Library Technical Services

Technical services are all the behind-the-scenes duties that keep a library running. See also Library Technology.

This page:
Generally | Acquisitions | Cataloging | Subject Cataloging: Classification | Subject Headings

Generally

• Technical Services Unlimited - A great site for everything to do with library technical services (Formerly: The Top 200 Technical Services Benefits of Home Page Development) [tpot.ucsd.edu]

Acquisitions

• AcqWeb - Information sources for the acquisitions librarian
• Publishers' Web pages (Peter Scott)
• Against the Grain - Not much content online, unfortunately

Cataloging

See also Interesting OPACs

Library of Congress:

• Library of Congress Cataloging and Acquistions - LC portal
• LC Cataloging Tools - MARC code lists, Library of Congress Rule Interpretations, geographic names, non-Roman scripts
• General, Descriptive Cataloging - Policies
• Cataloging Distribution Service - Source for LC manuals and electronic products

Tools and Directories:

• Cataloger's Learning Workshop (Library of Congress)
• Cataloger's Reference Shelf - Large selection of Library of Congress manuals (The Library Corporation)
• Cataloguer's Toolbox (Memorial University Newfoundland)
• Cataloging Documentation on the Web (U. of Oregon)
• Cataloging Oasis (MIT)
• Library Cataloguing Aids - by Lynne LeGrow, Halifax Regional Library
• Princeton University Cataloging Documentation
• Technical Processing Online Tools (TPOT) (UC San Diego)
• USM Cataloging Tools (University of Southern Mississippi)
• Cataloging Calculator - Figures out Cutter numbers, country codes, etc. (Kyle Banerjee)
• Geographic Cutter Table for U.S. States and Regions (Adam Schiff)
• Latin Place Names, as found in books published before 1801
• "The Whimsy of Cataloging" by Richard A. Murray
• See also Cataloging the Internet and Catalogers' Blogs

MARC:

• MARC Home Page (Library of Congress)

MARC Manuals, etc.

• OCLC Bibliographic Formats and Standards Manual - OCLC's manual for MARC bibliographic
• Understanding MARC Bibliographic - A basic guide (LC)
• MARC Tag of the Month (Follett)

Bibliographic Utilities:

A bibliographic utility is a huge database of library cataloging records for books, recordings, videos, etc. with data about which libraries own them. OCLC is the world's largest bibliographic utility. (If you've read this far, you probably already knew this.)

• OCLC home page
• Top 1,000 titles in OCLC
• Watch WorldCat Grow - See what records are being added to OCLC's database right now. Refreshes every 12 seconds.

Authorities:

• Library of Congress Authorities - Search LC's lists of subject, name, and title authorities.
• See also Subject Headings below

Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR):

FRBR represents a new way of looking at cataloging.

• What is FRBR? by Barbara Tillett, Library of Congress. See also a presentation by Ms. Tillett
• FRBR and Fundamental Cataloging Rules - A good introduction by William Denton
• MARC and FRBR (LC)
• The FRBRization of Humphry Clinker - An interesting experiment in applying FRBR to a work with a number of editions (OCLC)
• FRBR Blog
• Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records - The IFLA report that started it all

Typos in Catalogs

These sites (all from the same dedicated group of typo-fighting library superheroes) list common typos found in library catalogs. Use them to check your own catalog.

• Typo of the Day for Librarians - Read the blog, then check your catalog for the typo of the day. The LibTypos wiki has an archive of common typos that have made the list already.
• Typographical Errors in Library Databases - A long list by Terry Ballard. You might want to start with the most common ones.
• More Typographical Errors in Library Databases - These words are spelled correctly, but in the wrong context (e.g., "Untied States")
• Libtypos-L - If you're really serious about typos, you may want to subscribe to this mailing list (Yahoo Groups)

Subject Cataloging:

Classification

• See also Ranganathan's work in faceted classification

Mapping Dewey and Library of Congress classifications:

A service of QuestionPoint

• Map Dewey (DDC) Classification to LC (LCC)
• Map LC (LCC) to Dewey (DDC) Classification

Library of Congress Classification:

• Library of Congress Classification Web - Full classification and subject headings lists. Available by subscription. (LC)
• Library of Congress Classification Outline (LC)
• Library of Congress Classification System - Unofficial outline (About.com)
• Library of Congress Classification - Weekly lists of updates; policies (LC)
• Hierarchical Interface to LC Classification - An experimental project to produce a hierarchical menu using LC classification and subject terms
• Cross References from other classes to Class Z - Choices for classing bibliographies (U. of Indiana)

Dewey Decimal Classification:

• Dewey Decimal Classification (OCLC/Forest Press)
• DDC Summaries
• Online Dewey Catalogs - Libraries using DDC
• 025.431: The Dewey Blog
• What's So Great About the Dewey Decimal System? (Straight Dope)

National Library of Medicine Classification:

• NLM Classification

Web Directory of Classification Systems:

• Classification Sources (MARC Code List, Library of Congress)

Subject Headings

Library of Congress Subject Headings:

• Library of Congress Authorities - Including subject authorities
• Library of Congress Classification Web - Full classification and subject headings lists. Available by subscription.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings - Weekly lists of updates; policies (LC)
• Library of Congress Subject Heading Database (LCSHDB) - A searchable database developed by Mississippi State U.
• Spanish Subject Headings - Equivalents of LCSH devised by Oakland Public Library and San Francisco Public Library

LCSH Subheadings:

• Free-Floating Subject Subdivisions (Columbia, formerly Princeton)
• Form Subdivisions (University of Southern Mississippi)

Genre Terms (used with LCSH):

• GSAFD Genre Terms - OCLC-built thesaurus based on Guidelines on subject access to individual works of fiction, drama, etc.
• List of LCSH Moving Image Genre-Form Headings (Word document)

Other Subject Heading Lists and Thesauri:

• Canadian Subject Headings (Library and Archives Canada)
• DTIC Thesaurus - The thesaurus used by the Defense Technical Information Center's Scientific and Technical Information Network (STINet); not just military terms, though
• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) (Getty Museum)
• Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) (National Library of Medicine)
• NAL Agricultural Thesaurus (National Agricultural Library)

Web Directories of Subject Heading Lists:

• Term, Name, Title Sources - Sources for subject terms that can be used in MARC records (MARC Code List, Library of Congress)
• Thesauri Online (American Society of Indexers)