Bibliographic Control as a Methodological Concept of Librarianship

Abstract

　This paper is to provide the preparatory discussion to build a methodological framework of librarianship in terms of bibliographic control, the concept of which is newly defined and enlarged. We review a series of theories of bibliographic control—IIB, Butler, Egan & Shera, UBC & UAP. On the basis of the review we construct a structural framework of bibliographic control on the unit level and the complex level. It was a flaw of the discussions ever made on bibliographic control that the whole control process whithin a community or society was missed, limitting the controllers to such professions as librarians, bibliographers and indexers both on the unit and complex levels. We find in the whole process of bibliographic control four streps—technologically strict conceptualization, considering human process, enlarging the domain and unconcious control process. As we follow these steps we will be able to utilize the term, bibliographic control, as not only a connotative one but conceptual device to analyze and describe “library phenomena”.