RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
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5.4.1 Deciding what to catalogue
If the resource centre has only a small collection (fewer than 500 materials),
materials need not be catalogued. It will be easy for users to find what they need by
looking on the shelves, provided that materials are classified by subject, and
materials on the same subjects are grouped together (see Section 5.1: Classifying
materials). However, it may be useful to catalogue audiovisual materials, as they
cannot be browsed like books. A short summary of the contents in a catalogue
helps users to know whether an audiovisual material will be useful for a particular
purpose.
It can also be useful to catalogue articles in periodicals, or individual chapters of
books, that are of particular interest to users. Alternatively, photocopies could be
taken of the contents page of the periodical issue, or of the title page and contents
page of a book, in both cases marking the article or chapter of interest. The
photocopies could be filed in a filing cabinet grouped by subject, or put in pamphlet
boxes in the appropriate subject section on the shelves. It is also useful to keep an
alphabetical list of periodical titles, to help users know what is available.
Even in a larger resource centre, not all materials need to be catalogued. Some
materials are only of short-term interest, or quickly go out of date. These can be
shelved or filed in a similar way to articles in periodicals. General reference
materials may only need to be listed alphabetically, for example on a sheet of paper
displayed near the materials.
5.4.2 How to catalogue materials
Catalogues of some larger libraries contain a lot of details. However, fewer details
are enough for a resource centre that is more concerned with making materials
available to users than spending a long time cataloguing and classifying.
Remember the tip: KIS - Keep It Simple.
For each material, details of the author, title, publication details, length,
illustrations, notes, keywords, accession number and classification number need to
be typed or written on three (or more) separate cards – an author card, title card
and subject card(s). Each card will contain the same information, but with a
different heading.
SECTION 5: ORGANISING THE INFORMATION
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