- cabinet card
- An early photographic print mounted on 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch card stock, often a commercial portrait or vignette with the photographer's imprint across the bottom or on the back. Early albumen prints are in sepia and later examples are in silver tones and rich blacks, printed on gelatin papers introduced in the 1870s. Easy to mass produce, cabinet cards appeared in the mid-1860s, replacing the wallet-sized carte-de-visite, and were sold up to about 1905 when the tinted picture postcard became popular. Click here to see a cabinet card portrait of Sigmund Freud's mother, Amalia, and here to see a vignette of Capt. Cornelius M. Schoonmaker (1839-1889), U.S. Navy.
- cable modem
- A modem designed to operate over cable television lines, instead of telephone lines, providing faster data transmission because the coaxial cable used by cable TV companies has higher bandwidth. With millions of homes in the United States already wired for cable TV, Internet access via cable modem is growing.
- cable television
- Television service transmitted directly to subscribers via cable connection, rather than broadcast over the air to all who own receivers. Originally designed to extend service to homes in rural areas, cable TV reached nearly half the homes in the United States by the early 1990s. Today, cable systems deliver hundreds of channels, many providing specialized programming, to approximately 60 million U.S. homes, and high-speed Internet access to a growing number of people. Some cable systems allow subscribers to make telephone calls and receive new programming technologies, such as pay-per-view. Click here to learn more about cable television, courtesy of HowStuffWorks.
- cache
- A small section of dedicated high-speed memory built into a microcomputer to improve system performance by providing temporary storage for blocks of data and instructions that would otherwise be retrieved from slower memory. As a general rule, the larger the cache, the greater the enhancement of performance and speed. Click here to learn more about caching, courtesy of HowStuffWorks. Pronounced "cash." See also: browser cache.
- CACUL
- See: Canadian Association of College and University Libraries.
- cadastral map
- From the Latin capitastrum, meaning "register of the poll tax." A map showing boundaries and subdivisions made to record ownership and rights in land and to describe and establish the value of property, usually for the purpose of tax assessment (click here to see modern examples, courtesy of Rootsweb). A cadastral map may also show culture (roads, buildings, etc.), drainage, and other features that have a bearing on land use and value. Click here to see an 18th-century example, courtesy of the Royal Library of Denmark. To see other examples, try a keywords search on the term in Google Image Search. See also: plat.
- cadel
- A large capital letter composed of sweeping pen strokes creatively embellished with wide parallel calligraphic flourishes and occasional cross-strokes, giving the letterform the appearance of a versal. Cadels were an exaggerated form of gothic littera bastarda, used in medieval manuscripts from the 13th to the 15th century. Click here to see an elaborate "H" at the beginning of a calendar leaf in The Hours of Henry VII (Leaves of Gold) and here to see an illuminated example in a 15th-century Flemish manuscript (Getty Museum, MS 37). Click here to see a large rubricated cadel in a 16th-century Scottish manuscript (British Library, Arundel 285). Also spelled cadelle.
- CALA
- See: Chinese American Librarians Association.
- calamus
- The pen made from a dried reed, used from about 200 B.C. for writing in ink on papyrus, as distinct from the stylus used during the same period for writing on wax tablets and the quill pen used from the 6th century for writing on parchment and vellum (click here to see an example). Marc Drogin notes in Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Allanheld & Schram, 1980) that a sharp point was used at first, producing monoline script. After about 100 B.C., a broad-nibbed reed was used, allowing the scribe to vary the width of pen strokes, giving the letterforms a more calligraphic appearance.
- calcium carbonate reserve
- See: buffering.
- Caldecott Medal
- A literary award given annually since 1938 under the auspices of the American Library Association to the illustrator of the most distinguished children's picture book published in the United States during the preceding year. Donated by the family of Frederic G. Melcher, the medal is named in honor of the Victorian children's book illustrator Randolph Caldecott. The ALA maintains the Caldecott Medal Home Page. Click here to view a list of Caldecott Medal winners. Compare with Newbery Medal. See also: Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award and Greenaway Medal.
- Caldecott, Randolph (1846-1886)
- Born in Chester in northwest England, Randolph Caldecott taught himself to draw as a child and persisted despite his father's wish that he go into banking. His first published drawings appeared in a Manchester newspaper. After various journals accepted his work, Caldecott went to London in 1872 where he studied at the Slade School with Sir Edward Poynter. His career as an illustrator got a boost the following year with the publication of Washington Irving's Old Christmas, and beginning in 1874 his illustrations appeared in the periodicals The Graphic and Punch. Lodging near The British Museum in the heart of Bloomsbury, Caldecott made many friends in artistic and literary circles and became the most popular Victorian illustrator of children's books. He died at the age of 40 in Florida after undertaking an ill-fated trip to America for his health. The annual Caldecott Medal for children's book illustration is named in his honor. Click here to see examples of Caldecott's work, courtesy of Mary Mark Ockerbloom. Other examples can be seen at the Web site maintained by the Randolph Caldecott Society (UK).
- CALEA
- See: Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
- calendar
- A list of the days in a year, usually arranged by month and within each month by week, sometimes indicating the dates of important events such as national and religious holidays. To learn about the history of calendars, see Calendars through the Ages. Also, an almanac listing days of the year significant to a particular culture or political entity. The calendar of forthcoming library events, provided in The Bowker Annual Library and Book Trade Almanac, includes state, regional, national, and international association meetings. Compare with chronology. See also: calendar year and perpetual calendar.
In medieval manuscripts used in Church services and private devotion, a calendar section often preceded the text, identifying the feast days celebrated in the region. The most important were highlighted in red ink ("red letter days") with other colors used to indicate degrees of importance. The Julian calendar (365 days with an extra day every four years) was adopted from the Romans, but the Roman civil year (beginning on January 1) was replaced by the Christian year in the 7th century. Click here to page through the liturgical calendar in the Burnet Psalter (University of Aberdeen Library, AUL MS 25), and here to see the complete calendar from a 15th-century book of computus texts (Celebrating the Liturgy's Books). Other examples can be seen in the Schøyen Collection (Oslo and London). The illumination of medieval calendars often depicted the labors of the month (largely agrarian) and the signs of the zodiac (see Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry, courtesy of WebMuseum). For an early printed calendar, see this example published in Venice in 1482 by Erhard Ratdolt (University of Glasgow, Special Collections, Euing BD7-f.13).
