Bibliotekkatalogisering

Bibliotekkatalogisering refers to the systematic creation and maintenance of bibliographic records that describe library resources such as books, journals, audiovisual materials, and digital objects. The process provides standardized metadata and access points to facilitate discovery, identification, ordering, and management. Cataloging aims to ensure consistency across collections, enable interlibrary loan, and support long-term preservation by recording essential information about a resource's identity, content, form, and provenance.

Cataloging relies on accepted rules and standards, including descriptive rules and subject access. Common frameworks include AACR2 and RDA for describing resources, ISBD for the presentation of descriptions, MARC formats or MARC 21 for encoding data, and classification schemes such as Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress. Authority control ensures stable access points for authors, editors, organizations, and places, while indexing and subject headings enable effective search and retrieval.

In practice, bibliotekkatalogisering involves identifying resources, creating bibliographic descriptions, assigning access points, and linking related records. It encompasses both physical and digital materials, supports multilingual records, and includes metadata quality assurance. Modern catalogs increasingly use linked data approaches and standards like BIBFRAME, with a focus on interoperability across libraries, streams of data, and catalogs in the cloud or local systems.

Professionals performing cataloging work collaborate with acquisitions, digital repositories, and cataloging rules communities. Training emphasizes metadata standards, authority control, and descriptive practices to maintain accurate, retrievable records that support users in finding, using, and citing library resources.