A uniform title in library cataloging is a distinctive title assigned to a work which either has no title or has appeared under more than one title. Establishing a uniform title is an aspect of

authority control In information science, authority control is a process that organizes information, for example in library catalogs, by using a single, distinct spelling of a name (heading) or a numeric identifier for each topic. The word ''authority'' in ''aut ...

. The phrases conventional title and standard title are sometimes used; Resource Description and Access uses preferred title; while the 2009 Statement of International Cataloguing Principles deprecates "uniform title" in favour of authorized access point. There are many instances in which a uniform title can be used. Anonymous works such as

sacred texts Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies Myth i ...

and folk tales may lack an obvious title: for instance, the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

, ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with ...

'', ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...

'', or the '' Chanson de Roland''. Works of art and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

may contain no text that can be used for reference. A uniform title allows all versions of the work to collocate under one title and will reference all of the items to which the uniform title applies. For example, if a library has 10 copies of '' Crime and Punishment'', each in a different language, an online library catalogue can display all of the copies of the book together under the chosen uniform title. The library could also list any copies of ''Crime and Punishment'' in other media, such as film adaptations or abridged editions, under the same uniform title. This can help a library patron when searching the online catalog find all of the versions of ''Crime and Punishment'' at once instead of searching for each foreign title or film individually. Uniform titles are particularly useful when cataloguing music, where pieces of music are often known by multiple valid titles and those titles are known in multiple languages, or when an individual work has been adapted as a contrafactum. The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

provides an example of how books of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

are referred to in the

Anglo-American Cataloging Rules Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

:- Bible. N.T. Acts :- Bible. N.T. Colossians :- Bible. N.T. Corinthians, 1st :- Bible. N.T. Corinthians, 2nd :- Bible. N.T. Ephesians ...

Example:

edition being cataloged: Othello / William Shakespeare

established uniform title: Shakespeare, William ... Othello

no uniform title assigned to the edition being cataloged

Example:

edition being cataloged: The tempest / William Shakespeare

established uniform title: Shakespeare, William ... Tempest

The complementary situation occurs with a single work that exists with more than one title, especially when

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

into another language, excerpted or collected with other works. In this case, the name of the language or a phrase such as 'Selections' is added to distinguish works with the same uniform title. The

MARC 21 MARC (machine-readable cataloging) standards are a set of digital formats for the description of items catalogued by libraries, such as books, DVDs, and digital resources. Computerized library catalogs and library management software need to st ...

standard uses fields 240, 243, 630, 730 and 830 for uniform titles.

References

External links

* Reitz, Joan M
ODLIS: Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. U.
Library cataloging and classification Identifiers {{Library-stub