject headings (Arabic numbers are used).
Blue colour represent added entry headings ( Roman numbers are used).

5. Physical description area (collation)

It follows publication distribution details and is normally recorded on a different
paragraph from these details. A function of this area is to describe the physical make up
of the item being catalogued. The details included are:
(i) The number of pages in the case of a one volume work and the volumes in case of
work which is more than one volume.
(ii) The kinds of illustrations included and their numbers if this can be easily
ascertained.
(iii) The size of the book usually only the height is given to the next whole number in
Centimeters. however in the case of narrow, square or oblong (narrow and very
long) both the height and width are given.

6. Series statement area. (Series note)

It’s usually recorded immediately following the details of physical description on the
same line. It’s however enclosed in brackets. This statement gives the name of the series
to which the book belongs and the number of the book in the series if any.

7. Call Number
After a document has been bibliographically described its shelf location in the library
must be indicated because the ultimate aim is to find the document in the library.
Usually, a reader does not need to go through the entire catalogue entry before deciding
to look for the location of the item on the shelf. Therefore the position of the call number
in the entry should be conspicuous and more often than not it’s placed on the top left end
side of the catalogue entry.
The call number usually consists of class number and author mark. The call number
should include proper prefixes to indicate the actual location of the book in relation to the
other books in the library.
E.g. 371.102 class number

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 73

 DUN author mark
Afr prefix to indicate the actual location of a book.
8. Tracings
This is a record on the main entry card, indicating other headings under which the
publications will be found. This element is very important because when the entries for a
work need to be removed from the catalogue for instance (say) for alteration, complete
withdrawal (weeding) the presence of the tracings on the main entry card directs the
attention to all entries and ensures that none is missed.

9. Standard Number
A ten-figure number including a check digit and preceded by an alphabetic prefix. Eg.
ISBN identifies an edition of a work issued by one specific publisher and is unique to that
edition.
General procedure for preparing Catalogue entries.
The following steps are followed when using AACR2 to catalogue a given item:
(i) Description of the item based on the rules in AACR2 part 1 (chapter 1-12)
(ii) Choice and form of access points based on rules in AACR2 part 2 (chapter 21-24)
(iii) Formulation of references based on chapters 22-26.
(iv) Subject cataloguing using lists of subject headings or thesaurus.

Types of Catalogue Entries.

AACR2 (1988) recognizes four types of catalogues entries.
1. Main entry
A complete catalogue record of an item presented in the form by which the entry
is to be uniformly identified and cited i.e. when the heading is a title or author’s
name.
2. Added entry
An entry additional to the main entry by which an item is represented in a
catalogue.
3. Reference
A direction from one heading to another. See/see also.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 74

4. Analytical entry
An entry of a part of a book, for example, articles in periodicals, contributions in
conference proceedings etc. of a document which contains it.

METADATA

Metadata is defined simply as "data about data." Metadata is all the information needed to
manage, describe, preserve and make information available to users. Metadata is data on
a digital file that includes information on creation, access rights, restrictions, preservation
history, and rights management. Metadata consists very simply of data elements, which
are structured fields, that are populated by unique information, known as "values"
according to rules intended to structure metadata into a standardized format. These rules
are collectively known as the metadata schema.

Many methods of information discovery do not search the actual objects in the
collections, but work from descriptive metadata about the objects. The metadata
typically consists of a catalog or indexing record, or an abstract, one record for each
object. Usually it is stored separately from the objects that it describes, but sometimes
it is embedded in the objects.

Descriptive metadata is usually expressed as text, but can be used to describe

information that is in formats other than text, such as images, sound recording, maps,
computer programs, and other non-text materials, as well as for textual documents. A
single catalog can combine records for every variety of genre, media, and format.
This enables users of digital libraries to discover materials in all media by searching
textual records about the materials.

Descriptive metadata is usually created by professionals. Library catalogs and

scientific indexes represent huge investments by skilled people, sustained over
decades or even centuries. This economic fact is crucial to understanding current
trends. On one hand, it is vital to build on the investments and the expertise behind
them. On the other, there is great incentive to find cheaper and faster ways to create

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 75

metadata, either by automatic indexing or with computer tools that enhance human
expertise.

The standard components of metadata are:

 Data Element - atomic unit of meaning (as defined by the user community
 Attribute - refines, extends and interprets the data element;
 Value - information unique to each data element instance
 Constraint - order imposed on the data element's expression for consistency and
semantic viability; and
 Label - contextual instance of the data element name. How the data element
displays on the web for the end user.

jmireri@chuka university teaching notes 76