Also refers to a chronological list of the documents included in an archival collection (rolls, charters, state papers, etc.), usually annotated to indicate the date, place, contents, and other characteristics of each item--a type of finding aid that can be comprehensive or selective.
- calendar year
- The one-year period beginning on January 1 and ending on December 31 (following the civil year of the ancient Romans). Most journal subscriptions run for a single calendar year, although some publishers offer a financial incentive to subscribe or renew for multiple years. Compare with publication year. See also: subscription period.
- calender
- The part of a papermaking machine consisting of one or more smooth rollers designed to smooth paper after drying, reducing its permeability to moisture by closing the pores in its surface (click here to see an example). In calendering, the degree of smoothness depends on the amount of pressure applied by the rollers. Supercalendering produces the glossiest finish that can be applied to paper without coating it.
- calf
- A leather binding made from the skin of a calf usually no more than a few weeks old. Its soft, smooth, unblemished surface made it the preferred material in England for hand-binding trade editions but not on the Continent, where printed books were usually sold in paper covers to be custom-bound at the discretion of the purchaser. Calfskin bindings can be dyed any color and decorated in various ways (marbled, mottled, speckled, stained, tree, etc.). Although it is sturdy and provides a good base for tooling and blocking, the smooth surface of calfskin makes it susceptible to scratching and scuffing. Click here to see an undecorated 17th-century calf binding (Princeton University Library) and here to see a 16th-century example tooled in gold with painted polychromatic decoration in the Grolier style (Senate House Library, University of London). See also: kipskin, law calf, ooze leather, rough, russia, and Spanish calf.
- calligram
- See: letter picture.
- calligraphy
- The art of elegantly beautiful handwriting. A highly skilled penman is a calligrapher. The term also refers to handwritten characters, words, pages, and entire documents that meet the aesthetic requirements of highly skilled penmanship. In Far Eastern cultures, calligraphy is done with a pointed brush held in a vertical position. In Western and Islamic cultures, it is done with a reed, quill, or nib pen held at an angle to the writing surface. During the Middle Ages, certain scribes were known for the beauty of their script. Some became writing masters and created model books like this one created by Georg Bocskay, Croatian-born court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I (Getty Museum, MS 20).
In the Islamic world, the proscription on religious imagery facilitated the development of Arabic calligraphy into a sophisticated art form. Two online exhibitions of Islamic calligraphy are Letters in Gold, provided by the art museums of Harvard University, and Arabic Calligraphy, courtesy of the Islamic Arts and Architecture Organization. For Chinese calligraphy, see Chine: L'Empire du Trait (Bibliothèque Nationale de France) or Calligraphy of the Masters. To learn more about calligraphy, see the entry in Wikipedia.
- call number
- A unique code printed on a label affixed to the outside of an item in a library collection, usually to the lower spine of a book or videocassette (see example), also printed or handwritten on a label inside the item. Assigned by the cataloger, the call number is also displayed in the bibliographic record that represents the item in the library catalog, to identify the specific copy of the work and give its relative location on the shelf.
In most collections, a call number is composed of a classification number followed by additional notation to make the call number unique. This gives a classified arrangement to the library shelves that facilitates browsing. Generally, the class number is followed by an author mark to distinguish the work from others of the same class, followed by a work mark to distinguish the title from other works of the same class by the same author, and sometimes other information such as publication date, volume number, copy number, and location symbol.
In Library of Congress Classification (LCC), used by most academic and research libraries in the United States, class notation begins with letters of the English alphabet (example: PN 2035.H336 1991). In Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), used by most public and school libraries in the United States, class notation consists of arabic numerals (example: 480.0924 W3). U.S. federal government documents are assigned SuDocs numbers (example: L 2.2:M 76).
- call slip
- A brief form that the user must fill out to request an item from the closed stacks of a library or archives, or from some other nonpublic storage area, usually retrieved by hand by a staff member called a page, although automated and semi-automated retrieval systems are used in some large libraries. Synonymous with request slip.
- calotype
- An early photographic process patented in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, who found that by treating high-quality writing paper with light-sensitive chemicals and exposing it to light in a camera, a latent image resulted from which prints could be developed on similarly treated paper. Strictly speaking, the term "calotype" refers only to the paper negative from which positive prints were made on salted paper. Because the negative was embedded in the paper, rather than on a surface coating, the texture of the fibers and any imperfections in the paper tended to make the prints appear mottled or sketchy (see this example).
According to Robert Leggat (A History of Photography, 1999), the calotype was not as popular as the daguerreotype due to patent restrictions and because the materials used were not as sensitive to light, requiring longer exposures. The two-step process took longer and the prints tended to fade. However, the process had significant advantages over the daguerreotype: (1) retouching could be done on either the negative or the print, (2) multiple prints could be made from a single negative, (3) paper prints were easier to examine and handle, and (4) the tones of a calotype were warmer. Introduction of the collodion process and albumen prints in 1851 made the calotype obsolete, but the negative-positive process invented by Talbot has become the standard in modern photography. Click here to see other examples, courtesy of the Getty Museum. Click here to learn more about the calotype process (University of Glasgow, Special Collections).
- Cambridge style
- A distinctive 18th-century style of English bookbinding used mainly in university libraries and on theological works in which the boards are covered in two shades of brown leather, an effect achieved by masking and sprinkling calfskin so as to leave a stained rectangular panel in the center, surrounded by a plain rectangular frame bounded in turn by a stained outer frame. According Roberts and Etherington in Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, volumes bound in this style were sewn on raised cords and had Dutch marbled endpapers and red stained edges. The spine, pieced with red russia leather labels, had double blind lines on each side of the raised bands, and the covers were decorated with a double fillet close to the edges and on each side of the panel, with a narrow flower roll worked very close to the panel lines. Tooling was done in blind or gold. The style was so popular with binders in Cambridge that it came to be regarded as their specialty, although it was practiced elsewhere. Click here and here to see examples, courtesy of the Royal Library of Denmark.
- camcorder
- A self-contained electronic device, introduced by Sony in 1983, that combines the capabilities of a video camera and videocassette recorder (VCR) in the same portable unit. Newer camcorders record video images and sound in digital format and are considerably smaller in size (and lower in price) than earlier analog models. Click here to learn more about the history of the camcorder, courtesy of Wikipedia.
