Editing Library catalog (section)

== Goal ==
[[File:Card catalog from page 167 of "Manual of library classification and shelf arrangement" (1898).jpg|thumb|Illustration from ''Manual of library classification and shelf arrangement'', 1898]]
[[Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi]] in 1841<ref name="Panizzi_1841">{{cite book |author-first=Antonio "Anthony" Genesio Maria |author-last=Panizzi |author-link=Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi |chapter=Rules for the Compilation of the Catalogue |title=Catalogue of Printed Books in the British Museum |volume=1 |location=London, UK |date=1841 |pages=V–IX}}</ref> and [[Charles Ammi Cutter]] in 1876<ref name="Cutter_1876_1">{{cite book |author-first=Charles |author-last=Cutter |author-link=Charles Ammi Cutter |title=Rules for a dictionary catalog |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |date=1876}}</ref> undertook pioneering work in the definition of early cataloging rule sets formulated according to theoretical models. Cutter made an explicit statement regarding the objectives of a bibliographic system in his ''Rules for a Printed Dictionary Catalog''.<ref name="Cutter_1876_2">{{cite book |title=Public Libraries in the United States of America their History, Condition, and Management |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rj-f4-Ps-AkC |date=1876| last1=Cutter | first1=Charles Ammi }}</ref> According to Cutter, those objectives were

1. to enable a person to find a book of which any of the following is known (Identifying objective):
* the author
* the title
* the subject
* the date of publication

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)

These objectives can still be recognized in more modern definitions<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allegro-c.de/formate/gz-1e.htm |title=What Should Catalogs Do? / Eversberg |date=2016-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305001930/http://www.allegro-c.de/formate/gz-1e.htm |archive-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> formulated throughout the 20th century.

Other influential pioneers in this area were [[Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan]] and [[Seymour Lubetzky]].<ref name="Denton-Taylor_2007">{{cite book |author-last=Denton |author-first=William |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10315/1250 |title=Understanding FRBR. What it is and how it will affect our Retrieval Tools |date=2007 |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=Arlene G. |location=Westport |pages=35–57 [35–49] |chapter=FRBR and the History of Cataloging|hdl=10315/1250 }}</ref>

Cutter's objectives were revised by Lubetzky and the [[Conference on Cataloging Principles]] (CCP) in Paris in 1960/1961, resulting in the [[Paris Principles (cataloging)|Paris Principles]] (PP).

A more recent attempt to describe a library catalog's functions was made in 1998 with [[Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records]] (FRBR), which defines four user tasks: find, identify, select, and obtain.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hider|first=Philip|date=2017-02-17|title=A Critique of the FRBR User Tasks and Their Modifications|journal=Cataloging & Classification Quarterly|volume=55|issue=2|pages=55–74|doi=10.1080/01639374.2016.1254698|s2cid=63488662|issn=0163-9374|doi-access=free}}</ref>

A catalog helps to serve as an [[inventory]] or [[bookkeeping]] of the library's contents. If an item is not found in the catalog, the user may continue their search at another library.