Cataloguing Process and Standards

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What I discovered in this activity is that the public library records have the elements that were discussed in the lesson but they were not in the same order. I found this curious because in our readings it stated that we must not deviate from the order of the elements. However I remember also reading that large libraries differed from smaller libraries or school libraries so I thought I would compare the record from my school library as well. However these were different again, and did not include all of the elements. I wonder why this is? As I examined different titles, I wrote in more detail about the comparisons and wonderings I had. These are listed in the order that I perused them, not alphabetically.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

When I compared the book to its catalogue records in the public library I noticed that the areas describing this book are not in the same order as described in our lesson.  For example, the ISBN is listed 4^th. The first area lists the publisher and the location where the book was published. The title is not listed in the record in any place (presumably because you need to click on the title to see its record). I wondered if this was different because it falls into the “big library” classification and I remember reading that school libraries and smaller libraries are different. So I decided to compare it to the record in our school library and found that it was listed differently as well. In this case, our school library record included only 5 areas: the publisher and date, edition, format, LCCN, and ISBN. The public library also has a copy of this book in eBook format and it was interesting to compare the records for the two. One difference I noted is that the eBook doesn’t list that it achieved the Newberry Medal while the hard copy book does. I am not sure why. There were other subtle differences in the record as well and of course the IBSN was different.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

The first thing I noticed about this record is that while on the cover “Wonder Struck” is written as two words, both records for the public library and my school library have it written as one word. The inside cover of the dust jacket states it as one word while the title page in the book lists it as two words. I wonder why this is? In our readings it stated we were to copy it exactly as written, even if it is misspelled. When I compared this book to the record in the public library I noticed that the Statement of Responsibility was listed 6^th instead of first. The publisher was listed first again. All of the main areas where there, just in a different order. When I compared it to the record in my school, again it was different as well. The record in my school lists only the 5 areas.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

I found the record from the public library interesting for this one because for the Statement of Responsibility instead of saying Cressida Cowell it said, “by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock lll; translated from the Old Norse by Cressida Cowell” because that is what appears on the cover. In our readings it said that we must record exactly what is written down (even if it is a spelling mistake) and I see that this is an example. Again this listing did not follow the order indicated in the lesson but all of the elements were there. The record in my school library had the same 5 elements listed as the books above.

Naomi’s Tree by Joy Kogawa

The record from the public library listed additional contributors first, followed by publisher, and then ISBN. The Statement of Responsibility is listed 5^th with the physical description coming next. It was interesting to see how the illustrator was added first. My school library does not have a copy of the book to compare to.

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

The record listed in the public library included all of the main areas but in a different order. It was interesting to note that in the notes area the map on the endpapers was listed. The record for my school library only includes three elements: Publisher, Format (the map is included here), and ISBN.