- cameo
- A typeface used for special effect in which the normal method of printing is reversed, the characters appearing in white against a solid or shaded background, instead of in black against a light background. Compare with outline letter.
- cameo binding
- A style of bookbinding popular in Italy from about 1500-1560 in which the centers of the boards forming the cover are stamped in relief in imitation of a coin or medallion. The decoration may be left blind or embellished with ink, silver, or gold leaf. Click here to see an example done in blind (Southern Methodist University). Synonymous with plaquette binding. Compare with centerpiece.
- cameo stamp
- In binding, a metal tool of oval shape engraved with a design, usually in the form of a picture, used from the 11th to 16th century in blind tooling to make an impression resembling cameo jewelry on the side of a leather-bound book. See also: cameo binding.
- camera microfilm
- In reprography, an image of an original source document, made with a camera on high-quality film (silver halide emulsion on a polyester base), usually retained by the producer for the purpose of making second-generation archival print masters ("printing dupes") from which third-generation distribution or service copies are made. Synonymous with first generation and master negative.
- camera original
- Processed or unprocessed photographic film exposed inside the camera, as opposed to a subsequent copy. Synonymous with original negative.
- camera-ready copy (CRC)
- In printing, copy typed using word processing software, or produced by some other means, that has been fully edited and is ready to be photographed for platemaking without having to be typeset. Synonymous with camera copy.
- can
- See: film can.
- Canadiana
- The national bibliography of Canada, produced since 1950 by Library and Archives Canada for use in reference and research as a selection aid, to provide bibliographic information for cataloging, and as a record of the nation's published heritage. Available online, on CD-ROM, and via FTP, Canadiana is a comprehensive list of titles published in Canada, including books, periodicals, sound recordings, microforms, music scores, pamphlets, government documents, theses, educational kits, videorecordings, and electronic documents. It also provides information about forthcoming titles to facilitate advance ordering. The printed edition of Canadiana was discontinued after the December 1991 issue and the microfiche edition after December 2000. Click here to connect to the Canadiana homepage.
- Canadian Association for School Libraries (CASL)
- A division of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) formed in 2004 by the merger of the Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada (ATLC) and the Canadian School Librarianship Association (CSLA), CASL is devoted to providing a national voice for school libraries in Canada, promoting excellence in school libraries, and facilitating the professional growth of school librarians. CASL sponsors conferences in conjunction with CLA and with provincial and territorial library associations. Click here to connect to the CASL homepage.
- Canadian Association of College and University Libraries (CACUL)
- A division of the Canadian Library Association, CACUL seeks to develop and promote high standards of librarianship in institutions of postsecondary education. The organization gives awards, publishes CACUL Divisional Notes, and sponsors the CACUL List-Serv. Click here to connect to the CACUL homepage.
- Canadian Association of Public Libraries (CAPL)
- The division of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) charged with enhancing public library service throughout Canada, CAPL holds an annual meeting in conjunction with the annual CLA conference and publishes the CAPL Newsletter. Click here to connect to the CAPL homepage.
- Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services (CASLIS)
- The division of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) charged with enhancing special library service throughout Canada, CASLIS sponsors an annual meeting in conjunction with the annual CLA conference and an annual award for outstanding special librarianship in Canada. Click here to connect to the CASLIS homepage.
- Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG)
- Founded in 1983, CBBAG is a nonprofit association of craftspeople working in the hand book arts, including papermakers, paper decorators, bookbinders, book restorers, and paper conservators, both amateur and professional. CBBAG seeks to provide access to education in the book arts, promotes greater awareness of the book arts, and advocates high standards of excellence in the book arts through exhibitions, workshops, lectures and program meetings, and publications. CBBAG sponsors an annual book arts fair and publishes the CBBAG Newsletter. Click here to connect to the CBBAG homepage.
- Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA)
- A nonprofit national trade association devoted to promoting the current and future interests of the bookselling industry in Canada and to meeting the needs of Canadian booksellers. Its members include over 1,200 bookstores and over 350 publishers across Canada. CBA publishes the trade journal Canadian Bookseller in nine issues per year. Click here to connect to the CBA homepage.
- Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC)
- A nonprofit organization founded in 1976 to promote, support, and encourage the reading, writing, and illustration of Canadian books for children and teens, CCBC provides resources for teachers, librarians, students and parents, authors, illustrators, storytellers, publishers, and booksellers. The organization also administers that annual Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, publishes the quarterly magazine Canadian Children?s Book News, and sponsors TD Canadian Children's Book Week. Click here to connect to the CCBC homepage.
- Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
- The special operating agency (SOA) associated with Industry Canada that is responsible for administering the greater part of the intellectual property system in Canada. CIPO is responsible for administering patents, trademarks, copyrights, and the legal protections for industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies. Click here to connect to the CIPO homepage. See also: U.K. Copyright Service, U.S. Copyright Office, and World Intellectual Property Office.
- Canadian Library Association (CLA)
- Founded in 1946, CLA has a membership of librarians and other persons involved or interested in libraries, librarianship, and information science in Canada. An affiliate of the American Library Association, CLA sponsors a national conference held at a different location in Canada each year. CLA is also co-publisher with the ALA and the Library Association (UK) of Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules. Click here to connect to the CLA homepage.
CLA divisions:
- Canadian Association for School Libraries (CASL)
- Canadian Association of College and University Libraries (CACUL)
- Canadian Association of Public Libraries (CAPL)
- Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services (CASLIS)
- Canadian Library Trustees' Association (CLTA)
- Canadian Library Trustees' Association (CLTA)
- The division of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) charged with providing a national voice for public library trustees in Canada, CLTA holds an annual meeting in conjunction with the annual CLA conference and publishes A Handbook for the Canadian Library Trustee. Click here to connect to the homepage.
- Canadian Publishers' Council (CPC)
- Founded in 1910, CPC is a trade association representing the interests of Canadian publishers of English-language books and media for schools, colleges and universities, professional and reference markets, and the retail and library sectors. Located in Toronto, CPC also represents the Canadian publishing industry internationally and maintains a liaison with the Association of American Publishers. Click here to connect to the CPC homepage. See also: Association of Canadian Publishers.
- Canadian-U.S. Task Force on Archival Description (CUSTARD)
- An international group of archivists working to reconcile the three existing descriptive content standards used by archivists--APPM (Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts); the Canadian Rules for Archival Description (RAD); and the General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD[G])--into a single descriptive standard. The product is expected to be the foundation of a truly international content standard.
