Concept of an on-line computerized library catalog
Journal of library automation
[March 1970]
Kilgour, Frederick G
.
Abstract: This paper will describe a concept of a catalog that is hospitable to mechanized descriptive cataloging, and will delineate major areas of research for production of knowledge necessary to implement such a catalog. To avoid an unnecessarily complex presentation, the discussion will treat only of printed books. Nevertheless, the catalog described will function equally well as a store for serials, journal articles, reports, and any other materials that carry bibliographic-like descriptions of themselves. As used in this paper, a concept is an idea that combines experience with and observations of catalogs, and suggests further experimentation and observation. The merit of a concept is measured by its fruitfulness in production of new ideas and new experimentation and observation. The purpose of the concept proposed in this paper is to suggest avenues of investigation that will yield findings useful in development of mechanized, descriptive cataloging. The paper opens with a brief discussion of the objective and functions of a library catalog. Next there is an analysis of the principal contribution of information retrieval during the past quarter century and a proposal for applying this advance to cataloging of books. The third section describes a plan for a new style of catalog, and the fourth shows how it will be possible to prepare entries mechanically from title pages for inclusion in such a catalog. There follows an outline of major research investiga
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