The editors of this fourth edition gathered leaders from all types of libraries to discuss the hows and whys of cataloging and accessing children’s materials in public and academic libraries. A nice blend of historical background is coupled with daily operating tactics resulting in a readable text; this was a nice surprise considering texts written on the subject of cataloging are oftentimes filled mostly with rules and regulations. As with the previous editions, the narrow focus on children is transcended in about half the chapters—much of the book’s information applies to best cataloging practices in general and so might be useful to a variety of cataloging professionals.

The first two chapters focus on the general thought processes for catalogers when producing records geared toward a young audience and what access points are needed for children to be successful when searching the online public access catalog (OPAC). Helpful reminders to the cataloger are sprinkled throughout, such as the routine inclusion of tag 586 to indicate a Caldecott, Newbery, or other award-winning title (9). Many cataloging records produced by the Library of Congress do not include this information, so these added data can be essential to locating all the previous winners with one OPAC search.

Next, general cataloging issues are discussed in chapters 4 through 6 on the topics of MARC, copy cataloging, and authority control. These subjects are often presented as scenarios in easy-to-understand summaries and examples of the rules and regulations. A prime example of the far-reaching arms of catalog records is illustrated when a hypothetical patron named John orders a book through interlibrary loan for his research paper; he receives a copy from your library; the information he needs resides in the introduction; your copy lacks this section and John never uses the library again (45). Chapter 3 on copy cataloging includes a brief history of the development of MARC as well as an authoritative yet lighthearted step-by-step procedure for cataloging that begins with, “Here’s how it works: Picture me with a book or video, or something other fascinating library resource in one hand” (26). Examples such as these are what make this edition stand out among other books on cataloging.

More focus on the children’s and juvenile collections is found in chapters 7 through 9 that address Sears subject headings, Dewey call numbers, and cataloging of non-book materials. A brief historical background on Dewey and his classification scheme and the operating bodies involved with maintaining and overseeing changes are found in chapter 8.

The title of chapter 10, “How the CIP Program Helps Children,” gave me a chuckle. I am not sure it helps children in a direct way, as the title implies. However, I feel certain it does assist the cataloger of children’s material. The majority of chapter 11 discusses a 2000 study on how academic libraries handle juvenile collections. Most classify juvenile fiction and nonfiction together, use labels to identify the collection, and use both Library of Congress Subject Headings and Library of Congress Annotated Card Program Subject Headings when assigning subject headings.

Chapters on library automation and vendors that supply cataloging records complete the main text. A good list of questions to ask a proposed vendor as well as names and addresses are included at the end of chapter 12, and the text concludes with a glossary of acronyms, a bibliography, and an index. The heart of the book, from which all chapters seem to radiate, is to keep your audience in mind while following cataloging rules and regulations and if these rules allow, modify the cataloging record to give the young searcher the best possible chance of locating library materials.