As indicated in Chapter 1, the aim of this research was to investigate the relevance, i.e., the validity and adequacy, of current cataloguing principles to the online environment. The central concern of this thesis was to explore whether the conceptual foundations of cataloguing could be influenced or altered by changes in the technology of catalogue construction. My approach to this question has been to address it through the following questions:
1. What are the major characteristics and capabilities or limitations of the online catalogue that make it different from the manual catalogue?
2. Which of those capabilities or limitations might influence cataloguing principles and rules?
3. What are the critical access and retrieval problems caused by current principles and rules?
4. Should cataloguing principles be applied to or, perhaps, reconciled with principles already applied to other components of the online environment, e.g., bibliographic databases constructed according to other conventions?
To achieve this aim, an historical study of the development of catalogues and cataloguing codes was carried out in Chapter 2 to address: 1) the basic concepts and principles developed for descriptive cataloguing over one hundred and fifty years, and 2) the influence of the physical form of catalogues on cataloguing principles and rules. In Chapter 3, a comparison was made between the online catalogue and the card catalogue to see how far and in what areas the electronic environment is different from the manual environment. To provide further background to the concepts underpinning cataloguing principles and rules, this investigation was followed, in Chapter 4, by a study of bibliographic entities, their attributes and relationships. As a surrogate for bibliographic entities, the catalogue record was examined in Chapter 5 in terms of its content and functions. The aims were: 1) to identify those data elements that are used to describe entities physically and intellectually, and 2) to explore different functions performed by individual data elements. In Chapter 6, some of the current principles, which have been considered in the literature as those most likely to be influenced by the online environment, were re-examined against different online search/retrieval/display capabilities. In Chapter 7, three issues were discussed as possible approaches for the further development of cataloguing principles for the online environment. These were: 1) the basis for description, 2) the concept of super records for works that appear in different editions and manifestations, and 3) the online display of bibliographic records. In addition to specific conclusions drawn at the end of each chapter, the general conclusions of this research are:
1. Online catalogues have extensive capabilities which make them very different from manual catalogues. Major areas of difference include the structure of the record and the catalogue, integrated access to bibliographic, holdings, acquisitions and circulation data, search/retrieval/display capabilities and access to remote catalogues. Such basic differences emphasise that past cataloguing concepts, which have been developed for premachine catalogues, are in need of re-assessment.
2. The differences between online catalogues and manual catalogues are, for the most part, differences in the manipulation, searching, retrieval and display of bibliographic data rather than in the way that bibliographic entities are described for intellectual and physical access. Although online catalogues provide additional access points and the data they give access to are not controlled exclusively by cataloguing rules, the basic elements for providing description of and access to entities are similar.
3. While a number of fundamental cataloguing principles, such as the main entry, uniform titles and uniform headings, remain valid in the online environment, current principles are not entirely adequate for online search/retrieval/display requirements. That is, while some of the basic principles do not clash with the online environment, there is a need for additional principles so as to secure more effectiveness in the searching, retrieval and display of bibliographic data. These include principles concerning the basic unit of description, bibliographic relationships and online display of bibliographic data. To provide clear and consistent definitions for bibliographic entities in the hierarchy of the bibliographic universe is a prerequisite to the development of principles.
4. More than ever, and particularly in the context of the electronic environment, cataloguing principles should work for the maximum possible uniformity in library catalogues and other means of bibliographic communication, which are becoming increasingly accessible via national and international networks. While current cataloguing principles are not equally suitable for different environments, there would be advantages if we can arrive at a body of principles, such as the principle of multiple access points and uniform name headings (the latter on a national basis, of course), to make possible a reconciliation of the bibliographical practices of publishers and booksellers with those of libraries, bibliographic utilities and national bibliographies.
5. Cataloguing theory deals with concepts that are intrinsic to the bibliographic universe. Cataloguing concepts consequently are derived mainly from elements that represent the nature of entities. In general, it can be concluded that there is not such a close relationship between the conceptual foundations of descriptive cataloguing and the technology of catalogue construction. Nevertheless, just as the physical limitations of paper or card technologies imposed some practices, such as the 'rule of three', limiting the number of access points, the search/retrieval/display capabilities of online catalogues require that some principles and rules should be modified to take advantage of the new technology whereby computers are able to manipulate, modify and organise or reorganise bibliographic data far more effectively than was possible in the manual environment.
6. The concept of super records is proposed as an example of the potential for the electronic environment to offer effective ways for the description and retrieval of works that appear in different expressions and manifestations. Super records can also be a solution to some of the problems in current online catalogues concerning the ways in which the collocating and display functions are carried out. This concept involves creating a complex record structure which is able to demonstrate the relationships of a work to its various expressions and manifestations and also to display the place of an entity in the bibliographic hierarchy. Cataloguing principles and rules are needed to address the structure of super records, including necessary indexes to super records, the types of categorisations entities in the bibliographic hierarchy, consistency in the terms used for different categories, the links between entities at different bibliographical levels and also the choice and form of headings for super records. Further research on linking devices and mechanisms particularly hypertext links in an online environment would be useful. This research should concentrate on the possible influence of these linking devices and mechanisms on cataloguing principles, particularly in relation to the structure of the catalogue and catalogue records, references and the form of access points.
In conclusion: this research has involved a re-examination of current cataloguing principles in the light of the new online network environment. While keeping some of the basic concepts relating to the nature of entities rather than being dependent on the technology of catalogue construction, any further re-examination of cataloguing principles and rules should be carried out both in a conceptual context and with regard to the possible influences of the online environment. More than ever in the global online environment, cataloguing principles are needed to maintain universal bibliographical control and to secure useful description of and effective access to bibliographic entities.
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