Although the advent of bibliographic utilities and library networks caused a radical change to the cataloging work in libraries, the prevailing cataloging rules have not been adapted to this change. They retain a number of residues of the work in which the card catalog was the principal bibliographic tool.
In Section 1, functions of the library catalog are reviewed and those rules which seem to be the residues of the age of card catalogs are discussed: these include the emphasis on one specific output from (cards), headings, transcription, punctuation, the linking of data, and the note area.
In Section 2, a detailed list of elements of bibliographic information systems to be dealt with in standardization is presented and discussed in view of facilitating the use of the systems by patrons as well as by catalogers.
In the last section discussed are the fundamental principles to be considered when formulating the standards for bibliographic information systems. These are the scope of rules, the extent to which the descriptions of the equipment and other systems requirements shoul be included, the expandability of cataloging rules, etc. To avoid an infinite increase of the number of rules to incorporate various media which continue to appear in the future' a hyper-media database of rules would be a solution. As a basis of discussion on cataloging rules of the next generation, the necessity of the distinction between logical and physical records is emphasized.
