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Cataloging Manual

Standards & Procedures

The contents of this manual were prepared by the Catalog/Database Committee Standards Task Force and approved by the Directors' Council, December 3rd, 2003. Revisions made in consultation with the Cataloging COI, December 2021. 

Part One: Standards

  1. General Principles
  2. Types of Bibliographic Records Allowed
  3. Bibliographic Record Maintenance
    • Deletion of Records
    • Withdrawn Items
    • Handling Duplicate Bibliographic Records and Transfer of Attached Records
    • Monthly Cleanup
  4. Overlaying of Bibliographic Records
  5. Descriptive Cataloging Policies
  6. Bibliographic Standards for Non-MARC Records
  7. Attachments to Bibliographic Records
    • Item Records
    • Checkin Records

Part Two: Procedures

  1. Record Loading and Deletion 
  2. Cataloging in OPAL
  3. Processing Government Documents
  4. Open Access eBooks: Submission and Selection
  5. Updating Serial Holdings

Part Three: Appendices

  1. Appendix A: Authorized Cataloging Standards
  2. Appendix B: Institutional Names Used in 590 Field
  3. Appendix C: ITYPES
  4. Appendix D: ICODE1 Ranges and LOCATION and AGENCY codes
  5. Appendix E: MAT TYPE and SUPPRESS Codes for 949 Export Commands
  6. Appendix F: Create List Ranges
  7. Appendix G: Database and Record Structure
  8. Appendix H: Configuring OCLC to Export to OPAL
  9. Appendix I: Glossary
  10. Appendix J: Standardized List of Awards for 586 Field
  11. Appendix K: Exceptions to OPAL Cataloging Standards and Procedures
  12. Appendix L: Sample Workflows