The Best Cataloger is a Frustrated Library User: Cataloging Failure and the Underutilization of Library Resources

This essay points out that inconsistencies in the assignment of subject headings and call number can lead to failure to retrieve relevant materials from our libraries. Today it is frequently asserted that bibliographic records cataloged by the Library of Congress or other approved libraries will not require review or editing in our local libraries. This paper provides clear, but by no means unique examples of “cataloging failure” and explains the implications of a policy to add unedited bibliographic records (from vendors such as OCLC) to our library catalogs. The result is the omission of otherwise relevant titles from fairly routine searches.