Best practices for cataloging objects using RDA and MARC21

Best practices for cataloging objects using RDA and MARC21

Why catalog objects? We catalog objects in order to make them discoverable in our libraries’ catalogs, so that our library users may find, identify, select, and obtain these resources just as efficiently as any other types of resources. Many of our libraries have a wealth of these objects in their special or specialized collections and archives. For many decades, many of these objects lingered in the dark, sitting on shelves, uncataloged. Objects are very much a part of our historical human record. In the recent four decades, these materials have been gradually cataloged, exposing to the world these sometimes-impressive hidden collections. Often the objects are the jewels of our libraries, the parts that make each of our individual libraries special.

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