Sample Audit of Cards from a University Library Catalog

ANY LARGE CARD CATALOG will contain a certain number of errors, conflicts, mutilated cards, and examples of obsolete and misleading cataloging practices designed for the catalog when it was much smaller. The perfect catalog does not exist, and the nearly perfect catalog is very often counterbalanced by hoards of "problem" catalog cards stashed away in the catalog department. Although the state of maintenance of their catalogs is a universal concern of catalog librarians, this concern is not always based on reliable data on the actual condition of the catalog. One means of acquiring this information is to audit a sample of cards from the catalog for errors and inadequacies. Information provided by such an audit can be used for setting task priorities and manpower requirements for retroactive maintenance and, when performed periodically, for measuring the effectiveness of programs of current maintenance. The author-title section of the main public catalog at the University of Colorado Libraries has been audited, primar-