Types

Traditionally, there are the following types of catalog:

• Author catalog: a formal catalog, sorted alphabetically according to the authors' or editors' names of the entries.
• Title catalog: a formal catalog, sorted alphabetically according to the title of the entries.
• Dictionary catalog: a catalog in which all entries (author, title, subject, series) are interfiled in a single alphabetical order. This was the primary form of card catalog in the Anglo-American world just prior to the introduction of the computer-based catalog.
• Keyword catalog: a subject catalog, sorted alphabetically according to some system of keywords.
• Mixed alphabetic catalog forms: sometimes, one finds a mixed author / title, or an author / title / keyword catalog.
• Systematic catalog: a subject catalog, sorted according to some systematic subdivision of subjects. Also called a Classified catalog.
• Shelf list catalog: a formal catalog with entries sorted in the same order as bibliographic items are shelved. This catalog may also serve as the primary inventory for the library.