Rapid Cataloging: Three Models for Addressing Timeliness As an Issue of Quality in Library Catalogs

This paper analyses the presuppositions, goals, and implementations of policies for rapid cataloging in three large academic libraries in the United States. In the first model, The University of Chicago’s W-Collection, there was no attempt to catalog materials; the order record alone is used and the items are shelved in a publicly accessible area by accession number. The second model, Princeton’s ATA Procedure, made cataloging the initial activity upon receipt, the purpose of which was “to give the future librarians enough information to know if the item is already in the collection or not” and also to serve (with subject headings and classification) the library’s users. Finally, Cornell’s COR Procedure in which all information in the records is assumed to be temporary and therefore unimportant; the necessary information is expected to be acquired later from commercial sources