The Library's Cataloging Distribution Service announces the release of Symbols of American Libraries, 14th Edition. Symbols is the established standard in the field and the new 14th edition is the only comprehensive list of symbols available to libraries and major information organizations. The publication is a list of short alphabetical codes developed by LC and used to identify libraries and other organizations in union catalogs, data bases and other compilations. It provides a master list needed for communicating with other libraries.
Symbols of American Libraries includes nearly 24,000 symbols plus references for many other identifiers that are obsolete or are variant forms of approved identifiers. Mnemonic identifiers provide memory assistance through geographic prefixes and coded abbreviations of the institutional names. Indexes make searching easy for users -- included are listings of standard NUC symbols, organization names, and straight alphabetical listings.
A notable enhancement to the 14th edition, Symbols of American Libraries now makes searching by symbol a quicker process. All valid identifiers are now no more than eight characters, making each identifier unique when capitalization is ignored. This enhancement does not apply to changed, obsolete, invalid or unused symbols given as references.
Symbols of American Libraries is the key for identifying symbols in many union lists, including the following LC publications: National Union Catalog, NUC Books, The Music Catalog (microfiche), NUC Register of Additional Locations, New Serial Titles and NUC Cartographic Materials. Names and addresses of institutions are complete for mailing purposes. Price: $28 in North America, $30 outside North America.
To order, contact Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, Customer Services Unit/Dept.DH, Washington, DC 20541-5017. Telephone: (800) 255-3666 (toll-free in U.S.) or (202) 707-6100. TDD: (202) 707-0012. Fax: (202) 707-1334. Internet: cdsinfo@mail.loc.gov.