Well, I am having a time with librarything.com. The empress commented after yesterday's entry that fiction needs cataloging, too, so here's a bit of technical clarification that probably no one else is interested in, and the empress already knows this, but, whatever. Training comes through.The books you see on library shelves have been cataloged, classified, and processed. Most librarians will refer to this entire three-part process, or at least the first two parts, as cataloging. Processing is the easiest part; it's the gluing in pockets in the back, stamping your ownership stamp here, there, and everywhere, and putting the plastic cover on the book jacket. Cataloging is actually the process of physically describing the book. Back in the day, we would take each new book as it came in and look it over and type all the cataloging information onto the catalog card. We would have to determine who was the responsible agent for the book (usually the designated author, but not always that clear), what the official title was, who published it, the date, and so on, including number of pages and physical size of the book. There would occasionally be a challenge in there somewhere, but mostly not. Cataloging is pretty straightforward.
The challenge -- dare I say fun -- is in classification. This is where you determine the number that classified the book (either a Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress number) and the subject headings that describe it. Once again, back in the day, this could involve a lengthy process, depending on the book. It might involve poring over the Dewey or LC guides, or the volumes of available subject headings, either Sears (a simple one-volume) or the LC, a huge pair of red books that made telephone books look like pocket editions. It could be something of an intellectual puzzle.
Like analog clocks and standard transmissions, this is now a process that requires a new name: original cataloging. If you have to do it yourself, look through the guides and study the book, it's original cataloging. Now, such a thing is practically obosolete, because most books either come pre-cataloged, or else you just link up to each title with your library software.
Which is pretty much what librarything.com does. It doesn't classify at all, but you can search for the books you own and add them to the database, the same way I now add new books to my library's collection. I type in the ISBN number from the back of the book and there it is.
The reason, btw, that it's boring to originally catalog fiction is that fiction often goes unclassified: stick on F on it for a call number and don't bother with subject headings. That's common in many libraries, especially smaller ones. In school libraries, we work off of lists we have that put fiction into various categories so we can use them better with students; we have, in particular, the massive database of historical fiction. It's more flexible than putting subject headings into the cataloging.
Oh heavens, this really can't be of much interest to anyone. Quick, post another entry.
