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Santa Ana College

Cataloging Department

​INTRODUCTION

​A library catalog is established so that library users are able to retrieve the needed information.

The staff of the Cataloging Department creates the Library’s online public access catalog (OPAC) through provision of bibliographic records for materials in all formats held in Nealley Library. In addition we provide records and links to remote electronic resources. The work of cataloging involves three main areas:

  1. Descriptive Cataloging: bibliographic description of the title cataloged, including selection and formulation of access points (such as authors, titles, series, etc.)
  2. Subject Cataloging: determination of subject content, selection of appropriate subject headings from a standardized thesaurus, and assignment of a call number
  3. Authority Control: decisions on the form of catalog headings for names or subjects, creation of cross reference structures to support catalog users in finding access points, and catalog maintenance work to ensure consistency and reliability in catalog search results.

Library collections are cataloged following the latest revisions of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules and Library of Congress practices as published in their rule interpretations. Library materials are classified using the Library of Congress classification schedules with the exception of materials in the CD Collection, which are classified using an accession number system.

Cataloging Department set up the following cataloging goals:

  1. To build and maintain a comprehensive online catalog to serve as primary access to the Library’s collections.
  2. To establish the catalog as the gateway to remote information resources.
  3. To provide ongoing maintenance and quality control of the catalog records to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the database and increase its research value.
  4. To be responsive to user requests and queries.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

  1. Lost Books
  2. Discarded Books
  3. Modifying E-Book MARC Records

TOOLS

  1. LC Classification (Last updated January 2008)
  2. Location Codes
  3. MARC Tags Checklist
  4. Copy Cataloging Checklist
  5. LC Cutter Table
  6. Abbreviations of Certain Countries, States, Provinces and Territories (Maine.gov)

ONLINE TOOLS

  1. Training OPAC
  2. RDA Toolkit
  3. Books in Print 
  4. Books in Print (off campus login)
  5. Classification Web (LC Class)
  6. Library of Congress Online Catalog
  7. OCLC Bibibliographic Formats & Standards
  8. ​OCLC Connexion
  9. WorldCat
  10. Google Books
  11. RDA Online

OTHER TOOLS

 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WORKSHOPS (Free)

LISTS 

CATALOGING DEPARTMENT WEBSITES & OTHER TOOLS

Send comments to Nealley Library Cataloging Department at yang_nell@sac.edu