Arabic Script Materials: Cataloging Issues and Problems

Some of the problems in the cataloging of Arabic script materials are due to the peculiarities of Arabic books not generally found in European or American imprints, such as the lack of a chief source of information, missing date of publication, mixing up the term impression with edition, etc. Other problems result from the difficulties in determining the form of Arabic personal and corporate names, lack of standard Arabic subject headings, poor coverage of Islamic and Arabic literature, history, culture, customs, and religion in Western classification systems, limitation of the MARC format in dealing with the requirements of Arabic script materials, and the lower standard of cataloging education and training. The paper discusses all of these problems in detail and highlights various attempts, both successful and unsuccessful, made to resolve them.