A catalog is an inventory of books, magazines, journals, pamphlets, monographs, audio-visual aids, and other materials held by a specific library, a collection of libraries (in the case of a union catalogue), or a private collection that includes specific items of bibliographical information, such as author, title, edition, imprint, collation, etc. in printed, microfiche, automated, or card form. These items are arranged in alphabetical or classified order in accordance with any standard catalogue codes or rules, such as AACR, ALA, LC, etc.

Objectives of Cataloguing:

A catalogue typically aims to achieve the following fundamental goals, according to leading information scientists:

1. To enable a person to find a book when one of the following information is known:
   1. the author
   1. the title
   1. the subject
2. to show what the information institution has:
   1. by given author
   1. on a given subject
   1. in a given kind of literature
3. To assist in the choice of a book:
   1. as to the edition (bibliographically)
   1. as to its character (literary or topical)

Purpose and Scope:

1. To catalog books and additional reading materials kept in the library.
2. To preserve books and additional reading materials within the library.
3. To explain to the reader the meaning of the reading materials by mentioning key components such as the author, title, edition, imprint, collation, series, bibliography, and subject.
4. To ensure that readers who need books on a particular subject (such as Cataloguing 025.3) do not have to search the entire library for them. To make the reading materials quickly available.
5. To arrange the collection in a way that makes it easy to find and use the volumes for circulation and reference.

Functions:

Therefore, a library catalogue’s primary purposes are to allow a reader to ascertain:

1. To record each work in an information institution by author, edition, compiler, translator, series, or by corporate body as author in case of impersonal authorship under which entries are made, a reader is likely to search for a book.
2. To arrange author entries in a dictionary catalogue so that a reader can locate all of the author’s works together.
3. To enter each piece of work under the relevant subject in an informational facility.
4. To arrange subject entries either according to classification numbers, or alphabetically by subject (in alphabetic-classed catalogue), so that like topics will fall together and related topics will be correlated.
5. To record titles of work if it is
   1. written by more than three authors;
   1. a compiled or edited work, including encyclopedias and dictionaries,
   1. A fiction or a popular work.

In some libraries, however, title, entries, are made for all the materials apart from the above three categories.

• To employ cross-reference , i.e. See and See also reference through labels like USE, UF, SA, BT, NT, RT, etc. by which a reader may be guided from one entry or topic to another.
• To give the reader an explanation of a book by. Giving a synopsis of every book and highlighting key bibliographical details such as the author’s name, imprint, collation, series, bibliography, annotations, ISBN, and index.
• To arrange the call numbers numerically by classification number in classified catalogue and alphabetically by Author mark in dictionary catalog, by which books may be located or obtained.
• To serve as a tool for choosing books for other, more recent, smaller libraries.
• To serve as a tool for choosing books for other, more recent, smaller libraries.
• To make it easier for readers and researchers to find out what resources the information institution has on a particular topic.

Manual or Card Catalogue:

In manual or card catalog, the following elements or bibliographical items are generally included:

1. Author (including joint author(s), compiler, editor, and translator, if any)
2. Title (including sub-title ,alternative title, if any)
3. Edition
4. Imprint (Place, Publisher, year, or copyright date)
5. Collation (Pagination/Volumes, illustration, size)
6. Series, if any
7. Bibliography, if any
8. Notes, if any
9. Index
10. Standard number (ISBN/ ISSN/ SBN)

Two more items are included, viz. Call Number (Classification number+ Author mark), and Tracing (record of added entries to be made). These cannot be found in a book, but are created by the cataloger, so they are not included above. In some modern libraries, indexing is excluded on the premise that it is a common item, as every book has its own index, unless it is fiction, drama, poetry, or a work published by a corporate body, and moreover, it is not often used by the readers.

Online Catalogue:

An online catalogue can be addressed by various names, i.e.

1. Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)
2. Machine Readable Cataloguing (MARC)
3. Automated catalogue
4. Computerized catalogue and the like.

In this, more bibliographical items are included apart from those embodied in the manual catalogue mentioned above. It depends in the system, i.e. the packaged software, or any locally developed system. In GLAS or LibSys, the items are generally less than those found in a card catalogue, while in the vast integrated online international automated system like DRA (Data Research Associates) or ATLAS, which is based on USMARC₃ format, , items are almost double. Here, some major elements can be mentioned. Numbers in parenthesis are Tag numbers indicating variable data fields.

1. LC Control Number (010)
2. ISBN (020)
3. System Control Number (035)
4. Cataloguing Source (040)
5. LC Call Number (050)
6. Dewey Decimal Call Number(082)
7. Local Call Number(09X)
8. Main Author (100)
9. Corporate body as main author(110)
10. Title (245)
11. Edition(250)
12. Imprint (Publication , Distribution: 260)
13. Collation (physical description: 300)
14. Price (350)
15. Series (440)
16. General Note (500)
17. Bibliography (504)
18. Subject Added Entry (650)
19. Joint author ; Added Entry –Personal name (700)
20. Holding Institution(850)

Both manual and online catalogues are vital tools for organizing and presenting a wide variety of products or information, catering to different user preferences and accessibility needs. While manual catalogues offer a tangible and sometimes more engaging experience, online catalogues provide greater convenience, real-time updates, and a wider reach to a global audience. The integration of both manual and online catalogues can maximize reach and efficiency, ensuring that all potential users, regardless of their preferred format, have access to comprehensive and up-to-date information.

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Physical or Outer forms of Catalogue 10 Most popular Integrated Online Library Automation Systems Footnotes: Types, General Rules and Contents Cataloging code: Necessity and History of origin (Including 10 Codes)