- Acquisitions
- Cataloging Tools, Documentation
- Catalogs, Authority Records
- Classification
- Cooperative Programs
- General, Descriptive Cataloging
- Products for Purchase
- Professional Activities
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- Subject Headings
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The Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate provides acquisitions and bibliographic access services to the Library of Congress and leadership in bibliographic access collaborations and standards for the library and information service communities, nationally and internationally, and training and instructional design for the Library Services service unit of the Library of Congress.
Beacher Wiggins, Director
Phone: (202) 707-5325
bwig@loc.gov
Acquisitions Mission: To acquire materials for the Library's collections in the most timely and cost effective manner and make them accessible.
Acquisitions acquires materials for the Library of Congress in all formats -- books, periodicals, maps, music, prints, photographs, recorded sound, videos, etc. -- and in all subjects, except technical agriculture and clinical medicine, from all over the world.
Bibliographic Access Mission: To provide innovative and effective bibliographic access to library materials and leadership to the library and information communities.
The Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Divisions are responsible for the descriptive cataloging (physical attributes of the book, assignment of intellectual responsibility for the creation of the content, and the forms of names by which those responsible are to be represented in the catalog) of books, microforms, and computer files; and the subject analysis, Library of Congress classification, shelflisting (to provide unique call numbers), and Dewey Decimal classification of books, special formats, and some serials. The divisions provide leadership in cataloging policy for the national and international library communities and the secretariat for the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, an international consortium which promotes the creation of shared cataloging which meets international standards. The ABA Divisions include the Cataloging Distribution Service, which develops and disseminates cataloging documentation and distributes cataloging data to customers worldwide.
The Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate includes the following divisions and offices.
Acquisitions Fiscal and Support Office
The Acquisitions Fiscal and Support Office administers the expenditure of funds and provides centralized accounting for the acquisitions budget.
Fiscal Operations Officer, Russell Marr
African, latin American and Western European Division
Chief, Angela Kinney
Asian and Middle Eastern Division
Chief, Philip Melzer
Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division
Chief, Judith Cannan
Germanic and Slavic Division
Chief, Linda Stubbs
Overseas Operations Division
The Library has six overseas offices located in areas where research materials cannot be acquired through traditional means. These offices, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Cairo (Egypt), New Delhi (India), Jakarta (Indonesia). Nairobi (Kenya), and Islamabad (Pakistan) acquire materials and provide varying levels of bibliographic control for them. The offices in Jakarta and New Delhi also conduct microfiching and microfilming operations.
Chief, James N. Gentner
Visit the Overseas Offices home page.
Policy and Standards Division
The Policy and Standards Division creates and implements cataloging policy in the Library of Congress and the national and international library communities, supports the effectiveness of cataloging staff at LC through advice on cataloging policy and maintenance of bibliographic, authority, and classification records, and develops and supports national and international standards for the structure and content of such records.
Chief, Barbara Tillett
Information about the work of the CPSO can be found throughout the ABA site.
U.S./Anglo Division
Chief, Judith A. Mansfield
U.S. and Publisher Liaison Division
Chief, Maureen Landry
U.S. General Division
Chief, Karl Debus-López
Other Library of Congress divisions involved in cataloging and acquisitions activities:
- Geography and Map Division Acquisitions
- Geography and Map Division Cataloging
- Prints and Photographs Cataloging and Digitizing Toolbox
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Anglo-American Acquisitions Division
The Anglo-American Acquisitions Division is responsible for acquiring material through purchase, gift and exchange from the English-speaking world -- including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the South Pacific Islands, and the United Kingdom. The division also collects U.S. government publications and publications from the states of the United States. Additionally, ANAD coordinates the acquisition of major gift collections and coordinates contracts and/or licensing agreements for special materials including electronic resources. Routine gifts are handled by the division responsible for the gift. The selection librarians responsible for selecting copyright, Cataloging in Publication, and serial materials are assigned to ANAD.
Acting Chief, Judith A. Mansfield
European & Latin American Acquisitions Division
The mission of the European/Latin American Acquisitions Division is to acquire materials for the collections and use of the Library from the countries and regions of Europe (excluding the United Kingdom) and Latin America (excluding Brazil, Guyana, Guyane, Surinam, and Uruguay) by purchase, exchange, gift, or under special provisions of law. The division also creates initial bibliographic control records as the initial step in processing the materials acquired.
Acting Chief, Linda Stubbs
Serial Record Division
The Serial Record Division provides inventory and bibliographic control for serial publications in a number of languages and formats. The National Serials Data Program, part of the division, provides international standard serial numbers (ISSNs) to U.S. publishers.
Chief, Maureen O. Landry
Visit the Serial Record Division home page.
Bibliographic Access
There are nine divisions in Bibliographic Access. Four of those divisions are responsible for cataloging of monograph print materials in 470 languages and scripts:
- Arts and Sciences Cataloging Division (Chief, Judith A. Mansfield)
- History and Literature Cataloging Division (Chief, Jeffrey Heynen)
- Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (Acting Chief, Philip Melzer)
- Social Sciences Cataloging Division (Chief, Angela Kinney)
The other five divisions are: Cataloging Distribution Service, Cataloging in Publication Division, Decimal Classification Division, Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Special Materials Cataloging Division
Cataloging Distribution Service
The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) develops and disseminates cataloging documentation and distributes cataloging data to customers worldwide. The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) serves the information needs of the Library of Congress and its national and international constituencies by developing, marketing and distributing cataloging products and services in a wide range of print and electronic formats. These products and services, along with technical and standards documentation published by CDS, allow librarians and information service providers to access, interpret, and use Library of Congress resources. Operating on a cost-recovery basis under the terms of a 1902 statute, CDS has a staff of product development, marketing, fiscal, accounting, and distribution specialists, programmers, system analysts, and customer services representatives. The Library's bibliographic and authority products and services available from CDS are widely used by LC staff and by thousands of libraries and information services providers around the world.
Acting Chief, Barbara Tillett
Cataloging in Publication Division
Cataloging in Publication Division administers the United States Cataloging in Publication program, which produces cataloging in advance of publication for those books most likely to be widely acquired by American libraries and obtains 50,000 books each year for the Library's collections.
Acting Chief, Diane Barber
Visit the Cataloging in Publication Division home page.
Decimal Classification Division
The Decimal Classification Division develops, applies, and assists in the use of the Dewey Decimal Classification.
Chief, Dennis McGovern
Special Materials Cataloging Division
The Special Materials Cataloging Division is responsible for cataloging materials in special formats (music, sound recordings, electronic resources, microforms), rare books, and manuscript collections.
Acting Chief, Linda Stubbs