ABSTRACT
One of the chronic dilemmas facing libraries today is the problem of maintaining adequate bibliographic control of their collections in the face of inadequate or shrinking staffing. The currently popular and viable solution to this dilemma is to perform minimal level cataloging (MLC) on a specific portion of the cataloging backlog and/or currently received acquisitions. MLC, or less-than-full cataloging (full cataloging being determined by the cataloging rules of the period and to a great degree by the Library of Congress standard), is not a new concept, however, and has been in existence over the decades under various names such as “brief cataloging,” “simplified cataloging,” or “limited cataloging.” 1 It is difficult to define MLC, as elements of it changed over time and depended on constantly evolving standards. What all concepts had in common was a less-than-full bibliographic record, created in order to speed up processing. This then increased cataloging production and made otherwise unavailable material immediately available to the user. MLC also became a significant cost-cutting measure.
