Who needs a main entry, anyway?

Giusti Serra, Liliana; Silva, Jose Fernando Modesto da

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121161 Copy

Description

Title

Who needs a main entry, anyway?

Author(s)

• Giusti Serra, Liliana
• Silva, Jose Fernando Modesto da

Issue Date

2023-11-15

Keyword(s)

• Main entry
• Cataloging
• Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)
• Bibliographic description

Abstract

The action of cataloging means to describe things. Since the 19th century, with the establishment of standards, libraries have described bibliographic and authority data to allow users to identify resources by titles, authors, subjects, etc. In the traditional card catalog system, librarians faced limitations in describing data in a small and restricted space, using only one face of a standardized card measuring 5x7’’, with scarce space for description. This situation led to describing only essential data, avoiding a full description. Nowadays, the catalogs are not constructed with cards anymore. They are on the Web, as the online public access catalog (OPAC). The tools evolved, but our describing concepts are still the same as used in the 19th century, with the 5x7’’ card in our heads, following patterns that no longer meet user needs. Also, over the years, the terminology of the main entry evolved as access points, but the idea of highlighting one author to the detriment of others persists, positioning added entries apart from the main entry in the OPAC visualization. This paper discusses the usage of the main entry in the library catalog. A brief history of the concept of the main entry is made, pointing out meaningful discussions through the years. This study invites us to reflect on the maintenance of traditional cataloging practices after the advent of the Library Reference Model (LRM) and the Resource Description and Access (RDA). Also, it suggests an option for describing the access points in bibliographic records, aligning the description to LRM and RDA, and facilitating user tasks. This study is a qualitative and descriptive research based on papers, books, reports, and conferences discussing the usage of the main entry in the cataloging practice.

Type of Resource

Poster

Language

en

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