Catalogue & Index (ISSN: 2399-9667) is the periodical of the CILIP Metadata & Discovery Group (MDG). It has been published since 1966 to discuss the organisation of knowledge to enable collection management and resource discovery, and includes articles on cataloguing, classification, indexing, metadata, and both national and international standards and formats. This is our new journal platform and we are in the process of migrating our back issues. In the mean time please click here to access issues up to issue 207.
A checklist to use as a starting point if and when you begin cataloguing in a system that does not use MARC.
Copyright (c) 2025 Anne Welsh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cataloguer training takes time, patience and a lot of learning – from different standards and procedures depending on the material to grappling with different Library Management Systems and all the jargon associated. When Covid hit, the recently digitised collection of HMSO catalogues became an ideal working from home project. Each listing had adequate information to make a catalogue record to allow these partially hidden items to be discoverable. The problem was that cataloguers at the National Library of Scotland only had their personal devices to begin with and no access to our usual software. Plus, work was also required for Library staff who were not trained cataloguers. The solution – Excel spreadsheets. A friendly and familiar format where data entered in an organised fashion could then be imported into Alma (our Library Management System) to make items available. Users would be able to create Metadata quickly with minimal training and no knowledge required about MARC or RDA standards. What started as a Covid solution has now become common place for specific routine metadata projects for staff without in-depth cataloguing training.
Copyright (c) 2025 Carol Hunter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The challenges of data ingest, transformation and aggregation at the National Bibliographic Knowledgebase
Large-scale library data aggregations provide additional discovery opportunities for users and benefit collection management, metadata and interlending work in libraries. However, they present significant delivery challenges around the matching and deduplication of records and require continuous improvement and maintenance to keep pace with changes in the way the sector creates and shares its metadata. This article describes how contributors to Jisc’s National Bibliographic Knowledgebase (NBK) supply their data and how the Jisc Library Hub team matches and deduplicates the data for use via Library Hub Discover, Library Hub Cataloguing, and Library Hub Compare services. It will also explore some of the challenges faced with data transfer, metadata formats, non-standard metadata, and future developments. This article is based on a paper given at CILIP’s Rare Books & Special Collections Group conference in September 2025.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jennie-Claire Crate https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Karen F. Pierce, Fran Frenzel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book review: Records and Information Management
Book review of Records and Information Management.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sarah Henning https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This article presents the Decolonisation Toolkit created by People’s Collection Wales (PCW), a community-driven digital heritage platform. Released in 2025, the Toolkit provides structured guidance for identifying, contextualising, and addressing discriminatory and colonial language in both English and Welsh metadata. Core features include website-level and item-level content warnings, transparent audit trails, and practical workflows for reviewing legacy material and preparing new uploads. Drawing on case studies – including historic newspapers, Penrhyn Castle, minstrel show photographs, and community contributions – the article explores how the Toolkit supports inclusive description while maintaining accuracy and public trust. It situates PCW’s approach within wider debates about non-MARC metadata, critical description, and community participation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jessica Roberts https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Through the case study of Le terze rime di Dante (PR‑ALDI‑18873), this article charts the progression from a MARC bibliographic record in Ex Libris Alma | Primo to an enriched TEI‑XML file that forms a meaningful digital object in Manchester Digital Collections (MDC). The case study outlines the automated and editorial stages of the workflow, highlights key modelling decisions and challenges, and reflects on TEI’s value as a flexible, expressive framework for describing digitised early printed books whose complexity exceeds the limits of standard bibliographic control. It demonstrates that while automation enables efficiency, human‑led editorial intervention remains essential to produce accurate, semantically rich, and reusable metadata for sustainable digital collections.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ourania Karapasia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
‘We are here not because we are metadata-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become metadata-makers’
This article outlines a Wikidata project undertaken by LSE Library’s Metadata team to enhance the discoverability of a unique set of oral history interviews about the British Suffrage Movement. The paper outlines each stage of creating linked open data to represent interviews, interviewees and associated entities, and reflects on challenges less familiar to traditional cataloguing practices in RDA and MARC21, including data protection impact assessments, data modelling, URL stability, and creation and enrichment of contextual linked data, including non-LCSH identifiers. The project explores new ways to interrogate and visualise metadata through SPARQL queries, and highlights opportunities to contribute to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Reflections on conflict of interest, community engagement, and the evolving role of metadata professionals are shared, alongside early insights into project impact. The article demonstrates how Wikidata can extend traditional metadata practice, offering new opportunities for collaboration, discovery, and representation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Helen K. R. Williams https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book review of Ethics in Linked Data
Copyright (c) 2025 Elizabeth Cooper https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This article critically examines the applicability of generative AI in library metadata creation and cataloguing, arguing that despite growing interest and experimentation, such technologies remain fundamentally unsuited for this domain. Drawing on recent literature, surveys, and institutional case studies, the author demonstrates that generative AI tools consistently produce metadata outputs that are unreliable, inconsistent, and ethically problematic. While machine learning offers potential in specific, supervised metadata functions, generative AI’s reliance on probabilistic outputs, lack of transparency, and tendency to hallucinate undermine the accuracy and reliability essential to cataloguing. The article also explores the broader ethical implications of AI adoption in libraries, including issues of bias, environmental impact, copyright concerns, and labour exploitation. The author argues that fully automated metadata creation using generative AI is neither technically viable nor ethically responsible and instead advocates for cautious, critically informed AI integration, emphasising the continued necessity of human oversight and ethical scrutiny in metadata work.