- cancel
- A new leaf or leaves printed to replace part of a book or other publication when changes are required in the text or illustrations, usually before binding but after the work has gone to press, more common in the 17th and 18th centuries than today because as printing developed, the frequency of printing errors declined.
- canceled
- Said of a regular order, continuation order, or periodical subscription terminated for some reason by the library or the seller. A nonserial item may be reordered if it is still available. Library holdings of a canceled serial title are noted in the catalog record in a closed entry. Serial cancellations have increased in recent years, particularly in academic libraries, due to the rising cost of print subscriptions and the availability of full-text in bibliographic databases. Compare with discontinued. See also: noncancellable.
- cancellation
- In the context of medieval manuscripts, a superimposed "x" used to indicate a correction by crossing out one or more letters; a form of deletion. See also: expunction.
- cancellation period
- The period of time a library allows a publisher, jobber, or other vendor for shipment of a book or item before the order is automatically canceled, usually 90 to 180 days. The item may subsequently be reordered from the same vendor or a different source.
- candidate
- A person whose application for employment has been accepted and who is being seriously considered for a position. Also refers to a person taking an examination, running for an elected office, considered for an award or degree, or destined for a particular purpose or fate. See also: short list.
- canon
- In literature, the accepted list of works by a given author considered by scholars to be authentic, for example, the 37 plays of William Shakespeare. Also refers to the approved list of works included in the Bible. In the most general sense, a criterion or standard of judgment applied for the purpose of evaluation. Compare with apocryphal. See also: canonical order.
- canonical order
- The arrangement of headings, parts, divisions, or items in an order established by law or tradition, for example, the sequence of the books of the Bible.
- canon tables
- A system of indexing the canonical Gospels devised in the 4th century by Eusebius of Caesarea, in which the concordance of passages numbered in the text is displayed in four parallel columns, usually placed at the beginning of a Gospel book, Bible, or New Testament. Popular during the early Middle Ages, canon tables were usually given architectural treatment in manuscript decoration. Some designs include the symbols of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Click here to page through colorful examples in a 12th-century German Gospel book (Getty Museum, MS Ludwig II 3).
- canto
- A major subdivision of a long narrative or epic poem serving the same function as a chapter in a novel. Cantos are traditionally numbered in roman numerals. Examples of works divided in this way are Dante's Divina Commedia, Spenser's Faerie Queene, and Byron's Don Juan.
- caoutchouc binding
- The precursor of modern perfect binding. In 1836, William Hancock was granted a patent for a binding method in which single leaves, produced by trimming away the back folds of the sections, were attached directly to the cover without the use of thread by applying to the binding edge a layer of rubber solution made from the latex of various tropical plants. This form of adhesive binding did not wear well--spines cracked and pages fell out. Also called gutta percha and rubberback.
- caper
- A fictional work (novel, story, motion picture, etc.) in which the plot centers on the planning and eventual execution of a single daring crime, escape, race, etc., such as the robbery of a bank vault or museum collection so well protected that the operation requires meticulous organization and perfect timing, usually undertaken by two buddies or a gang whose diverse skills are essential, although their interpersonal relations may be less than cordial. Suspense centers on whether and how the plan will succeed, what happens to the plunder, and whether the perpetrators are caught (examples: The Great Train Robbery [1975] by Michael Crichton, The Ladykillers [1955] with Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers, and Topkapi [1964] directed by Jules Dassin).
- capital expenditure
- In budgeting, an allocation made on a one-time basis, usually for the construction of new facilities, the renovation or expansion existing facilities, or a major upgrade of automation equipment or systems, as opposed to the operating budget allocated annually or biennially to meet the ongoing expenses incurred in running a library or library system.
- capital improvement
- The acquisition of a long-term asset, such as a new or renovated facility, initial book stock, or new equipment, furnishings, or vehicle(s), funded on a one-time basis from a budget for capital expenditures, as distinct from the ongoing purchase of library materials, payment of salaries and wages, routine repair and replacement of existing equipment and furnishings, and regular maintenance of facilities, funded from the operating budget.
- capitalization
- The writing or printing of a letter, word, or words in uppercase rather than lowercase. Also refers to the conventions in a language with respect to words written or printed with certain letters in uppercase. For example, in English the first letter of the first word of a paragraph, and of each of the parts of a proper name, is normally capitalized. The general rules governing capitalization in library catalog entries can be found in Appendix A of AACR2.
- capital letter
- A large letter of the roman alphabet (A, B, C, etc.) that prior to the 4th century A.D. consisted of capitals only. The name is derived from the lapidary Roman letterforms incised with a chisel at the top (capital) of architectural columns and on other stone monuments. Also, any letter written or printed in a form larger and usually different from that of the corresponding small letter. Abbreviated cap. Synonymous with uppercase. Compare with majuscule. See also: capitalization, cap line, rustic capital, small capital, and square capital.
- CAPL
- See: Canadian Association of Public Libraries.
- cap line
- In typography, the imaginary horizontal line connecting the tops of the uppercase letters of a type font, often, but not necessarily, the same as the ascender line. Compare with mean line. See also: base line.
- caps
- See: capital letter.
- capsa
- A box of cylindrical shape used in libraries of antiquity for storing scrolls in an upright position (see this example). See also: scrinium.
- caption
- From the Latin word for "capture" or "seizure." A brief title, explanation, or description appearing immediately above, beneath, or adjacent to an illustration or photograph on a page, sometimes indicating the source of the image. Synonymous in this sense with cut line or legend. See also: overleaf.
Also refers to a heading printed at the beginning of a chapter or other section of a book and to the headline at the beginning of the text of a periodical article or section of it. See also: hanging caption.
In microforms, a title or brief line of description in a type size large enough to enable the viewer to identify the photographed document without the aid of magnification. In films and filmstrips, a line of text at the bottom of a frame or sequence of frames identifying or explaining the content. A continuously moving line of text at the bottom of television screen is called a crawl. Compare with subtitle. See also: closed caption.
- caption title
- A title printed at the beginning of a chapter, section, or other major division of a book, or at the beginning of the first page of the text, which, in the absence of a title page, is sometimes used as the title of the whole in creating the bibliographic description. The cataloger usually adds Caption title: as a note in the bibliographic record to indicate its source. In a musical score, the title that appears immediately above the opening bars may be used as the caption title. Synonymous with head title. Compare with drop-down title.
