Functions and Types of Entry: A Review of Earlier Codes for Corporate Entry

Abstract

It should prove possible, with the newer physical forms of catalogs, to provide users with greatly enriched access to library materials. There already is evidence that additional types of access would prove useful. Furthermore, it is reasonable to suppose that some of the exceptional practices that were codified in earlier catalog codes existed because they represented the known needs of users. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to review some of the earlier practices pertaining to the choice of entry, name, and form of name for corporate bodies in order to identify what function or use might have been fulfilled by such practices. Three additional functions or types of use thus are identified. If catalogs are to fulfill these added functions, the implications of such types of access should be tested empirically before they are implemented.