Exploring

Collection Management

Intellectual Control: Libraries

Effective selection of collections for preservation requires good intellectual control, since relative values and priorities cannot be assigned unless staff is familiar with the collections' contents. An inventory of collections using standard library and archival descriptive practices can also assist systematic comparison of an institution's holdings with those of other repositories, especially when cataloging has been automated using the standard MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) format. Whether or not materials are preserved elsewhere can be an important factor in determining your own priorities.

Organizing Library Collections

Most institutions with library collections will be familiar with standard procedures for cataloging and classification of library materials. Printed materials are cataloged and classified according to Library of Congress (LC) procedures that follow the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition, or AACR2. This cataloging system was originally used to create catalog cards, but now computer files that are searched directly by the user are created using the MARC format (see below). Call numbers are assigned for books using Library of Congress classification numbers or Dewey Decimal System (which preceded the LC system) numbers. The Library of Congress provides cataloging records for most U.S. and international publications.

The MARC format was established by the Library of Congress in the 1960s, when it began to computerize its catalog records. Using numbers, letters, and symbols to mark the information within a cataloging record (e.g., title, author), the MARC format has become the standard for library computer cataloging. Having undergone many incarnations since its inception, the version currently in use is called MARC 21; the Library of Congress maintains it and all its associated documentation (see LC's MARC Standards page). Computerized cataloging records are shared among libraries nationally and internationally through the Online Computer Library Center 's WorldCat database.

See Understanding MARC Bibliographic: Machine-Readable Cataloging for more detailed information on the format.