- captured archives
- See: removed archives.
- CAR
- See: computer-aided retrieval.
- carbon copy
- A copy of a document made at the same time as the original by the use of thin paper coated on one side with a mixture of dark waxy pigment (initially carbon) easily transferred to a second blank sheet under the pressure of pen or typewriter. Multiple copies can be made by alternating sheets of carbon paper with regular paper, but succeeding copies become fainter because each additional layer absorbs some of the pressure. The technique can be messy if the pigment is easily smudged. Click here to see a carbon copy of an address (with holograph revisions) given by Winston Churchill to the Virginia General Assembly in 1946, courtesy of the Library of Congress. According to Richard Pearce-Moses in A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, carbon paper was invented in England by Ralph Wedgwood in the early 1800s and became available in the United States by the 1820s, but was not widely adopted until the introduction of the typewriter because it did not work well with quill pens. The use of carbon paper has been superseded by photocopying. Abbreviated cc.
- carbon ink
- An ink made from fine particles of carbon, such as soot or lampblack, mixed with a binding medium of oil, gum, or aqueous glue (see this example). Unlike the iron gall ink used in the early medieval period, which browns with age and can be so acidic that it corrodes paper and parchment, the carbon ink used in manuscripts of the late middle ages and in early printed books is highly stable and has no destructive effect on paper or parchment. However, it does not bond with the writing surface and is easily affected by water, which can present problems in restoration.
- carbon print
- The result of a photographic process patented by Joseph Wilson Swann in 1864 and popular until about 1910, in which a thin sheet of paper coated with a layer of light-sensitive gelatin containing a permanent pigment is exposed to ultraviolet light under a negative. The resulting image is transferred under pressure to a second sheet of gelatin-coated paper, then washed in water to set the gelatin, producing a permanent print with a raised surface where the image is darkest. The most commonly used pigments are carbon black and sepia, but a wide range of tints can be used. Because carbon prints contain no silver, they are highly resistant to fading, making them especially suitable for book illustration and commercial editions of photographic prints. Click here to see examples (Getty Museum) and here to learn more about the process, courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
- card catalog
- A list of the holdings of a library, printed, typed, or handwritten on catalog cards, each representing a single bibliographic item in the collection. Catalog cards are normally filed in a single alphabetical sequence (dictionary catalog), or in separate sections by author, title, and subject (divided catalog), in the long narrow drawers of a specially designed filing cabinet, usually constructed of wood (click here to see an example). Most large- and medium-sized libraries in the United States have converted their card catalogs to machine-readable format. Also spelled card catalogue. Compare with online catalog.
- card-mounted photograph
- A photographic print, often a portrait, mounted on a standard-sized piece of thin cardboard, popular during the second half of the 19th century. Common sizes (according to the California Historical Society):
- Cigarette card - 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 inches (1885-1895 and 1909-1917)
- Carte-de-visite - 2 1/2 x 4 inches (1859-1900s)
- Victoria - 3 1/2 x 5 inches (introduced 1870s)
- Kodak - 4 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches (introduced 1880s)
- Cabinet card - 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches (1866-1900)
- Stereograph - 3 1/2 x 7 to 5 x 7 inches (1850s-1920s)
- Promemade - 4 x 7 or 7 1/2 inches (introduced ca. 1874)
- Boudoir - 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches (1890s on)
- Paris - 6 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches
- Imperial - 7 x 10 inches (introduced 1890s)
- Panel - 7 1/2 x 13 inches
Compare with cased photograph.
- caricature
- A deliberately distorted picture of a person, or imitation of a performance or literary style, achieved by grossly exaggerating certain features or mannerisms peculiar to the object of satire. The Lilly Library at Indiana University provides America in Caricature, 1765-1865, an online exhibition of political cartoons. See also Monstrous Craws & Character Flaws and Stagestruck! Performing Arts Caricatures at the Library of Congress. See also: caricature publication and lampoon.
- caricature publication
- A magazine or newspaper designed to imitate another publication (or type of publication) with openly satirical intent. Published fortnightly from 1825 to 1826, the Glasgow/Northern Looking Glass, satirizing political and social life in 19th-century Scotland, is an early example of a caricature publication (Glasgow University Library, Bh14).
- Carnegie library
- A library facility constructed wholly or in part with grant funds provided by the American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), who in his later years devoted his considerable wealth to the promotion of libraries and world peace. Between 1881 and 1917, over 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built around the world, the majority in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. The libraries of many small towns in the United States still occupy facilities built with Carnegie funds. The buildings are typically monumental in appearance--to see examples, try a keywords search on the term "carnegie library" in Google Image Search. Click here to learn more about Carnegie libraries in Wikipedia and here to see images of Carnegie libraries.
The future of Carnegie libraries in the United States is uncertain. In the article "Carnegie Legacy: Preserving the Past by Looking into the Future" published in American Libraries (April 2006), architect Joseph C. Rizzo reports that of the 1,689 Carnegie libraries constructed in the U.S., only around 772 are still functioning as public libraries, another 350 are serving other purposes (museums, offices, etc.), and 276 have been demolished or destroyed by fire or other disaster. See also: Carnegie Medal.
- Carnegie Medal
- A literary award presented annually since 1936 by the Library Association of the United Kingdom to the author of the most outstanding English-language children's book published in the UK during the preceding year. The prize is named after the American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) who devoted the last years of his life to the advancement of libraries and world peace. Click here to view a list of Carnegie Medal winners. Compare with Greenaway Medal. See also: CLA Book of the Year for Children and Newbery Medal.
- Caroline minuscule
- See: Carolingian minuscule.
- Carolingian minuscule
- The first Latin script to introduce small letters, Carolingian minuscule may have evolved from Luxeuil minuscule, a script developed at the monastery in Corbie in France. It was adopted in the late 8th century by Alcuin of York, Abbot of St. Martin at Tours, in response to Charlemagne's desire for a standard alphabet in which books of the Catholic Church could be copied throughout his realm. Also influenced by English half uncials, the script Alcuin learned in his youth at the cathedral school in York, Carolingian minuscule quickly became the dominant book hand in Europe, where it was used through the 11th century and adopted in England following the Norman Conquest, replacing Insular and Anglo-Saxon scripts.
