Library and Information Science

It is a fundamental desire of a man to access and acquire as comprehensive as possible sources and materials he needs for his research and other purposes. In addition to, however, a rapid increase of recorded materials (including not only primary sources, but also secondary sources), there has been a change in the type of requests on the part of those who need these information. That is to say, instead of keeping with traditional boundaries of learning, there has been an increased need for inter-disciplinary approaches. To respond to these circumstances, effective “bibliographical control” is stressed and desired.

The understanding of the concept of bibliographical control by librarians and documentalists is wide apart with various nuances, and even vague in some cases. In this paper, the writer has attempted to clarify the meaning of bibliographical control, to trace its history at the international level, and finally describes recent trends briefly.

As the ultimate aim of bibliographical control is to “enable any researcher anywhere in the world readily to discover, locate and obtain the content of whatever segment of man's record he may want, for whatever purpose in whatever for”, the history of bibliographical control is not merely that of bibliography. From this point of view, some representative attempts made from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the World War II are taken up. They are Catalogue of scientific papers, Concilium bibliographicum, International catalogue of scientific literature, International Institute of Bibliography, International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, International Federation for Documentation, and International Federation of Library Associations.

The conclusion arrived at from the study of these attempts is that, though bibliographical control at the international level would not be impossible, that at the national level should be taken up first. After the World War II, the UNESCO has endeavored to faciliate national bibliographical services. But the role which the UNESCO can play is only a portion in the field of bibliographical control.

At present, mechanization is a prevailing tendency in any subject and field, and it is no exception in the bibliographical world. In the academic world, specialization is very much in evidence. On the other hand, mission-orientation is in demand. In a situation such as these, in order to advance bibliographical control effectively, one must pursue constantly an user-oriented resolution based on a broad perspective.