ABSTRACT
A large library system with several branches may have several catalogs, each representing the works in a particular collection. One catalog, housed in the main library, may serve as a "union catalog," with a record for every item owned by any campus library. Finding the catalog entry for a known item should rarely pose problems. Serials pose special challenges to researchers. The concept of "serial" encompasses magazines, scholarly journals, annual reviews, occasional papers with a running title, published proceedings of yearly events, newspapers, newsletters and so forth. Some libraries have separate catalogs or listings for serials, while others include records for serials in their main catalog. A book ought to be recorded in the catalog under every subject it treats. Until recently, nearly all card catalogs followed certain conventions for filing that go beyond pure alphabetization.
