Essential Cataloguing Paperback – December 1, 2003

Since I have bought the book I have only used it a few times. It is easier to go to the OCLC bibliographic formats and standards when I have questions. I was disappointed to learn when I looked at the table of contents that it only covers the author, title and description areas of a catalog record. It is meant to be a general reference volume and the introduction encourages you to consult AACR2 for more detail.

This is an excellent class room text. It contains all the essentials in basic information on how to catalogue library items.

Do not buy this book the excamples are terrible for such an expensive text. To explain cataloguing it is essential to have engaging excamples that explain the theory.

This book has been incredibly helpful in interpreting AACR2 and MARC21. A full copy of AACR2 is still needed, of course, but Bowman's book provides an easily understandable breakdown of the most important rules, accompanied by clear examples and cross-referenced with the relevant section of AACR2. However, buyers should be aware that this book mainly covers the cataloguing of printed material only, and the inclusion of MARC21 coding is not in-depth.All in all, this book is a fantastic addition to the collection of any library student!