cataloged

Cataloged is the past tense of catalog, meaning to place items into a catalog or inventory, or to describe and index items with metadata so they can be found and identified. It can describe both the action and the resulting record. In practice, cataloging entails selecting relevant information, applying standardized descriptors, and assigning a unique identifier or call number.

In libraries and archives, cataloged items are entry records in a catalog; cataloging follows standards such as AACR2 or RDA, often encoded in MARC records to enable machine-readable access. A cataloged book will have elements like author, title, subject headings, publication data, and a barcode or library symbol.

In science and museums, objects are cataloged for inventory control and research. In astronomy, celestial objects are cataloged in catalogs such as Messier or NGC; each entry receives coordinates, designations, and discovery data. In museums, acquisitions are cataloged with accession numbers, provenance, dimensions, and materials.

In data management, to catalog data means to create metadata describing datasets, their schemas, provenance, and usage licenses; data catalogs facilitate discovery and governance.

Etymology: from catalogus, from French catalogue, from Latin catalogus, from Greek katálogos, meaning "a list." The term is widely used across disciplines to indicate that items have been organized and described for retrieval.