Alphabetical catalog
An alphabetical catalog ( AK for short ) is a library catalog in which the cataloged items are sorted alphabetically according to the first letter of the author or the title. Since the name of the author and the title are responsible for the order of the catalog and this is a formal aspect in the library sense, alphabetical catalogs are also referred to as nominal catalogs or formal catalogs .
Example according to RAK
The exact rules for creating an alphabetical catalog vary depending on the library rules . As in the case of the rules for alphabetical cataloging (RAK), it is customary for publications to be entered in the catalog according to the first letter of their author. If the author is not an author but a corporation, the name will be entered after its name. According to the RAK, both anonymous writings (without authors) as well as writings with more than three authors are not entered in the catalog under the first letter of the author, but under the title of the publication, possibly also under the name of a corporation involved in the publication .
history
In order to make books easier to find in extensive libraries, inventories or location directories were created in medieval libraries. The titles of these catalogs were arranged according to subject matter. However, in order to be able to find works whose title was known to the searcher more quickly, the 15th century also began to keep alphabetical registers. The alphabetical catalogs only became independent working tools in the 19th century, when alphabetical main catalogs were first created and library rules were created for their creation.
literature
- Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker : Basic librarianship. 8th, completely revised and expanded edition. Saur, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-11771-8 , p. 214.
- Dietmar Strauch , Margarete Rehm: Lexicon book, library, new media. 2nd, updated and expanded edition. Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-598-11757-2 , p. 29.