LS 532: The Filing of Bibliographic Records

 

[From various editions of Dr. Bonnie Thorne's LS 532 syllabus]

 

In 1980 the Filing Committee Resources and Technical Services Division of the American Library Association released ALA Filing Rules which provided guidelines for the organization of bibliographic records other than card formats. The Introduction stated that the work should not be considered an updated edition of ALA Rules for Filing Catalog Cards (2nd edition, 1968).

 

The following rules are identical in both works (examples have been taken from the ALA publications):

  1. Straight alphabetical word-by-word order takes precedence except in certain cases where a numerical or chronological arrangement is preferable. Apply the principle of "nothing before something."

    2. I met a man

    Im Wandel der Jahre

    Image books

    Image of America

    Images of America

    Imaginary conversation

    In an unknown land

    In the days of giants

    Inca

  2. Disregard punctuation.

    3. Life

    Life - a bowl of rice

    "Life after death"

    Life its true genesis

    Life of…Frances Schlatter

    Life, physical and spiritual

  3. Disregard initial articles.

    4. A apple pie

    A travers la France

    Apache

    Aquarium

    L'art des jardins

    Artists

    Man of the world

    Les miserables

    Une des terres inconnues

    Unemployed

     

    Rules 4-6 appeared only in ALA Rules for Filing Catalog Cards.

  4. Arrange initials, single or in combination, as one-letter words, before longer words beginning with the same initial.
A.
  1. A.
AAAA

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

AAAS Conference on Science Teaching

AACE

A., A.J.G.

AAVN news

"A" and "B" mandates

A., Andre C.H., see…

A apple pie

A.B.

The ABC about collecting

ABC and XYC

A., J.

A was an archer

Aa, Pieter von der

Aabel, Marie
  1. Arrange abbreviations, signs and symbols as if spelled in full. Exception: Mrs.

    2. Doctor at sea

    Dr. Christian's office

    Doctor come quickly

    Doktor Brents Wandlung

    Dr. Mabuse der spieler

    Doktor Mamlocks Ausweg

  2. Arrange Mc, M' and Mac as if written Mac.

    3. Mach

    McHenry

    Machinery

    MacHugh

    Machuron

    Maclaren, Ian

    Maclaren, J.

    M'Laren, J. Wilson

    McLaren, Jack

    MacLaren, James

     

    Rules 7-9 offer guidelines for handling abbreviations, initials and Mc, M' and Mac as specified in ALA Filing Rules.

  3. Abbreviations are arranged exactly as written.

    4. C.I.B.

    C.I.B. Bulletin

    C/O Colby

    CdS crystals

    Ce que je crois

    CeBeDem see…

    CO2: chemical, biochemical, and physiological aspects

    CO2 lasers

    Coal as an energy resource

    Col. Clayton's lake tour

    Cole, Bruce

    Collection de logique mathematique

    Colonel Thorndyke's secret

    Doctor Bard of Hyde Park

    Doktor Bard of Hyde Park

    Doktor Brents Wandlung

    Doktor Raphael

    Dr. Austin's guest

    …et ce fut la guerre

    Et Cetera; a collector's scrap-book

    Et in Arcadia ego

    Etc.

    Etch proofs

    K. Akademie der wissenschaften, Berlin

    K.K. Akademie der bildenden Kunste, Vienna

  4. Initials, initialisms, and acronyms separated by spaces, dashes, hyphens, diagonal slashes, and periods are filed as separated words. Initials, initialisms, and acronyms in which characters are separated in any way are regarded as single words.

    5. I-90 design team

    I-95 harbor crossing corridor study

    I., A

    I.A.A.

    I.A.G. Literature on automation

    I.A.M. Symposia on Microbiology

    I am a mathematician

    I and CS; the magazine of instruments

    I.B.

    I., B.

    I.B.R.U.

    I built a bridge and other poems

    I.C.A. Congress

    I.C.E. abstracts

    I.C.I.

    I Ch'ien

    I chose freedom

    I.D.A.

    I.E.

    I.E.E.E.

    I.E.E.E. Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Society

    I.E.E.E.-G.M.M.S. E.R.S. Symposium

    I.F.I.P. Colloqium on Optimization Tecniques

    I & LR monograph series

    I & M Section on Automatic Control, Stockholm

    I.N.T.E.L.S.A.T.

    I.O.N. Astrodynamics Specialist Conference

    The I.Q. Controversy

    I.R.E. Instrumentation Conference

    I.R.E. P.G.C.S.

    IAMPA Symposia on Long-term Climatic Fluctuations

    I***B

    IBI-ICC International Symposium

    IBM

    IBM 1130/1800 basic FORTRAN IV language

    IBM 1130 disc monitor system

    IBM application program

    IBRO bulletin

    IC master

    ICFTU/IFBWW International Housing Committee

    ICFTU monographs

    IECI-IAS Technical Conference

    IEE/AIAA Thermoelectric Specialist Conference

    IEEE G-ANE

    IEEE G-MTT International Microwave Symposium

    If this be error

    IFE, William Cox

    IFI Caribbean guide book

    IFIP_ICC vocabulary of information processing

    IFIP Symposium on Digital Control…

    IFIP TC-2 Special Working Conference

    IFIP TC 7 optimization conferences

    The intelligent heart

    INTELSAT

    Intense neutron sources

    Ion-beams

    Ion-molecule reactions

    ION/NASA Meeting on Problems Inertial Guidance

    IQSY

    Ire, Envye, Accidie or Sloth, Avarice, Glotonye and Lecherye

    Ire, Lawrence

  5. A prefix that is part of the name of a person or place is treated as a separate word unless it is joined to the rest of the name directly or by an apostrophe.
Mac Macalister, Alexander

MacAlister, James

Macaulay, James

Macbeth Gallery, New York

MacGauley, Clay

Macdonald

Mach

Machen

Macheron

Machiavelli

Machinery

MacHugh, Augustin

Macieira, Antonio

Mack, Alexander

MacLaren, Hale

MacLaren, Ian

MacLaren, J.

M'Bala

Mc

McAlister, Edward

McAll, Reginald

McAllister, James

McBurney, Ralph

McLaren, Jack

M'Ilvaine, William

 

For further examples and coverage of subarrangement see ALA Filing Rules.