ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will discover the wealth of information to be found in library catalogs. Numerous types of libraries exist in the world, and every one has a catalog of its holdings. In addition to the large national libraries (such as the Library of Congress), academic libraries (such as the Harvard University Library), and public libraries (such as the New York Public Library), there are thousands of special libraries that are part of larger organizations, corporations, and government agencies. Most of the libraries in all of these categories, in the United States and in foreign countries, are rapidly making their catalogs accessible to the public through the Internet. Because of the World Wide Web’s graphical interface and its hypertext environment, it is easy for people to access and use these catalogs.
