College and Research Libraries By S E Y M O U R L U B E T Z K Y The Function of the Catalog ONE OF T H E MOST troublesome ques-tions which has afflicted our discus- sion of cataloging at conferences and in the professional literature is that of the function of the catalog. Whenever our method of cataloging was seriously chal- lenged, the criticism levelled against it was parried with the question "Well, but what is the function of the catalog—is it to serve as a finding list or as a reference tool?" and there the argument stood. It seemed futile to g o on discussing cata- loging rules and practices before it was decided what objectives or purposes the catalog was to serve. It is therefore natu- ral that the consideration given to the prospective revision of our cataloging rules should have evoked again, as a basic issue, the question whether the proposed revision should contemplate a "finding- list" or "reference-tool" catalog. T h e ques- tion is one of special interest and impor- tance to the librarian, for it is the li- brarian, who is responsible for library policy, who must decide what should be the function of the catalog as an instru- ment of library management and service; and now is the time when he can deter- mine what it should be. If he fails to act now, when the cataloging rules are under review, he will have abdicated his respon- sibility for the catalog and will have for- feited the right to criticize the revised rules later should he discover that they have provided for objectives which he re- gards as irrelevant or unwarranted or that they have failed to provide for ob- jectives which he considers requisite or essential. But if it is the librarian's responsibility Mr. Lnbetzky is consultant on biblio- graphic and cataloging policy, Library of Congress. to decide what function the library's cat- alog should be designed to serve, it is the cataloger's responsibility to clarify for the librarian the issues involved in a manner that will enable him to make a reasonable decision; and if the librarian has evidenced a reluctance to decide the question, it is perhaps because he was presented with a choice not of tangible objectives, but of illusive and elusive con- ceptions of a finding list and a reference tool—ideological will-o'-the-wisps—which he was unable to grasp, examine, and evaluate. For what is a finding list? Is it a list of entries which should enable an inquirer to find a given book under its author and title? Should it enable one to find a cer- tain work if he looks for it under an earlier or later name of the author or under the title of a different edition? Should it enable the user of the catalog to find the earliest or latest edition of the work he wants? Should it help one to find the editions which a library has of a given work or the works which the li- brary has of a given author? Obviously, all catalogs are intended to serve as find- ing lists, but they may and d o differ very considerably in what may be found in them. What, then, is a finding-list cata- log? A n d what, by contrast, is a reference- tool catalog? A reference tool is, of course, a source of certain information. As a record of the materials in a library every catalog will contain some informa- tion about the authors and the works re- carded in it; does not that make every catalog a reference tool? T h e question whether the catalog should serve as a reference tool, in contrast to a finding list, implies that it might be made to provide certain information apart from MAY, 1956 213 that which it must include as a record of the materials in the library; if so, what information should the catalog provide? Should it be unlimited in scope and serve as a universal source of information o n cards? It has been demonstrated, for ex- ample, that the catalog can often be uti- lized as a source of biographical informa- tion; does it mean that it should be de- designed to serve, among other things, as a source of biographical information? If so, why should it include only the names of people represented in it as authors or subjects and not also other names? A n d why, then, should the biographical infor- mation given in the catalog include only names, dates, and certain titles of the people entered and not also data about their occupation, interests, marital status, residence, etc., as other biographical ref- erence works do? Is it not clear that the suggestion that the catalog might be de- signed to serve as a reference tool repre- sents another misconception, one born from a confusion of the potentialities of the catalog with its purposes, and that the question of the function of the cata- log cannot be decided in terms of an am- biguous finding list or reference tool but in terms of the specific objectives which the catalog should be made to serve as a guide to the library's resources? As a guide to the library's resources, the specific objectives of the catalog can be concretely defined, their merits evalu- ated, and the problem of the function of the catalog resolved. T h e first and pri- mary objective of the catalog is, un- doubtedly, to enable its users to locate in it as easily as possible a given author and title. This is an elementary objective and one without which a library would cease to function. Before a library ac- quires and processes an item it must de- termine whether the item is not already in the library, and before the item can be served to a reader it must be found in the catalog by the reader or someone else T h e objective requires a minimum of cataloging and some of those who advo- cate a finding-list catalog have this objec- tive solely in