Cataloguing for the CCEL

Cataloguing for the CCEL

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Cataloguing for the CCEL

The CCEL is not only a collection of electronic texts but also a database of bibliographic information presented on the web. The better and more complete that information, the more useful the library.

One way you can help in the development of the CCEL is to help cataloguing documents by looking up bibliographic information and putting it into a file that you then send to me. Initially, this will be done mostly for books that are on the CCEL, but it can also be done for books on other archives as well -- though I will have to decide whether I want to have such books on the CCEL.

Essentially, cataloguing is the process of creating what I call a "metafile" in a particular format needed by the CCEL. Here is an example of such a metafile. (Here's the example without the comments, which explain but clutter.) It is also included at the end of this document. You can find metafiles for every book on the CCEL, linked to the book information page, but many of these were generated automatically and don't have very much information filled out. To find the information page for a book, click on the author's name in an index, then click on the info icon () after the book name. The metafile will be linked below. For books already on the CCEL, you will probably want to start with the existing metafile. (That way, if there's nothing to fill out, you won't re-do work that's already been done!)

Explanation of some elements

authorID, bookID: as assigned by the CCEL. These are codes of up to 12 characters.

Description: If there is a paragraph in the introductory material of the book that gives a good sense of what the book is like, include that; else leave it blank.

LCCN (Library of Congress Call Number): You can look this up in an on-line library catalog. Some good places to look include the Library of Congress or the Calfornia university library system, Melvyl. When you have found a record for a book, also take note of other information you might want, such as the author's full name and years, the copyright date, etc.

CCEL Subjects: Include all relevant elements from the following list. A book may have several keywords, e.g. All; Classic; Christian Life; Proofed;

All; always include this one
Bibles; Bible translations, versions, and commentaries; associated books
Biography; Biography, hagiography, or martyrology
Biotarget=xxx; this is a biography of the person whose id is xxx
Christian Life; Christian life and devotional works
Classic; Works which will appear in the "classics" list. Normally I assign this
Creeds; Creeds, catechisms, confessions
Early Church; for things written before about A.D. 800
Ethics; Ethics and moral theology
Fiction; Fiction, literature
History; History, geography, archaeology
Hymns; Hymns, hymnology, church music
Mysticism; Works of Christian mystics
Proofed; Known to have been proofread and to be clean
Reference; Dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.
Sermons; Collections of sermons; homeletics
Science; Science and Christianity
Symbols; Creeds, catechisms, confessions
Theology; Other theology
Worship; Liturgy and works about liturgy and worship

When your metafile is done, give it the name bookID.meta, e.g. confessions.meta for the example below. Send it to me as an attachment to an email message (support@ccel.org). I'll run a program to add the information to the database, and it will automatically be listed in the appropriate indexes.

Thanks for your contribution to the work of the CCEL!

 

Example CCEL metafile

<!------------------------------------------------------------------------>
<!--                 Example metafile for the CCEL                      -->
<!--                                                                    -->
<!--  Save this file and change it for the book you are cataloguing.    -->
<!--  Leave elements blank when you don't have any information.         -->
<!--                                                                    -->
<!--  Notes like this are comments.  They are ignored by the software   -->
<!--  and may be omitted.                                               -->
<!--                                                                    -->
<!------------------------------------------------------------------------>
<ThML.head>
<generalInfo>
  <!-- optional one-paragraph description of book, or "blurb", -->
  <!-- possibly from the introduction or preface -->
  <description>
In <i>The Confessions</i>, Saint Augustine addressed himself
eloquently and passionately to the enduring spiritual questions that
have stirred the minds and hearts of thoughtful men since time began.
Written A.D. 397, <i>The Confessions</i> are a history of the young
Augustine's fierce struggle to overcome his profligate ways and
achieve a life of spiritual grace.
  </description>

  <!-- anything known about publication, e.g. date of first edition -->
  <pubHistory></pubHistory>     
  <comments></comments>
</generalInfo>

<printSourceInfo>		<!-- full bibliographic reference -->
  <published>Philadelphia: Westminster Press [1955] (Library 
    of Christian Classics, v. 7)</published>
</printSourceInfo>

<electronicEdInfo>
  <publisherID>ccel</publisherID>	<!-- "ccel" for books on the CCEL -->
  <authorID>augustine</authorID>	<!-- 12 character CCEL author ID  -->
  <bookID>confessions</bookID>		<!-- 12 character CCEL book ID    -->
  <version>1.0</version>		<!-- start at 1.0 for finished books -->

  <DC>
    <DC.Title>Confessions and Enchiridion, newly translated and edited 
        by Albert C. Outler</DC.Title>

    <!-- short form of name -->
    <DC.Creator sub="Author">St. Augustine</DC.Creator>

    <!-- "file-as" form of name -- for alphabetical sorting -->
    <DC.Creator sub="Author" scheme="file-as">Augustine, Saint, 
        Bishop of Hippo (345-430)</DC.Creator>

    <!-- ID for any additional authors, contributors, handled like this -->
    <DC.Creator sub="Translator and Editor" scheme="ccel">outler</DC.Creator>

    <DC.Publisher>Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal 
        Library</DC.Publisher>

    <!-- Library of Congress call number -->
    <DC.Subject scheme="LCCN">BR65</DC.Subject>	

    <!-- CCEL-specific keywords:  see http://www.ccel.org/help/catalog.html -->
    <DC.Subject scheme="ccel">All; Classic; Early Church</DC.Subject>

    <DC.Date sub="Created">2000-07-09</DC.Date>
    <DC.Type>Text.Monograph</DC.Type>
    <DC.Format scheme="IMT">text/html</DC.Format>

    <!-- address of the "home page" of the document -->
    <DC.Identifier scheme="URL">/a/augustine/confessions/confessions.html</DC.Identifier>

    <!-- where this electronic text came from -- e.g. Project Gutenberg -->
    <DC.Source></DC.Source>

    <!-- address where this document came from -->
    <DC.Source scheme="URL"></DC.Source>

    <!-- en=english, la=latin, etc. -->
    <DC.Language>en</DC.Language>

    <!-- copyright statement -->
    <DC.Rights>Public Domain</DC.Rights>
  </DC>

</electronicEdInfo>
</ThML.head>
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