Library of Congress tools benefit online

More information on the Cataloger's Desktop for the Web

The Cataloger's Desktop, a widely used library tool, is now much improved as a Web-based subscription service, said Peter Seligman, a staff member in the Library of Congress' Cataloging Distribution Service.

The Cataloger's Desktop represents the largest and most complete integration of cataloging tools for librarians, at least for those in the English-speaking world, Seligman said. Its most widely used resource is the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 2, a major reference work for librarians who have to catalogue hundreds of different types of books, serials, maps and monographs.

Among its tools, the Cataloger's Desktop for the Web has the Library of Congress Rule Interpretations, MARC 21 machine-readable cataloging tools and subject-cataloging manuals. Libraries that subscribe to the print version receive 31 different publications, one of which has 1,500 pages in three binders that are each four-inches thick.

Because of its convenience for librarians, the Cataloger's Desktop for the Web will surpass the CD-ROM and paper versions in popularity, Seligman predicted. "This is going to become the standard cataloguing documentation resource," he said, adding that all Library of Congress catalogers use it already.

Seligman said subscriptions to the Web version of the Cataloger's Desktop are based on concurrent-user pricing. The annual price of a single license is $575.