Cooperative Cataloging at the Intersection of Tradition and Transformation: Possible Futures for the Program for Cooperative Cataloging

Abstract

Shared cataloging has a long history, stretching back over a century to the creation of the Library of Congress’ Cataloging Distribution Service. More recent endeavors such as the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) have taken a much more distributed approach. By many measures, these efforts have been highly successful. But changes to the information discovery environment, especially in the past decade, have complicated bibliographic control practices. This article discusses what changes might impact the Program most significantly and how it might evolve to remain a critical player in the bibliographic control of intellectual resources.