Editing Library catalog (section)

== History ==
[[File:Insciptio library catalog hellenistic Taormina 121842.jpg|thumb|Hellenistic catalog of the Gymnasium of Taormina]]
[[File:Sozomeno, Giovanni – Catalogus librorum Bibliothecae Venetae, 1624 – BEIC 13864391.jpg|thumb|The catalog of the [[Biblioteca Marciana|Library of the Republic of Venice]], published in 1624.]]
[[File:Schlagwortkatalog.jpg|thumb|A card catalog in the [[University Library of Graz]] ]]
The earliest librarians created rules for how to record the details of the catalog. By 700 BCE the Assyrians followed the rules set down by the Babylonians. The seventh century BCE Babylonian [[Library of Ashurbanipal]] was led by the librarian Ibnissaru who prescribed a catalog of clay tablets by subject. Subject catalogs were the rule of the day, and author catalogs were unknown at that time. The frequent use of subject-only catalogs hints that there was a code of practice among early catalog librarians and that they followed some set of rules for subject assignment and the recording of the details of each item. These rules created efficiency through consistency—the catalog librarian knew how to record each item without reinventing the rules each time, and the reader knew what to expect with each visit. The task of recording the contents of libraries is more than an instinct or a compulsive tic exercised by librarians; it began as a way to broadcast to readers what is available among the stacks of materials. The tradition of open stacks of printed books is paradigmatic to modern American library users, but ancient libraries featured stacks of clay or prepaper scrolls that resisted browsing.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

As librarian, [[Gottfried van Swieten]] introduced the world's first card catalog (1780) as the Prefect of the Imperial Library, Austria.<ref name="oldest"/>

During the early modern period, libraries were organized through the direction of the librarian in charge.  There was no universal method, so some books were organized by language or book material, for example, but most scholarly libraries had recognizable categories (like philosophy, saints, mathematics).  The first library to list titles alphabetically under each subject was the [[Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne|Sorbonne library]] in [[Paris]]. Library catalogs originated as [[manuscript]] lists, arranged by format ([[book size|folio]], quarto, etc.) or in a rough alphabetical arrangement by author. Before printing, librarians had to enter new acquisitions into the margins of the catalog list until a new one was created.  Because of the nature of creating texts at this time, most catalogs were not able to keep up with new acquisitions.<ref>[[#Murray|Murray]], pp. 88–89.</ref>

When the printing press became well-established, strict cataloging became necessary because of the influx of printed materials.  Printed catalogs, sometimes called ''dictionary catalogs'', began to be published in the early modern period and enabled scholars outside a library to gain an idea of its contents.<ref>E.g. (1) Radcliffe, John ''Bibliotheca chethamensis: [[Chetham's Library|Bibliothecae publicae Mancuniensis]] ab Humfredo Chetham, armigero fundatae catalogus, exhibens libros in varias classas pro varietate argumenti distributos''; [begun by John Radcliffe, continued by Thomas Jones]. 5 vols. Mancuni: Harrop, 1791–1863. 
(2) Wright, C. T. Hagberg & Purnell, C. J. ''Catalogue of the [[London Library]], St. James's Square, London''. 10 vols. London, 1913–55. 
Includes: Supplement: 1913–20. 1920. Supplement: 1920–28. 1929. Supplement: 1928–53. 1953 (in 2 vols). Subject index: (Vol. 1). 1909. 
Vol. 2: Additions, 1909–22. Vol. 3: Additions, 1923–38. 1938. Vol. 4: (Additions), 1938–53. 1955.</ref> Copies of these in the library itself would sometimes be interleaved with blank leaves on which additions could be recorded, or bound as ''guardbooks'' in which slips of paper were bound in for new entries. Slips could also be kept loose in cardboard or tin boxes, stored on shelves. The first [[index card|card catalogs]] appeared in the late 19th century after the standardization of the 5 in. x 3 in. card for personal filing systems, enabling much more flexibility, and toward the end of the 20th century the online public access catalog was developed (see below). These gradually became more common as some libraries progressively abandoned such other catalog formats as paper slips (either loose or in sheaf catalog form), and guardbooks. The beginning of the Library of Congress's catalog card service in 1911 led to the use of these cards in the majority of American libraries. An equivalent scheme in the United Kingdom was operated by the [[British National Bibliography]] from 1956<ref>Walford, A. J., ed. (1981) ''Walford's Concise Guide to Reference Material''. London: Library Association; p. 6</ref>  and was subscribed to by many public and other libraries.