Its letterforms are wide and curved, with ligatures sparingly used, each letter written separately. Carolingian style systematized punctuation and the division of text formerly written in scriptio continuo into words and sentences. The practice of beginning each sentence with a single majuscule and completing it in minuscules was also standardized. Marc Drogin notes in Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Allanheld & Schram, 1980) that the development of Carolingian minuscule made possible the copying of thousands of early manuscripts that would otherwise have been lost to history. Interest in Carolingian minuscule revived in the late 14th century in Italy, resulting in a humanistic script that became the basis for the lowercase letters of many modern typefaces. Click here to see a page from the 12th-century Italian Life of Mathilda of Canossa written in Carolingian minuscule (Library of the Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame), and here to see more examples from the Schøyen Collection (Oslo and London). Synonymous with Caroline minuscule.
- carousel
- A detachable, circular slotted container, usually made of plastic, in which dozens of slides can be queued for sequential viewing on a specially designed slide projector (click here to see an example). Although carousels are bulky, they can also be used to store slides when not in use. Compare with magazine.
- carpet page
- A page in a medieval manuscript or early printed book that bears little or no text but is covered with elaborate decoration, sometimes with the Christian cross incorporated into the overall design. The term is derived from its resemblance to hand-knotted carpets imported from the East. Michelle Brown notes in Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts (Getty Museum/British Library, 1994) that this style of ornamentation, popular with the scribes of Ireland and Britain from about A.D. 550 to 900, was used to separate the major divisions of Gospel books and Bibles and may have been of Coptic origin. Examples can be seen here in the Book of Kells and here in the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illuminated masterpiece produced in Northumbria at the end of the 7th century, currently in the custody of the British Library.
- carrel
- Originally, a small stall or pew in a medieval cloister containing a desk for reading, writing, and semiprivate study. In modern libraries, a small room or alcove in the stacks designed for individual study (click here and here to see examples). Also refers to a free-standing desk (or two desks face-to-face) with low partitions at back and sides to provide some degree of privacy, with a shelf across the back facing the reader. Newer study carrels have built-in illumination and may be wired to provide network access for patrons using laptops.
- carrier
- See: physical carrier.
- carta lustra
- A form of tracing paper, probably made from kid parchment, that may have been used in medieval book production to transfer designs from a finished exemplar to a manuscript in process (Christopher de Hamel, The British Library Guide to Manuscript Illumination, University of Toronto Press, 2001).
- carte-de-visite (cdv)
- French for visiting card. A small albumen photographic print, usually a studio portrait of an individual, couple, family, or group, mounted on 2 1/2 x 4 inch card stock, a format introduced by the Parisian photographer Andre Adolphe Disdéri, who in 1854 patented a method of taking a number of photographs (usually eight) on a single plate, reducing production costs considerably. The fashion of exchanging cartes-de-visite like calling cards and collecting them in albums spread throughout the world in the second half of the 19th century. Portraits of celebrity sitters were particularly prized (see this one of Abraham Lincoln taken in 1864). Cartes-de-visite can be dated by thickness (early cards were thin), corner shape (square or rounded), image size (small at first), border style, and studio props and background. By the early 20th century, the format had been superseded by the larger cabinet cards. Here is a selection of portrait cards of 19th-century actors and actresses from the Digital Collections of the University of Washington Libraries. Click here to learn more about the history of the carte-de-visite, courtesy of The American Museum of Photography. Also spelled carte de visite. See also: visiting card.
- cartobibliography
- A systematic list of references to maps and/or works about maps arranged in some kind of order, with or without annotations, usually related to a particular location, region, subject, person, or time period. Also, the branch of bibliography pertaining to cartographic materials and mapping. For an online example, see Cartobibliography of Maps of the Isle of Man. The Libraries of Memorial University of Newfoundland provide the searchable Newfoundland and Labrador Maps Bibliography. The Sir George Fordham Award for Cartobibliography is given every three years by the Royal Geographical Society for distinguished contributions to the field.
- cartogram
- A simplified map on which the size, outline, or location of geographic features is altered or exaggerated to illustrate a concept or a set of quantitative data for which the base is not necessarily true to scale. An area proportional to (APT) map is a cartogram on which surface extent (area) is relative to the amount of map data for a feature (e.g., population), rather than the geographic extent of the base to which the feature is related. Click here to see a world map based on estimated number of Internet users in the year 2015 (from An Atlas of Cyberspaces) and here to see maps of the United States based on the number of electoral votes per state in the presidential elections since 1988. Also refers to a small diagram included on the face of a map for the display of statistical data. See also: schematic map.
- cartographic materials
- Any systematic representation of part or all of the surface of the earth or another celestial body (real or imaginary) on any scale. The category includes two- and three-dimensional maps and plans; nautical, aeronautical, and celestial charts; atlases; globes and planetaria; block diagrams, sections, and profiles; views; remote sensing images (including aerial photographs with cartographic purpose); cartograms; etc. Most cartographic materials are visual representations, but spatial data sets are a notable exception. In the bibliographic record representing a cartographic item, the characteristics of the material are described in the material specific details area (MSD). See also: Anglo-American Cataloguing Committee for Cartographic Materials, cartobibliography, and map library.
- Cartographic Users Advisory Council (CUAC)
- Committed to promoting the development and use of cartographic and spatial data, CUAC meets with representatives of various U.S. government agencies each year to (1) discuss issues and concerns raised by advances in the use of cartographic materials produced by the federal government, (2) offer the perspectives of its constituents, and (3) hear plans for new products and services from federal agencies. CUAC is composed of 12 representatives, two each from the Map and Geography Round Table (MAGERT) and the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) of the American Library Association (ALA), the Geography and Map Section of the Special Libraries Association (SLA), the Geoscience Information Society (GSIS), the Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML), and the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS).
- cartography
- The art and science of making maps, charts, and other cartographic materials. Broadly speaking, the term includes all the steps required to produce a map (planning, aerial photography, field surveys, photogrammetry, editing, color separation, and printing), but mapmakers often apply the term only to map-finishing operations. Click here to learn about the process of making a topographic map, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey. Automated cartography is the production of maps and charts with the aid of digital technology, not to be confused with geographic information systems (GIS). A person who makes or produces maps is a cartographer. Synonymous with mapmaking.
- cartonnage
- Pieces of papyrus glued and tightly pressed together to form rigid sheets, used as boards in early bookbinding (see Coptic binding). The same material was used in ancient Egypt for making mummy cases (see this example).
