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Copy cataloging is comprised of three basic components:

1. The search process. Staff perform post-receipt searching as necessary for titles currently received. This step is required to determine if a new item is a duplicate or variant edition and to locate a usable catalog record already created by the Library of Congress or a member of OCLC. If no existing record is found, a brief provisional record (with author, title, imprint, series) is created in Voyager.
2. The cataloging process. For each title, the bibliographic editor verifies the catalog record matches the item in hand. Special attention is paid to:
   • the main entry
   • the title
   • the imprint
   • the collation
   • the edition statement (if present)
   • a series statement (if present)
Minor editing of the copy is performed if necessary, and all access points are verified, with the aid of the validation report, to insure the form of headings matches what is used in Yoyager OPAC. Each title is then assigned a unique call number comprised of a classification and Cutter number (at Northwestern, the Dewey Decimal Classification system is primarily used).
3. Authority control. Copy catalogers create authority records as necessary in order to maintain consistency in access points such as name, subject, and series headings. These records display the authorized form of a heading. They may also contain cross references which refer the user from an unauthorized form back to the authorized form. For example, one need not know that United States. Army. Volunteer Cavalry, 1st is the correct form of name for Roosevelt's Rough Riders. A user who types the cross-reference Roosevelt's Rough Riders in NUcat will automatically be directed to the correct form ( i.e., *search under United States. Army. Volunteer Cavalry, 1st). Broader and narrower relationships may be identified in subject authority records (e.g., Diamonds *search also under the narrower term Hope diamond).

Original cataloging is performed in the Catalog Department on those items for which no catalog records are available. Items with copy that is incomplete or too variant and would therefore require a great deal of editing are also forwarded to the Catalog Department.

Various problems related to identification, acquisition, and processing of library materials frequently arise when copy cataloging. ARC staff work, as necessary, with other staff in the Technical Services and Collection Management divisions to resolve them.