* c. Seventh century BCE, the royal [[Library of Ashurbanipal]] at [[Nineveh]] had 30,000 clay tablets, in several languages, organized according to shape and separated by content. Assurbanipal sent scribes to transcribe works in other libraries within the kingdom.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart
 |title=The Library: An Illustrated History|date=2009
 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|location=New York
 |isbn=978-1-61608-453-0|page=9}}</ref>
* c. Third century BCE, [[Pinakes]] by [[Callimachus]] at the [[Library of Alexandria]] was arguably the first library catalog.
* 9th century: Libraries of [[Carolingian Schools]] and [[Order of Saint Benedict|monasteries]] employ library catalog system to organize and loan out books.<ref>{{cite book|author=Schutz, Herbert |title=The Carolingians in Central Europe, Their History, Arts, and Architecture: A Cultural History of Central Europe, 750–900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZJONlzdyPsC&pg=PA161|year=2004|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-13149-1|pages=160–162}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Colish, Marcia L. |author-link=Marcia Colish |title=Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400–1400|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DcAO2aORgfgC&pg=PA68|date= 1999|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-07852-7|page=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lerner, Fred |title=Story of Libraries: From the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVhWu06J5j0C&pg=PA48|date=1 February 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-1325-3|page=48}}</ref>
* {{Circa|10th century}}: The Persian city of Shiraz's library had over 300 rooms and thorough catalogs to help locate texts these were kept in the storage chambers of the library and they covered every topic imaginable.<ref>[[#Murray|Murray]], p. 56</ref>
* {{Circa|1246}}: Library at [[Amiens Cathedral]] in [[France]] uses call numbers associated with the location of books.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joachim, Martin D. |title=Historical Aspects of Cataloging and Classification|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bndEFNo-e5oC&pg=PA460|year=2003|publisher=Haworth Information Press|isbn=978-0-7890-1981-3|page=460}}</ref>
* {{Circa|1542}}–1605: The [[Mughul]] emperor Akbar was a warrior, sportsman, and famous cataloger.  He organized a catalog of the Imperial Library's 24,000 texts, and he did most of the classifying himself.<ref>[[#Murray|Murray]], pp. 104–105</ref>
* 1595: ''Nomenclator'' of [[Leiden University Library]] appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
* Renaissance Era: In Paris, France The Sorbonne Library was one of the first libraries to list titles alphabetically based on the subject they happened to fall under. This became a new organization method for catalogs.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart|title=The Library: An Illustrated History|date=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-1-61608-453-0|page=88}}</ref>
* Early 1600s: Sir Thomas Bodley divided cataloging into three different categories. History, poesy, and philosophy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart|title=The Library: An Illustrated History|date=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-1-61608-453-0|page=128}}</ref>
* 1674: Thomas Hyde's catalog for the Bodleian Library.
* 1791: The French Cataloging Code of 1791<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gslis.simmons.edu/wikis/LIS415OL_History_Encyclopedia/Origins_of_the_Card_Catalog|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121215093454/http://gslis.simmons.edu/wikis/LIS415OL_History_Encyclopedia/Origins_of_the_Card_Catalog|url-status=dead|title=Origins of the Card Catalog – LIS415OL History Encyclopedia|date=15 December 2012|archive-date=15 December 2012}}</ref>
* 1815: [[Thomas Jefferson]] sells his personal library to the US government to reestablish the [[Library of Congress]] after British troops burned the first one during the [[War of 1812]].<ref name=US-LOC-2017-re-LOC-cat/>{{rp|53-62}}  He had organized his library by adapting [[Francis Bacon]]'s organization of knowledge, specifically using Memory, Reason, and Imagination as his three areas, which were then broken down into 44 subdivisions.<ref name=US-LOC-2017-re-LOC-cat/>{{rp|60-62}}
* 1874<!-- hectographed -->/1886<!-- printed -->: {{lang|de|[[Breslauer Instructionen]]}} (English: Wroclaw instructions) by [[Karl Dziatzko]]
* 1899: {{lang|de|[[Preußische Instruktionen]]}} (PI) (English: Prussian instructions) for scientific libraries in German-speaking countries and beyond
* 1932: [[DIN 1505]]
* 1938: {{lang|de|[[Berliner Anweisungen]]}} (BA) (English: Berlin instructions) for public libraries in Germany
* 1961: [[Paris Principles (cataloging)|Paris Principles]] (PP), internationally agreed upon principles for cataloging
* 1967: [[Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules]] (AACR)
* 1971: [[International Standard Bibliographic Description]] (ISBD)
* 1976/1977: {{lang|de|[[Regeln für die alphabetische Katalogisierung]]}} (RAK) (English: Rules for alphabetical cataloging) in Germany and Austria

More about the early history of library catalogs has been collected in 
1956 by Strout.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/gleazer/296_readings/Strout.pdf |author=Strout, R.F. |year=1956 |title=The development of the catalog and cataloging codes |journal=Library Quarterly |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=254–75 |doi=10.1086/618341 |s2cid=144623376 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143649/http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/gleazer/296_readings/Strout.pdf |archive-date=April 2, 2015}}</ref>