- cartoon
- A symbolic or representational drawing in one or more panels intended to caricature a person or institution or satirize in a witty and imaginative way an action or situation of current popular interest. Usually published in a newspaper or magazine, cartoons may be captioned or contain monologue or dialogue in balloons. Political cartoons usually appear on or near the editorial page of a newspaper. Successful cartoonists are often syndicated. For examples, see Herblock's History and Oliphant's Anthem, two online exhibitions of political cartoons provided by the Library of Congress. A searchable database of New Yorker cartoons is available at Cartoonbank.com. See also: comic book and lampoon.
Also refers to an animated film created by photographing a series of drawings done as individual cels, then editing the images into a sequence of frames which, when viewed in rapid succession, create the illusion of continuous motion. To locate commercially produced cartoons, try The Big Cartoon Database.
In art, a full-sized drawing done on paper as a preliminary draft, to be transferred to a large working surface, sometimes in sections, a technique used in creating large frescoes, tapestries, and stained glass windows.
- cartouche
- A frame or panel, often in the form of a scroll, drawn or printed on a map or chart, usually as an inset, enclosing the title or subject of the work, name of cartographer, scale, and other descriptive information (legends). On older maps, the cartouche often includes decorative elements, ranging from simple ornamentation to elaborate embellishment. The presence of a coat of arms signified land ownership. Click here to see an example on a 17th-century map of Pennsylvania (Library of Congress). Click here to see a cartouche in the form of a medallion, and here and here to see draped examples (University of Wisconsin, Green Bay). Some decorative cartouches are very elaborate (University of Southern Maine). To see other examples, try a keywords search on the terms "cartouche and map" in Google Image Search. Also found on engravings and older bookbindings.
In a more general sense, a decorative element in the form of a scroll, often used in the Islamic decorative arts (click here to see cartouches used in the border of an 18th-century Turkish illuminated manuscript, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
In Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions, a group of characters representing a divine or royal name or title, enclosed in an oval or oblong frame, often identifying a figure in a painting or sculpture. Click here to see examples in calcite from the reign of Akhenaten (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Click here to see an example in painted relief and here to see a cartouche included in a jeweled pectoral (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
- cartridge
- A completely enclosed physical housing, usually made of hard plastic or metal, designed to store and facilitate access to a roll of film or tape, usually wound on a single core, for example, a light-tight, factory-loaded roll of photographic film designed to be placed in and removed from a camera in full daylight without risk of accidental exposure. A cartridge is distinct from a container in being integral to, rather than separable from, the item. Cartridges may be constructed with the recording medium in a continuous loop. Some libraries use cartridge microfilm in which the ends of a length of film are permanently attached to two take-up reels for playback and rewinding. Compare with cassette.
In computing, a removable electronic storage medium (disk, memory chip, magnetic tape, etc.), as opposed to a medium that is not removable, for example, a hard disk. Some computer printers are made with slots into which font cartridges can be inserted to load a variety of fonts. By extension, any self-contained removable module used in computing equipment, for example, the toner and ink cartridges commonly used to resupply laser and ink-jet printers.
Also, a removable electro-acoustic transducer, usually encased in hard plastic, designed to hold the needle in the arm of a phonograph record player. Click here to learn how a phonograph cartridge works, courtesy of MicroPhone Solutions.
- cartulary
- The room or place where the official papers or records of a medieval monastery, landowner, or corporation were kept. Also refers to the register in which they were listed, synonymous in the latter sense with chartulary. Click here to explore the 15th-century Aldgate Cartulary (Glasgow University Library, Special Collections, MS Hunter 215 U.2.6).
- cascading style sheets (CSS)
- A feature added to HTML code that allows Web site developers to automatically apply the same layout to multiple documents. The appearance of design elements (logos, headers, footers, fonts, links, margins, etc.) is determined by one or more templates called style sheets linked to or embedded in the HTML document, rather than specified in the source code of each document. By governing style externally, CSS enables the site developer to give the pages of a Web site a uniform look and alter style of presentation as desired without having to rewrite source code. For more information see CSS Frequently Asked Questions, provided by the HTML Writers Guild.
- case
- In machine binding, a cover made completely before it is attached to the body of a book, consisting of two boards and a paper inlay covered in book cloth or some other protective material (see this diagram). The edition binder submits a specimen case to the publisher for approval showing the size, boards, covering, lettering, and squares. The process of attaching the case to the text block by pasting down the endpapers is called casing-in (see this example and the result). See also: case binding and recased.
Also refers to a container used by a typesetter to hold movable type. The words uppercase and lowercase are derived from the relative positions of the compartments used to store the two kinds of type.
Also, a small, flat container hinged to open like a book, in which one or two daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, or tintypes were preserved, allowing them to be carried conveniently and safely. Early examples were made of wood covered in leather or cloth, often decorated on the outside, with fabric lining and metal hinges and fasteners. The photograph(s) fitted snugly into the rear of the front and/or back half of the case, protected under a sheet of glass and a brass mat. Thermo-plastic began to replace leather in 1854. Click here to see two closed examples, courtesy of Lost & Found: Rediscovering Early Photographic Processes, an online exhibition hosted by the University of Southern California. Click here to see one open (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Similar cases were used to protect portrait miniatures during the medieval period.
- case binding
- A form of mechanized bookbinding in which a hard cover, called a case, consisting of two boards and an inlay covered in cloth, leather, or paper, is assembled separately from the book block and attached to it after forwarding by gluing the hinges, sewing supports, and paste-downs to the boards in a process called casing-in or hanging-in (see this example). The spine of the case is not adhered to the binding edge of the sections in case binding. When the method was first introduced in 1823, plain cloth was used to cover the boards, but by the 1830s a variety of finishes had been developed and embossing was often added. Click here to see all the parts of a typical case-bound book labeled. See also: recased.
- casebook
- A book containing records or descriptions of actual cases that have occurred in a professional discipline (law, medicine, psychology, sociology, social work, counseling, etc.), selected to illustrate important principles and concepts, for the use of students as a textbook and practitioners for reference. Legal casebooks are typically plainly bound (see this example). Compare with case study
- cased
- See: case binding.