mind. T h e i r argument could be epitomized as follows (a) T h e purpose of a catalog is to indicate wheth- er or not the library has a given book; (b) a book is identified by the author and title given o n the title page; (c) if the author and title are copied from the title page onto a card which is then filed in the catalog, the book will readily be found by the reader and cataloging will be a simple, expeditious, and inexpensive operation. This is a plausible argument, and some libraries, particularly small ones, must and d o follow this course with or with- out the blessing of the official cataloging code in effect. If college and university librarians were to find this course ade- quate for their purposes, cataloging would greatly be simplified and the prob- lem of cataloging costs and arrearages would vanish. But the argument does not go far enough. For the seeker of a book is all-too-often concerned not with the physical form of the book but with the intellectual work contained in it, and the cataloging of a work is more compli- cated and exacting than the cataloging of a book. For while the book is readily identified by the author and title given on the title page, the work embodied in it may be issued simultaneously under different titles, as under a British title and an American title, or may be issued successively under different titles and also under different names of the author if the author has not always used his real name or has changed his name in the course of time. T h e question which the college and university librarian must therefore decide is whether he would con- sider the catalog adequate if a student or member of the faculty looking for a work under a given name and title cited in some source would fail to find that the library has that work, or another edition of it, under another name of the author or under another title. W o u l d he con- sider the catalog adequate if it failed to 214 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES indicate what editions and translations the library has of a given work, or what works his library has of a given author? W o u l d he consider the catalog adequate if it failed to help an inquirer to find a work in the library because he had an in- accurate citation of the title or forgot the accurate wording of the title although he knew well the name of the author? If his answer to all these questions is in the affirmative, he should act accordingly and require that the objective of the catalog should be limited to assisting an inquirer to find in it a given author and title— and nothing else. He will then also as- sume responsibility for the consequent failures of students and faculty mem- bers to find in the catalog many works which they may urgently need and which may be in the library. If, however, his answer to the ques- tions is in the negative, then he must re- quire that the catalog should serve also a second objective—to relate the editions of a work and the works of an author. He will then follow the late Pierce Butler who called attention to "the bibliograph- ical function of the library" and who characterized the catalog as "a bibliog- raphy of the books in a particular col- lection."1 T h e method of relating the editions of a work and the works of an author is a subsidiary question which need not be discussed at this time. T h e basic question is whether or not the li- brarian wishes to undertake this biblio- 1 Pierce Butler, "The Bibliographical Function of the Library," Journal of Cataloging and Classification, I X (1953), 3-11. graphical function and make it an ob- jective of the catalog. If he does, the cata- loging rules will have to provide accord- ingly and cataloging will be more com- plex and expensive than would be re- quired by the first objective alone, but the catalog will also be a more effective and reliable guide to the library's re- sources. This objective will also require the librarian to define and adopt a pol- icy to guide the cataloger in deciding how much time and effort he should spend in his attempt to relate the editions of a work and the works of an author: but this, too, is a subsidiary question which need not now be considered. These are concrete objectives whose usefulness for the operations and serv- ices of the library can be weighed and evaluated. T h e two objectives considered — t o facilitate the location of a given author and title and to relate the edi- tions of a work and the works of an au- thor—will, of course, not resolve all cata- loging questions, and they leave out of consideration the rules of description and of subject cataloging which are not in- cluded in the prospective revision; but they are essential to a rational and syste- matic development of the rules of entry which determine the basic features of the catalog and which are now under re- view. If the issues involved in these ob- jectives are fully considered and a wise decision is made, we may have a catalog- ing practice which will be guided by the recognized objectives of the catalog and not by any delusive will-o'-the-wisps. ACRL Luncheon at Miami Beach After investigation of luncheon possibili- ties at the Miami Beach hotels it has been decided to transfer the ACRL luncheon to the University of Miami, where it will be held in connection with the tour of the uni- versity and its beautiful campus Wednesday afternoon, June 20. Special buses will be on hand and will leave the hotel where the Circles of Information are held, probably at about 12:30, when the circles break up. Luncheon is tentatively scheduled for 1:30. The price will not exceed $1.75. MAY, 1956 2 1 5