Bookstock: 3—Cataloguing

In libraries in which readers are not admitted to the bookshelves, the catalogue is the only guide. In open-access libraries, the system common in all public lending libraries, guidance to the bookshelves by shelf labels is usually provided, and many readers find that this shelf guidance meets their needs, and they make little or no use of the catalogue. In reference libraries the catalogue is essential, as the proportion of calls for specific books is high and, particularly in the larger libraries, the number of books on open shelves is small compared with the number not on open shelves. There are several types of catalogue in use, including the author catalogue, the dictionary catalogue, the classified catalogue and the alphabetical-subject catalogue. Library catalogues are of several kinds, i.e. printed, manuscript, typescript; book, card and sheaf. The term central cataloguing is sometimes used for the centralised cataloguing of a single library system with a central and branch libraries.