Copyright (c) 2025 Fran Frenzel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Editorial for Catalogue & Index issue 211 (2025).
Copyright (c) 2025 Karen Pierce, Fran Frenzel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book Review: Many Pathways for Discovery
Copyright (c) 2025 James Clark https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book Review: RDA and Serials Cataloguing
Copyright (c) 2025 Natasha Aburrow-Jones https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book review: The DEI Metadata Handbook
Copyright (c) 2025 Ashleigh Weir https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This article outlines the planning and development of an AI-powered agent designed to assist with generating records at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Library and Cultural Services. The team explores the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to automate and enhance cataloguing processes, particularly for unique and multilingual materials in the Special Collections Museum and Manchester Poetry Library. The article discusses technical challenges, ethical considerations, and the importance of maintaining human oversight to ensure quality and transparency. It also details the system architecture and outlines future goals such as multilingual support and automated record enhancement. This project not only aims to improve efficiency but also empowers staff through upskilling and deeper engagement with emerging AI technologies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sheldon Korpet, Nathalie Rees https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper addresses the critical need to link related records in library catalogues, particularly for aggregated volumes and serial articles in physical collections, to enhance user access and discoverability. The Natural History Museum (NHM) Library, facing a significant backlog of unlinked article-level records within physical journal holdings, developed a semi-automated solution. We outline a two-stage pipeline utilizing natural language processing (NLP) and record linkage techniques to automate the matching of article (child) records to journal (parent) records. This approach, leveraging title similarity and metadata extraction, achieved 60% accuracy against a previously-linked dataset. We discuss the challenge article level records can present and how such computational methods can optimise metadata workflows, allowing human effort to be redirected to more complex tasks and improving access across vast collections with limited resources.
Copyright (c) 2025 Benjamin Cornish, Ben Scott https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Manipulating Rare Print Metadata with ChatGPT
This is an account of a small scale trial to evaluate the potential application of AI in the upgrading of existing MARC records, specifically using ChatGPT-4 to render records DCRMR compliant. The trial was informally structured and as such the findings are neither comprehensive nor entirely conclusive. However they do demonstrate the difficulties generative AI has in producing consistent and accurate records, especially with regard to describing the copy-specific elements particular to rare print materials. The principal conclusion of the trial is that while there are effective existing metadata tools to assist in upgrading records, AI may have applications in improving their usability and streamlining the processes involved.
Copyright (c) 2025 Steven Hartshorne https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Artificial intelligence is now incorporated into many systems and processes, including within the publishing sector. In this article, I consider its application to book indexing. Following an overview of human indexing processes and existing indexing technology, I report on the results of experiments with the use of generative AI tools for indexing and related tasks. Currently, such tools create inaccurate and limited indexes, suggesting there is limited benefit in using such tools for book indexing. I also note some of the legal and contractual barriers to publishing freelancers’ use of generative AI tools in their work.
Copyright (c) 2025 Tanya Izzard https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Karen F. Pierce, Fran Frenzel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book review: Billey, Amber, Nelson, Elizabeth & Uhl, Rebecca (2024, eds.) Inclusive cataloging: histories, context, and reparative approaches
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Karen F. Pierce https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Cataloguing Code of Ethics since 2021
This article provides an update on the Cataloguing Code of Ethics since its publication in 2021. It details the Cataloguing Ethics Steering Committees’ (CESC) work in promoting the document and mentions community use. The Committee’s aspirations and plans for the document during 2025 are outlined and the article concludes with the authors’ personal observations regarding how the Code might evolve.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jane Daniels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Zine Collections at the University for the Creative Arts are experiencing significant growth, particularly in the areas of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Given that many of these zines are handmade and independently published, they are seldom purchased as “shelf-ready” items. Consequently, new acquisitions have presented a valuable opportunity to assess metadata requirements and subject categorisation as they are catalogued in-house. This article will outline our cataloguing and metadata initiatives, with a particular focus on the description of our LGBTQ+ zine collection, addressing subject headings, summary provision, challenges faced, and the overall impact of our efforts.
