This book is intended for those in the library community with an understanding of library processes and a desire to actually make use of scientific management techniques. The emphasis is on presenting insights into which tool may be appropriate for particular problems, not on the isolated understanding of theoretical issues. It does not require an extensive mathematical background. It shows well-developed examples of solving library problems and features chapter summaries and questions for further study.

Computer technology together with political and economic pressures for interlibrary cooperation are having far-reaching effects on online systems for bibliographic control. This work is a compendium of the current thought on how catalogs of the future can best take advantage of machine capabilities in a networking environment.
The Conceptual Foundations of Descriptive Cataloging comprises the proceedings of a conference of the same name held at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1987. The conference stimulated visionary thinking about the future direction of systems for the bibliographic control of information, particularly the future of those systems applying the Anglo-American codes for descriptive cataloging.
Key Features
* The general principles underlying the design of bibliographic databases
* The shape of bibliographic databases in the forseeable future
* The impact of technology on catalogs and catalog codes
* Design objectives for online catalogs
* Standardization and integration in bibliographic control
* Access to bibliographic information in the online age

As part of an effort to formulate a list of principles underlying subject heading languages used in various subject access systems throughout the world, IFLA's Lisbon Satellite Meeting reviewed a broad spectrum of national systems and considered current issues in their development.

By examining programs developed in Brazil, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S., the papers help to identify which principles each system considers fundamental and implicit and which had to be stated explicitly in usage instructions or subject heading codes. More general topics such as "International Tendencies in Terminology and Indexing" were also addressed.

Seymour Lubetzky ranks among the greatest minds in library science. His groundbreaking works devoted to the problem of modern cataloging in the 20th century place him with Antonio Panizzi and Charles Cutter. Now, for the first time, Lubetzky's works are being published as a collection, which includes a complete reproduction of his three most influential titles: Cataloging Rules and Principles, Code of Cataloging Rules, and Principles of Cataloging, as well as periodical articles. The selections included in this book are presented in chronological order so that the development of Lubetzky's thought can be followed from his first writings on cataloging problems in the late thirties and early forties to writings in the following decades that consolidate and reiterate his philosophical and methodological stances. The book includes an introduction by the editors, relating to the major events in Lubetzky's writing career, as well as a comprehensive bibliography of his works. An absolute must-have for faculty and students of library and information science, cataloging professionals, and librarians.