what is catalogue in library

A library catalog is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries. It is a list of books and other graphic material in a library arranged according to a recognized order and containing specific information about each item. The catalog may be in tangible form, such as a card catalog, or in electronic form, such as an online public access catalog (OPAC) . The catalog provides access to items by their author, title, subject, co-author, translator, illustrator, and by series title. It also indicates where each item is located in the collection. The functions of a library catalog include informing the library user whether the library owns a particular copy of a particular item, which works by a specific author are in the collection, and which editions of a particular work the library owns. Cataloging is the process of creating and maintaining bibliographic and authority records in the library catalog. It is the process of creating metadata about library resources, which is included in the catalog.