page_title: Library catalog
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Library catalog / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The subject catalogue ("Schlagwortkatalog") of the University Library of Graz. The card shown refers to a text by Hans Schleimer who made up the rules for this catalogue. Español: Cajón de una biblioteca Français&#160;: Le catalogue des sujets ("Schlagwortkatalog") de la Bibliothèque de l'université de Graz. La fiche montrée contient la référence à un texte de Hans Schleimer définissant les règles de classification de ce catalogue. Deutsch: Zettelkatalog (Schlagwort) an der Universitätsbibliothek Graz. Ein Werk Schleimers in dem von ihm begründeten Katalog. Karteikarten mit alphabetisch geordneten Deskriptoren. Karteikarten in einem Schlagwortkatalog. Schlagwortkatalog 1926-93 der Universitätsbibliothek Graz. Polski: Katalog rzeczowy. Italiano: L'archivio tematico della biblioteca dell'Università di Graz. La scheda visibile si riferisce a Hans Schleimer che dettò le regole per la tenuta del suo catalogo Svenska: Bibliotekskatalogen i kartotekform, numera oftast ersatt med datasystem. Русский: Каталог библиотеки. Предметный каталог университетской библиотеки города Грац в Австрии. Português: Catálogo por assunto na biblioteca da Universidade de Graz.
context_page_description: A library catalog is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A bibliographic item can be any information entity that is considered library material, or a group of library materials, or linked from the catalog as far as it is relevant to the catalog and to the users of the library.
  The card catalog was a familiar sight to library users for generations, but it has been effectively replaced by the online public access catalog. Some still refer to the online catalog as a "card catalog". Some libraries with OPAC access still have card catalogs on site, but these are now strictly a secondary resource and are seldom updated. Many libraries that retain their physical card catalog will post a sign advising the last year that the card catalog was updated. Some libraries have eliminated their card catalog in favor of the OPAC for the purpose of saving space for other use, such as additional shelving.
  The largest library catalog in the world is the WorldCat.org union catalog managed by the non-profit library cooperative OCLC, based in Dublin, Ohio.
context_section_description: The earliest librarians created rules for how to record the details of the catalog. By 700 BCE the Assyrians followed the rules set down by the Babylonians. The seventh century BCE Babylonian Library of Ashurbanipal was led by the librarian Ibnissaru who prescribed a catalog of clay tablets by subject. Subject catalogs were the rule of the day, and author catalogs were unknown at that time. The frequent use of subject-only catalogs hints that there was a code of practice among early catalog librarians and that they followed some set of rules for subject assignment and the recording of the details of each item. These rules created efficiency through consistency—the catalog librarian knew how to record each item without reinventing the rules each time, and the reader knew what to expect with each visit. The task of recording the contents of libraries is more than an instinct or a compulsive tic exercised by librarians; it began as a way to broadcast to readers what is available among the stacks of materials. The tradition of open stacks of printed books is paradigmatic to modern American library users, but ancient libraries featured stacks of clay or prepaper scrolls that resisted browsing.
  As librarian, Gottfried van Swieten introduced the world's first card catalog (1780) as the Prefect of the Imperial Library, Austria.
  During the early modern period, libraries were organized through the direction of the librarian in charge.  There was no universal method, so some books were organized by language or book material, for example, but most scholarly libraries had recognizable categories (like philosophy, saints, mathematics).  The first library to list titles alphabetically under each subject was the Sorbonne library in Paris. Library catalogs originated as manuscript lists, arranged by format (folio, quarto, etc.) or in a rough alphabetical arrangement by author. Before printing, librarians had to enter new acquisitions into the margins of the catalog list until a new one was created.  Because of the nature of creating texts at this time, most catalogs were not able to keep up with new acquisitions.
  When the printing press became well-established, strict cataloging became necessary because of the influx of printed materials.  Printed catalogs, sometimes called dictionary catalogs, began to be published in the early modern period and enabled scholars outside a library to gain an idea of its contents. Copies of these in the library itself would sometimes be interleaved with blank leaves on which additions could be recorded, or bound as guardbooks in which slips of paper were bound in for new entries. Slips could also be kept loose in cardboard or tin boxes, stored on shelves. The first card catalogs appeared in the late 19th century after the standardization of the 5 in. x 3 in. card for personal filing systems, enabling much more flexibility, and towards the end of the 20th century the Online public access catalog was developed (see below). These gradually became more common as some libraries progressively abandoned such other catalog formats as paper slips (either loose or in sheaf catalog form), and guardbooks. The beginning of the Library of Congress's catalog card service in 1911 led to the use of these cards in the majority of American libraries. An equivalent scheme in the United Kingdom was operated by the British National Bibliography from 1956  and was subscribed to by many public and other libraries.
  c. Seventh century BCE, the royal Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh had 30,000 clay tablets, in several languages, organized according to shape and separated by content. Assurbanipal sent scribes to transcribe works in other libraries within the kingdom.
  c. Third century BCE, Pinakes by Callimachus at the Library of Alexandria was arguably the first library catalog.
  9th century: Libraries of Carolingian Schools and monasteries employ library catalog system to organize and loan out books.
  c. 10th century: The Persian city of Shiraz's library had over 300 rooms and thorough catalogs to help locate texts these were kept 
caption: A card catalog in the University Library of Graz
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