The Baby and the Bathwater, or, Do Traditional
Cataloging Rules belong in Today’s Catalog?
Margaret Foote, Eastern Kentucky University
Since Panizzi’s 1841 “Rules for the Compilation
of the Catalogue,” librarians have developed principles to organize bibliographic
information as effectively as possible for users. Cutter’s rules, AACR
codes, LCSH, and classification schemes were designed for ease of use –
until, with the advent of search engines like Google, the carefully crafted
principles suddenly seem to be passé. In response to new searching methodologies,
should we throw out the baby – traditional cataloging principles –
with the bathwater? Or, to continue the metaphor, do we keep the baby and refresh
its bathwater? This presentation explores which traditional principles should
be maintained and which should be discarded to meet the needs of current and
future users.