There is no relationship between the CIP program and Copyright registration. The principal intention of copyright records is to document the intellectual or creative ownership of a work. The principal intention of a CIP record is to describe the bibliographic characteristics of a work and thereby facilitate access to it in library catalogs.

For more information concerning the Copyright Office, go to
http://www.copyright.gov/. To search copyright records, go to
http://www.copyright.gov/records/. The mailing address is:

There is no charge for CIP processing. However, participating publishers are obligated to send a complimentary copy of all books for which CIP data was provided immediately upon publication. Publishers failing to meet this obligation may be suspended from the program. Please note that all books submitted to the Library of Congress in compliance with the CIP Program are property of the Library of Congress and therefore are not returnable.

Cataloging in Publication (CIP) data is available only for works that are not yet published. Published works are not eligible for CIP data. All works, however, submitted to the Copyright Office to meet copyright obligations are also reviewed by Library of Congress selection officers. Works selected for addition to the Library's collections are assigned a cataloging priority and cataloged according to that priority. The Library does not provide current status reports for individual works processed in this manner. The Library of Congress database, however, is available via the Internet (http://www.loc.gov/) and can be searched for works that the Library has cataloged. Publishers should also consider working with a professional librarian at a local library to obtain cataloging.

Resources available to support the CIP program are limited. Recognizing this constraint the CIP program is limited to publishers with an established history of producing works that are widely acquired by the nation's libraries. Such works often include publications produced by small publishers (over 40% of CIP publishers publish less than 5 titles a year), but do not include works of self-publishers. Works not included in the CIP program can be cataloged locally by those libraries that obtain them. These works may also be eligible for the Preassigned Control Number program. See: http://pcn.loc.gov/

This policy and others that govern the CIP program are developed in consultation with the library community. Library of Congress staff meet with librarians twice a year at the annual and midwinter American Library Association conferences to discuss such issues as this. Results from the 2006 CIP Survey showed that the following types of material (now excluded from the CIP program) should be added to the program before adding self-published works: video discs (or tapes), audio discs (or tapes), multimedia packages, mass market paperbacks, electronic books, and books published by prominent non-U.S. publishers. Recent meetings confirm that this ranking, for the most part, continues to reflect the library community's preferences.

Resources available to support the CIP program are limited. Recognizing this constraint the CIP program is limited to works most likely to be widely acquired by the nation's libraries. On-demand books are published in small numbers and are seldom widely acquired by the nation's libraries at the time of the initial print run. In those instances when an on-demand title is widely acquired by libraries over a period of time and a series of printings a catalog record is generally available from other libraries or networks such as the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).

The Cataloging in Publication program creates bibliographic records for forthcoming books most likely to be widely acquired by U.S. libraries. The bibliographic record (also known as CIP data) is sent to the publisher and printed on the verso of the title page. A machine-readable version of the record is also distributed to libraries, book dealers, and bibliographic networks worldwide via the Library's Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS).

The Preassigned Control Number (PCN) program assigns a Library of Congress Control Number (aka Library of Congress Card Number) to titles most likely to be acquired by the Library of Congress as well as some other categories of books. The publisher prints the control number in the book and thereby facilitates cataloging and other book processing activities for libraries and book sellers who obtain copies of the book. An initial bibliographic record is also created for many of these works when the number is assigned. This record is not distributed and is not printed in the book. The CIP program and PCN program are mutually exclusive. Titles processed in one program are not processed in the other program.

There is no difference between a Library of Congress Card Number and a Library of Congress Control Number. They mean the same thing - a unique number assigned to each Library of Congress catalog record. The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is the number associated with the bibliographic record created by the Library of Congress or another library for a given book. Strictly speaking the LCCN is the control number for the bibliographic record, not the book. In the past, the printed card in a card catalog was the most popular format for displaying the bibliographic record and consequently the number associated with the record was commonly referred to as the Library of Congress Card Number. Other formats, however, were also used to display and distribute catalog records such as: book catalogs, microform catalogs, and online catalogs. As the most popular format for displaying and distributing bibliographic records is now the online automated system, it is more accurate to use the term "Library of Congress Control Number" rather than "Library of Congress Card Number".