- cased photograph
- A photographic image mounted in a shallow, hinged box, usually made of wood covered in tooled leather (see this example), paper, or cloth, or of metal (see example) or an early molded composite (see union case), often with a metal clasp. Common in the mid-19th century, case mounting was used to protect daguerreotypes (example), ambrotypes (example), tintypes, and porcelain photographs. Some cases are oval (example) or octagonal in shape (example), but most are square or rectangular. Gilding and fine fabric linings were often used to create a luxurious effect (example). Photographs made by later processes may be mounted in cases that once held images of an earlier type. Cased photographs are often in need of repair when acquired by a library (click here to see the conservation process). The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley and the California State Library host a Web site on their joint Cased Photographs Project. Compare with card-mounted photograph.
- case file
- In archives, a folder or other file unit containing material related to a specific project, task, action, event, person, place, or other subject, or a collection of such folders or units, also known as a project file or transaction file.
- case-sensitive
- A computer system or software program in which uppercase letters (A, B, C...) and lowercase letters (a, b, c...) are not interchangeable as input (FAQ versus faq). On the Internet, Web addresses (URLs) are case-sensitive, but e-mail addresses and filenames usually are not.
- case study
- In the social and medical sciences, analysis of the behavior of one individual in a population, or a single event in a series, based on close observation over a period of time, often to reveal principles underlying individual behavior or events in general. A case study may be published as an article in a journal, as an essay in a collection, or in book form. In bibliographic databases that permit the user to limit retrieval by type of publication, case studies may be one of the options (example: PsycINFO). Synonymous with case report. Compare with casebook.
- cash book
- A blankbook used to record all money spent or received as payment, generally in a business in which it is necessary or desirable to know the amount of cash on hand at any given time, or in a partnership in which an accurate record of total assets must be maintained (see this example). Today, computer software is available for recording such transactions electronically. In libraries, a petty cash book may be used to record monies received (in payment of fines, etc.) and spent (usually on supplies and other minor items). Also spelled cashbook. Compare with account book.
- casing-in
- See: case binding.
- CASL
- See: Canadian Association for School Libraries.
- CASLIS
- See: Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services.
- cassette
- A flat, completely enclosed container, usually made of metal or hard plastic, designed to hold a length of film or magnetic tape wound on two cores past an opening through which the film is viewed or the tape is read. The most common varieties used in libraries are audiocassettes, videocassettes, and cassette microfilm. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with cartridge, but some cartridges have only one hub. See also: compact cassette.
- cast paper print
- An artistic work in paper made by pouring wet pulp, colored or uncolored, into a mold and allowing it to dry. Produced since the 1970s, such works may be difficult to distinguish from embossed prints. Click here to see an example, courtesy of the Society of Scottish Artists.
- catalog
- A comprehensive list of the books, periodicals, maps, and other materials in a given collection, arranged in systematic order to facilitate retrieval (usually alphabetically by author, title, and/or subject). In most modern libraries, the card catalog has been converted to machine-readable bibliographic records and is available online. The purpose of a library catalog, as stated by Charles C. Cutter in Rules for a Dictionary Catalog (1904), later modified by Bohdan S. Wynar in Introduction to Cataloging and Classification (8th ed., 1992), is to offer the user a variety of approaches or access points to the information contained in the collection:
- Objects:
- 1. To enable a person to find any work, whether issued in print or in nonprint format, when one of the following is known:
- a. The author
- b. The title
- c. The subject
- 2. To show what the library has
- d. By a given author
- e. On a given and related subjects
- f. In a given kind of literature
- 3. To assist in the choice of a work
- g. As to the bibliographic edition
- h. As to its character (literary or topical)
The preparation of entries for a library catalog (called cataloging) is performed by a librarian known as a cataloger. British spelling is catalogue. Abbreviated cat. Compare with bibliography and index. See also: classified catalog, dictionary catalog, divided catalog, and online catalog.
In a more general sense, a list of materials systematically arranged for a specific purpose, usually with brief descriptive information included in each entry, for example, an exhibition catalog, auction catalog, catalogue raisonné, course catalog, publisher's catalog, or film rental catalog. Sales catalogs are often heavily illustrated (see these examples, courtesy of the University of Delaware Library).
- catalog card
- In manual cataloging systems, a paper card used to make a handwritten, typed, or printed entry in a card catalog, usually of standard size (7.5 centimeters high and 12.5 centimeters wide), plain or ruled. Click here to see examples, courtesy of the Gustavus Adolphus College Library. With the conversion of paper records to machine-readable format and the use of online catalogs, catalog cards have fallen into disuse. British spelling is catalogue card.
- catalog code
- A detailed set of rules for preparing bibliographic records to represent items added to a library collection, established to maintain consistency within the catalog and between the catalogs of libraries using the same code. In the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, libraries use the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules developed jointly by the American Library Association, Library Association (UK), and Canadian Library Association. Synonymous with cataloging code.
- cataloger
- A librarian primarily responsible for preparing bibliographic records to represent the items acquired by a library, including bibliographic description, subject analysis, and classification. Also refers to the librarian responsible for supervising a cataloging department. British spelling is cataloguer. Synonymous with catalog librarian. See also: Association for Library Collections and Technical Services and Cataloger's Desktop.
- Cataloger's Desktop
- Published on a single CD-ROM, Cataloger's Desktop is a product of the Library of Congress that provides basic cataloging documentation (including MARC formats), the Library of Congress Subject Headings list, Cutter Tables, Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), Library of Congress Rule Interpretations (LCRI), and more. Click here to learn more about Cataloger's Desktop.
- cataloging
- The process of creating entries for a catalog. In libraries, this usually includes bibliographic description, subject analysis, assignment of classification notation, and activities involved in physically preparing the item for the shelf, tasks usually performed under the supervision of a librarian trained as a cataloger. British spelling is cataloguing. See also: cataloging agency, Cataloging and Classification Section, cataloging-in-publication, centralized cataloging, cooperative cataloging, copy cataloging, descriptive cataloging, encoding level, and recataloging.
- cataloging agency
- A library or other institution that provides authoritative cataloging data in the form of new bibliographic records and modifications of existing records, for the use of other libraries. In the United States, the leading source of cataloging data is the Library of Congress. In the MARC record, the identity of the cataloging agency is indicated by its three-letter OCLC symbol in the cataloging source field (example: DLC for Library of Congress).
- Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS)
- The section of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) within the American Library Association (ALA) charged with promoting the improvement of cataloging and classification of library materials in all formats and in all types of institutions. Click here to connect to the CCS homepage.
- Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS)
