LIBRARY CATALOGUE (meaning, definition, scope, purpose, & Objectives) Dr.S.L.Sangam Professor and Chairman Department of Library & Information Science, Karnatak University Dharwad slsangam@yahoo.com

Introduction The main principle of the library is that “books are for use”. It will be waste of time, money, and man power if the readers cannot get the desired materials and which already in the stock of a particular library. A Library catalogue is an essential tool, especially when a library has a large collection. It serves as a key to the resources of a library. Without library catalogue, it would be difficult to know what is available and where it can be located.

Meaning of catalogue  The word ‘Catalogue” derived from Late Latin catalogus, from Greek katalogos, from katalegein to list, from kata- completely + legein to collect.A catalogue arranged according to set of plan. Kata means “according to” Logos means “Order or reason”.Reasonable manner in a particular order. 1. A complete, usually alphabetical list of items, often with note Giving details 2. (Business / Commerce) a book, usually illustrated, containing details of items for sale, esp. as used by mail-order 1. (Library Science & Bibliography) to compile a catalogue of (a library) 2. To add (books, items, etc.) to an existing catalogue

Definition Cutter: “A catalogue is a list of books which is arranged on some definite plan. As distinguished from a bibliography it is a list of books in some library or collection” Brown: “An explanatory logically arranged inventory and key to the books and their contents and it is confined to the books in a particular library”. According to oxford English Dictionary “The catalogue is a now usually distinguished from a mere list or enumeration by systematic or methodical arrangement, alphabetical or other order, and often by the addition of brief particulars, descriptive or aiding identification indicative of locality, position, date, price or the like” Ranganathan: has defined a library catalogue as a “methodically arranged record of information about its bibliographical resources.

Scope The catalogue contains information about documents available in a particular library and in some cases about a number of libraries. Ordinarily, it is not restricted with regard to subject, material, language, geographical area of coverage, place of publication and time.

Need A library catalogue is an essential tool, especially when a library has a large collection. It serves as a key to the resources of a library without a library catalogue, it would become difficult to know what is available and where it can be located. Hence there is a need for a catalogue in every library.

Objectives of Library catalogue Charles Ammi Cutter made the first explicit statement regarding the objectives of a bibliographic system in his Rules for a Printed Dictionary Catalog in 1876. According to Cutter, those objectives were 1. To enable a person to find a book of which either (Identifying objective) the author the title the subject the category is known. 2. To show what the library has (Collocating objective) by a given author on a given subject in a given kind of literature 3. To assist in the choice of a book (Evaluating objective) as to its edition (bibliographically) as to its character (literary or topical)

Purpose of library cataloging Library collections house a wide variety of materials on many different topics and in many different formats. The challenge in making these things available for the use of library patrons is letting those patrons know what is in the library collection. This is the reason for having a library catalog and for taking the time to correctly catalog library materials.

Five Laws Vs Lib Catalogue S.R. Ranganathan has discussed the purpose and function of library catalogue on the basis of his Five laws of Library Science they are as follows To promote the use of books To disclose to every reader his or her document. To secure for every document its reader. To save the time of the reader, and staff. Cataloguing is a growing organism.

Conclusion It is most important and indispensable tool for the library to locate its existing resources. The emphasis is on use rather than preservation of books/documents.