A Preasigned Control Number (PCN) is a Library of Congress Control Number which has been "preassigned" to a given work prior to the work's publication. The publisher of an eligible work may obtain a PCN by way of the EPCN program, assuming, of course, that the work has not yet been published. Published works are otherwise assigned a LCCN during the cataloging process, if they have been selected for addition to the Library of Congress' collections.

Most applications to participate in the Cataloging in Publication program are processed in one to two weeks depending on current workloads.

Most applications are completed in two weeks from the time the application is reviewed and found to be complete until the time the CIP data is generated and sent to the publishers. Clinical medical titles take longer since they are sent to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) for descriptive cataloging and NLM medical subject headings before being completed by Library of Congress subject catalogers and Dewey decimal classification specialists. Applications for juvenile titles require additional processing to add subject headings and/or summaries for young readers. Publishers of juvenile titles are encouraged to submit their applications at least two months prior to the date they will need the CIP data. Regardless of the subject matter, however, publishers should submit applications well in advance of publication to provide ample processing time should the application encounter a period of heavy workload or require developmental work to establish subject or name authority records.

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a number that uniquely identifies books and book like products published internationally. The hardcover version should have a different ISBN than the softcover. A corrected printing should have a different ISBN than the original. An audio version should likewise have a different number. ISBNs are in no way related to Library of Congress Control Numbers and are only related to Cataloging in Publication (CIP) data to the extent that the CIP data will include an ISBN(s) if the publisher has provided this information when requesting the CIP data.

The U.S. ISBN Agency (not the Library of Congress) is responsible for the assignment of ISBNs to publishers resident in the U.S. and who publish titles in the U.S. The U.S. ISBN agency address is:

The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a standard 8-digit number that uniquely identifies any serial publication independently of place of publication, language, frequency, or medium. ISSNs are in no way related to Library of Congress Control Numbers and are only related to CIP data to the extent that a series statement in the CIP data will include the ISSN if the ISSN associated with the series appears in the published book and the publisher has provided this information when requesting the CIP data.

The U.S. ISSN agency is the National Serials Data Program (NSDP) is responsible for assigning ISSNs to serials issued by publishers resident in the U.S. who publish serials in the U.S. NSDP is located at the Library of Congress and can be contacted at the following address:

A multivolume set is a work published in more than one physical volume and not open-ended in nature. In other words, there is a finite amount of information and a planned end to the publication. By contrast, a monographic series is open-ended with no foreseeable end.

It depends on whether or not the Library of Congress decides to catalog all the volumes of the set on a single bibliographic record. If it does, then the CIP Division will provide a single set of CIP data which covers all the volumes of the set. Revised data will not be provided for volumes for which CIP data is requested after the first volume(s) for which CIP data has been requested. The CIP data supplied for the first volume(s) cataloged should be printed in each subsequent volume.

Therefore, if some or all the volumes of such a set will be published simultaneously, it is very important that your application includes information concerning all of these simultaneously-published volumes. Otherwise, when you apply for CIP data for successive volumes published simultaneously with the earliest volumes for which you requested data, you will be directed to print the existing CIP data (which will lack information concerning the volumes you did not include in your original application) in the successive volumes.

If, on the other hand, the Library decides to create separate records for each volume of your multivolume set, then you may apply separately for each volume as it becomes "ready" for publication and separate CIP data will be provided for each volume.

If the individual volumes of the set have no subtitles or special titles of their own or no independently meaningful or distinctive titles or subtitles of their own (e.g., "Acad-Beet" or "1900-1929"), the Library is likely to create a single bibliographic record for the set as a whole and the CIP Division will provide a single set of CIP data.

If each volume of the set is prepared by (a) different author(s) and each volume has a different, independently meaningful title, or if all the volumes of the set are by one author and have clearly distinctive titles, the Library is likely to create separate records for the volumes of the set. A common instance of the latter category is a retrospective collection of an author's works, each of which was originally published separately. If the Library does decide to create separate records for each volume of the set, separate CIP data will be provided for each volume.

The decision to create a single record for the set and/or to create separate records for the individual volumes of the set is not always as clear as in the above examples. Other factors, such as the method of volume or series numbering or cataloger’s judgment, may influence the decision. If you are in any doubt whatsoever, contact your CIP Publisher Liaison for assistance.

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