---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 14:04:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Tangent: Library cataloging (fwd)
 
I am a librarian and a cataloger.  While your collection is large by
personal standards, it is small by institutional standards.  There are
services that libraries subscribe to.  I have no idea how much they can
cost, or if the cost is worth it to you.
 
Here's a simple approach I would follow if I wanted to catalog my own
collection.  I would use a database management program for my personal
computer, and create on it a record for each work.  One field of the
program would take Author information; I would make it optional so that it
can be deleted for edited works or for works without a named author.
Another would take Title information.  I would include publication date,
and probably publisher's name.  That would accomodate different editions
of the same title, if it matters.  I would include a variable length,
optional field for notes, where information about your copy might matter
(signed by author, a plate missing, inserts or other added material,
important annotations if a previous owner or annotater is important).  The
published information comes as you indicated from the CIP data on the
title-page verso.  It's not difficult to determine it for the 10% that
lack it.
 
This involves your in-putting this information, or asking someone to do it
for you.  It is not a complicated database.  You will need to be sure you
retain sufficient memory space for indexing this catalog so that you can
call up a record, which is the point of making it.  Any records that you
might buy will contain more data that probably don't matter for a home
collection, such as additional author fields, subject headings, call
numbers, additional title information, etc.   In other words, they would
take up additonal memory space from your index.  You may find you need
more space for indexing to run a search than you do for the data you put
in.
 
Whether you include arrangement designation in the record depends on your
choice of arrangement.  The arrangement is up to you.  You may not need
call numbers. You could arrange them by year, or by author, or by broad
categories if they are mostly non-fiction.  If you need the catalog to
indicate the item's location, THEN you would need the call number, but not
if you just need to know if you have a book.
 
I hope this helps.
 
On Wed, 9 Sep 1998, Johnnie Sutherland wrote:
 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 22:54:36 -0600
> From: Dennis McClendon <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Tangent: Library cataloging
>
> Perhaps one of the librarians on the MAPS list would be so kind as to
> forward this to a more appropriate list.  I can't figure out if it's a
> stupid question or not.
>
> My personal library (of books, not maps) has grown to the point (about 3000
> volumes) that I really would like a simple catalog so I can quit buying
> books that I already have at home.  Since probably 90% of my books have
> Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data, it seems a waste of
> time for me to type in the author and title again.
>
> Is there some online catalog where I could type in the LC Card Catalog
> number and get back a full record?  I have software (CASPR's LibraryWorks)
> that I believe will read MARC format records.  It would seem that with all
> the university and public systems on the Web, this would be a simple
> matter.
>
> Barring that, there must be companies that do this for small institutional
> and corporate libraries that don't need OCLC subscriptions of their own.
> Would that be a reasonable approach for an individual?
>
> Thanks for your help.  (If you are reading this on a list other than
> MAPS-L, please reply directly to [log in to unmask])
>
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
> Dennis McClendon, Chicago CartoGraphics      [log in to unmask]
>
 
 
_________________________________________
Ken Grabach         <[log in to unmask]>
Documents Dept.
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio  45056  USA