To achieve this, there are widely accepted standards, such as the International Standard Bibliographic Description and the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules . For access points , there are very large and cooperatively maintained files which give authorized forms of name s. These forms direct people to search under a single form of name. The following illustrations show where this information is located in a catalog card, and in the computerized catalog record. With the occasional exception of the title, it was impossible to search descriptive information before the advent of computers.
Access points are the major areas that are searchable and they are all governed by authorized forms.
To create the information in these areas demands a great deal of training. The major leap in bibliographic searching that computers afforded was the ability to search the descriptive cataloging areas . Different catalogs may or may not answer such questions. Descriptive information for Users For users, the primary function of the descriptive portion of the record is to aid the user in the selection and identification of the item . Still, for user purposes, the catalog record has never been regarded as a replacement for the item.