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VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £17 per annum and the period runs from January to December.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £10 per year and the subscription period runs from January to December.

The purpose of this article is to compare Anglo‐American cataloguing codes and practices for description over the past 150 years and assess the contribution that they made to International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD).

The major international codes, and those of major British libraries, are examined point by point, using as a basis the main areas of description as outlined in AACR2. Cataloguing textbooks are also referred to when appropriate.

The article finds that general order of elements has been remarkably constant throughout the period, most variation being seen in the physical description area. Primacy of the title page as a source of information is long established. Publisher's name was often of minor importance, and in public libraries physical description was greatly reduced. It is clear from wording that codes often adopted rules from one another, and evidently some libraries made a great attempt to adopt the latest thinking. Solutions to some problems evolved gradually over a long period. Even some apparently minor aspects of punctuation have a long pedigree. ISBD clearly drew on a long‐established consensus as far as possible.

In revising AACR2 it is important to be able to see how we have reached where we are now, and in particular to avoid repetition of past mistakes. In an increasingly international publishing environment it is vital to solve the problem of multiple places of publication.

This subject has never been tackled in this way before, and the findings are timely for the ongoing revision of AACR2.

AACR2, Chapter 9 (Draft Revision). This publication is intended to bridge the gap between the rules you may be using now for cataloging computer files—for example, the original version of AACR2, Chapter 9 or the Guidelines for Using AACR2 Chapter 9 for Cataloging Microcomputer Software (Chicago: ALA, 1984)—and the publication of the final version of the revised Chapter 9 as a part of the consolidated reprinting of AACR2 scheduled for publication in 1988. In the preface, Jean Weihs, Chair of the Joint Steering Committee, notes “It must be emphasized that this is a preliminary draft of the rules for computer files. This draft has yet to be checked for consistency with other parts of AACR2 and to undergo the usual editorial process. The final version … will probably contain changes in detail. No changes in concept will be made.”

Purpose — This chapter uniquely addresses the topic of introducing a common set of cataloguing rules throughout Europe. While no such development is on the immediate horizon, there are signs that current trends are moving towards that possibility. At first glance, this may appear a trivial development in that ‘European’ standards in many areas are in place and not a source of contention, but in cataloguing, this is not the case.

Design/methodology/approach — The main method used for the research was an in-depth literature review. To gauge the current state of European interest in RDA, an email survey was performed in August 2011, of all the European members of the Standing Committee of the Cataloguing Section of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), and all the European speakers at the ‘RDA in Europe: making it happen!’ conference. This sample was chosen as being those individuals who would be most able to give a view from Europe on current cataloguing developments.

Findings — There is considerable interest throughout Europe regarding RDA and harmonising cataloguing codes, but there may be conceptual problems in that some European national cultures may diverge significantly from a core of rules based on English-speaking countries.

Originality/value — This chapter combines in-depth analysis of the proposed new cataloguing code Resource Description and Access (RDA), which will be adopted by English-speaking countries with a novel perspective relating to its adoption in non-English-speaking countries in Europe.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the relationship between cataloging data and reference service and the importance of including reference librarians, in general resource description and access (RDA) training.

A literature review and the author’s experiences related to implementing RDA are presented with minimal cataloging jargon to help librarians better understand the effects of cataloging standards on reference service.

There is a noticeable lack of research and training related to RDA for audiences beyond technical services. More research is needed to determine how users are interacting with the catalog, how bibliographic data is supporting their discovery and access, what, if any, obstacles reference librarians encounter as a result of RDA and how future iterations of RDA may open bibliographic data to communities beyond the library.

This paper is one the few that discuss how RDA may affect reference service. It will be useful for providing librarians with a general understanding of the relationship between cataloging and reference and may serve as a starting point for further research.

The nature and purpose of the catalogue has been the focus of considerable and vigorous debate during the past decade. This article attempts to identify those topics which have been the most significant causes of the debate and discusses: the need for catalogues; users and non‐users; the nature of the bibliographic record and catalogue entry; the development of UK and LC MARC; standards, including exchange formats, the development of the ISBD, and the concept of UBC (Universal Bibliographic Control); the Anglo‐American Cataloguing Rules and the controversy over the implementation of AACR2; COM catalogues; subsets of the MARC record; co‐operatives, networks and resource sharing; and the development of subject access methods better suited to COM and online catalogues. The relevance of catalogue research activities at Bath University and elsewhere is highlighted.

The increasing availability of on‐line public access catalogues (OPACs) offers a new mode of access to all types of library and information sources. The changing role of the catalogue merits a reassessment of the role of cataloguing codes. A wholesale revision of AACR is required. The basic purpose of a cataloguing code is standardisation of description, headings and punctuation. The essential nature of retrieval in OPACs is that retrieval can be based on words anywhere in a record. This has implications for the contents of the record, and merits a complete reassessment of the role of access points in catalogues.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £17 per annum and the period runs from January to December.

Librarians have sought to reduce the cost of cataloguing by sharing bibliographic data, but it is still an expensive, labour intensive process which is a reason why short entry catalogues have been advocated. Existing computer systems have tended to automate the clerical aspects of cataloguing but developments in artificial intelligence hold out the prospect of automating the professional aspects too. The feasibility of creating an expert system for cataloguing using the PROLOG programming language, was the subject of a postgraduate research project at Exeter University. Such a system would be capable of applying many AACR2 cataloguing rules automatically and would also cope with rules governing local practices.