Cataloger's Desktop now Available on the Web

[Cheryl Calista Cook]

Library of Congress Press Release

The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) of the Library of Congress has
introduced a Web-accessible version of its widely used cataloging tool,
Cataloger's Desktop. The new fee-for-service subscription product for
catalogers can be now accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and
provides the most widely used cataloging documentation resources in an
integrated, online system. Also, the new product includes the current
version of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2).

 Cataloger s Desktop on the Web represents the Library of Congress
successful initiative to offer catalogers everywhere a highly useful and
reliable Web cataloging tool,  said Kathryn Mendenhall, chief of CDS.
It incorporates all of the indispensable cataloging publications
catalogers use daily, but were previously available only in a large
number of individual print editions or as a quarterly CD-ROM disc from
CDS.

More than 1,600 catalogers worldwide tested the product over the
two-month beta test. Their critiques helped the CDS development team
fine-tune the product prior to its release.  I love the  open new window
 feature; I can compare the AACR2 with the LCRI [Library of Congress
Rule Interpretations] and MARC format,  said beta user Patricia Thurston
of Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library.

 Because of the inclusion of AACR2 in Cataloger s Desktop, the Web
product has been adopted by all Library of Congress catalogers and
should become a standard tool for catalogers throughout the world,  said
Bruce Johnson, Cataloger s Desktop development team leader.

The rules in AACR2 form the basis for descriptive cataloging practice in
the English-speaking
library community, with implications for cataloging standardization
worldwide. The inclusion of
AACR2 in Cataloger s Desktop ensures that cataloging will employ
standardized description, which in turn makes the cataloging
interchangeable from one catalog to the next.

The Cataloging Distribution Service of the Library of Congress has
provided technical library publications and services to the
international cataloging community on a cost-recovery basis for more
than 100 years. Additional information about CDS and Cataloger's
Desktop, including subscription options and pricing, is available online
at www.loc.gov/cds/desktop/.

AACR2 is copyrighted by of the American Library Association, the
Canadian Library Association, the Chartered Institute of Library and
Information Professionals.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Public Affairs Office
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540-1610
Phone (202) 707-2905
Fax (202) 707-9199
E-mail pao at loc.gov

June 7, 2004
Press Contact:
John Sayers, Public Affairs (202) 707-9216, jsay at loc.gov
Public Contact:
Peter Seligman, Cataloging Distribution Service (202) 707-1314,
psel at loc.gov