UCLA

Cataloging is compared to descriptive bibliography, to enumerative bibliography and abstracting and indexing services as well as to metadata created by Web search engines or by nonprofessionals at sites such as Amazon.com. These four types of metadata are compared with regard to object of the description, functions, scope, number of copies examined, collective vs. individual creation, standardization, authority control, evidence, amount of descriptive detail, degression, time span the data is intended to last, and degree of evaluation.