Catalog abort

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A catalog termination is the termination of a library catalog followed by the start of a new catalog. Catalog breaks are carried out in larger libraries when major changes in cataloging are decided. In most cases this is a changeover to a new set of rules or to a different catalog type . Since the introduction of electronic catalogs, it is generally no longer necessary to cancel the catalog.

It is possible that several catalogs exist side by side in libraries due to catalog interruptions.

reasons

Library catalogs are created according to library regulations. For example, if a library decides to switch from the Prussian instructions to the RAK , the individual catalogs in the catalog will change from the switch. In order to separate the catalogs created according to different rules from one another, the catalog created according to the Prussian instructions can be canceled and a new one started according to the RAK.

Another reason could be to switch to a different type of catalog. For example, when libraries replaced the tape catalog with the card catalog, they usually canceled their catalog and started a new one. The switch from card catalog to electronic catalog forms triggered another wave of catalog abandonment.

Even with the introduction of standardized cards for the card catalog, numerous libraries abandoned their old catalog.

Separate catalogs, retro-cataloging and retro-conversion

After a cancellation, the old catalog can continue to exist alongside the new one or it can be completely incorporated into the new one ( retro-cataloging ). Because of the often high costs of such training, many important libraries still have different catalogs in use instead of one catalog for all their holdings. Especially when it comes to alphabetical catalogs , this entails additional work, as some of the publications can be found in the old catalog and some in the new catalog. In the case of subject catalogs such as the subject catalog or the systematic catalog , catalog interruptions can also have positive consequences, for example if old subject headings or systematics do better justice to older stocks.

If canceled catalogs are not incorporated into the new one, but converted as a whole, one speaks of retro-conversion . After abolishing the card catalog, libraries have often chosen the cheaper option of not fully incorporating it into the electronic one, but rather scanning the catalog cards and making them accessible via computer as an image catalog .

Cancellation from year of publication and cancellation from year of processing

In order to define exactly which publications can be found in the old catalog and which in the new one, it is necessary to find a decision criterion. Libraries usually choose either the year of the publication or the date the publication was cataloged.

literature

  • Klaus Haller : The conversion of catalogs using the example of the Bavarian State Library . In: Biblos , 1988, pp. 1-4
  • Klaus Haller: Catalog customer. An introduction to formal and subject indexing , 3rd extended edition, Saur, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-598-11364-1 , pp. 69-70 (1st edition 1980)
  • Joachim Kaubisch: Demolition and rebuilding of alphabetical catalogs . In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen , Volume 91, 1977, pp. 562-572