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
Copyright (c) 2025 Emma Hallett https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book review: Montague-Hellen, B. (2024) Practical tips for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Libraries
Copyright (c) 2025 Colette Townend https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Updating subject headings for children’s literature at the University of Strathclyde: the Children’s Theme Index
The Cataloguing and Metadata team at the University of Strathclyde recently undertook a comprehensive review of subject headings used for the Library’s collection of children’s literature. The purpose of this review was to bring this set of in-house subject headings up to date, make it more representative and inclusive, and better integrate it with cataloguing workflows. This article introduces the collection and its subject headings, discusses why a review was needed, and outlines how the review was carried out, and how changes were implemented in the LMS and discovery service.
Copyright (c) 2025 Andrew McAinsh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The classification and cataloguing of LGBTQ+ materials in libraries has been, historically, less than equitable. Mainstream vocabularies such as Library of Congress subject headings are insufficient and inadequate descriptors of LGBTQ+ resources. One modern solution to this imbalance has been the creation of inclusive vocabulary lists designed to replace or enhance outdated and offensive terminology. This paper outlines a project by Emory University librarians to implement one such list - the Homosaurus - throughout their entire catalogue. Outcomes specific to the project, including the benefits and fallbacks of automation versus manual cataloguing, are debated while additional considerations, such as the need for ongoing staff training and consistent policies, are discussed. In addition, the authors seek to examine the broader picture of inclusive metadata initiatives within the current political climate of the United States. While the Homosaurus has an important role to play in reparative cataloguing, it cannot stand alone and should be employed as part of a general commitment to just and representative metadata.
Copyright (c) 2025 Tara Kunesh, Jude Romines https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The technical side to forming an anti-racist and inclusive library catalogue at Cardiff University
As part of a project to create an anti-racist and inclusive library catalogue, records containing outdated and harmful terminology in the subject headings were identified. This article describes the technical work which supported the identification of the records and the solutions used to remove, replace or remediate the headings.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vicky Stallard, Dr Karen F. Pierce, Mouse Miller https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Forming an anti-racist and inclusive library catalogue at Cardiff University
Details of a HEFCW (Higher Education Funding Council for Wales) funded project to create an anti-racist and inclusive library catalogue at Cardiff University. A project cataloguer was employed to assess the extent of problematic subject headings within the library catalogue. After researching the issue and identifying outdated and harmful terminology, remedial solutions and recommendations were proposed and then implemented. This article describes the processes undertaken throughout the project, including the removal or replacement of inappropriate headings (LCSH and MeSH).
Copyright (c) 2025 Mouse Miller, Dr Karen F. Pierce, Vicky Stallard https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Book review of Piepmeier, Olivia & Grimm, Stephanie (2019, eds.) Comics and critical librarianship: reframing the narrative in academic libraries
Copyright (c) 2025 Karen F. Pierce https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Problematic subject headings: making our catalogue more equitable, diverse and inclusive at the University of Bristol
Subject headings have increasingly been the focus of attention from students, researchers and librarians, particularly in relation to headings which causes distress and offence. By using the Locally Preferred Subjects feature of OCLC’s Worldshare Management Services library services platform currently in use at the University of Bristol, we were able to plan and implement a procedure to analyse and replace where necessary harmful subject headings. We describe the workflows and processes associated with this project, focusing on the technical and organisational challenges that we encountered and the solutions we found, and how we will maintain and progress the project in future. Special thanks and acknowledgement to OCLC for their support of WorldCat, and its associated products and services. OCLC® and WorldCat® are registered trademarks/service marks of OCLC, Inc. All rights are reserved by them.
Decolonisation; Subject headings; Diversity; Inclusion
Copyright (c) 2025 Liz Cooper, Damien McManus https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cataloguing Buddhist literature in English
Having been ordained for twenty-five years as a Buddhist monk, I have a vested interest in being able to present to Westerners a knowledge and understanding of the full extent of the ‘Three Baskets’ of the Buddha's teaching, which is to say; the Tripitaka. For Western Buddhist monastics, or serious lay people generally, such an understanding used to require extensive study in foreign languages, such as Pali, Chinese, Japanese, or Tibetan. I believe it no longer does due to the volume of traditional Buddhist texts that have been translated into English over the course of the last two hundred years. This belief however, presupposes a comprehensive inventory in which the individual works, in their English language versions can be presented in relation to each other, a resource which hasn’t previously existed. This article describes the creation of a new catalogue to hopefully meet that need, illustrating a particular ethical issue that was encountered.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rev. Lambert Tuffrey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0