The purpose of a book’s cover is to capture interest while the title page is there to document what is a publication. This distinction has implications for creating your basic records. Text on the cover of a book might abbreviate the title, include the series name, or may leave out a subtitle. The cover can also put a names that might be assumed to belong to an author in a position appropriate for an editor. So before you record anything, first turn to the title page which is the primary place to find the name of the work and who created the work.
Record the full title of the work as written on the title page. Is there a subtitle, either separated from the full title by a colon, or just listed under the title as one more line? Do not assume that you should transcribe every phrase on a cover or include any endorsements or awards. If you do need to know the names of individuals associated with the work, look for those on the title page or the copyright page. A name preceded by “written by” usually tells you the author while “editor by” or “translated by” or “illustrated by” would tell you something different. It is a good practice to keep these different forms of “responsible” entities separate rather than just recording the name of an editor or translator as the work’s main author when the title page has no such record.
A full title page, though, often does not provide all the publication information necessary for a record. The back side is also called the copyright page and it includes the place of publication, name of the publisher, date of publication, and edition. Other information here could be the statement of copyright, the copyright date(s), the series name, and a unique identifier such as an ISBN number. You might find several copyright dates or the book might be published by different offices in different cities. The date on which the current work was published may not be the same as the date(s) on the copyright statement when the earlier work was reused. If a student or a new volunteer is completing a basic cataloging exercise, the student or volunteer should just enter the required information from the template rather than copying all of the lines found on the book title page or copyright page.
Now practice using three different books. For each book, you would create a worksheet with headings for the title, the subtitle, author or organizational responsibility, edition, publisher, place of publication, publication date, format, and identifier. Fill out the worksheet only after you look at the full information on the title page and the copyright page for each book. Then look at how the three books differ. One might have a single author and a single title, another one might be an edited collection, and another might be part of a series. What you are doing here is not creating an advanced level catalog record, just noting what parts of the record do what jobs, and where to find those parts.
A simple way to see if your cataloging is getting any better is to close the book in front of you and see if someone else could recognize the book based on your record. Did you forget to put in the subtitle? Is there one form of the author’s name, or does it switch back and forth? Is the edition the same as the number of the printing? Is any personal comment on how the book made you feel included in the physical description or the subject field? The record describes what the book is and is not how the cataloger found it or found it interesting or useful, difficult or easy to read.
You might be surprised to find how quickly your record can be improved when you shift from just reading the largest words on the title page and actually looking for what the title page and the copyright page have to offer. You will pause longer to decide who is the author. You will compare and contrast what is on the title page and what is on the copyright page. You will even begin to pay attention to some of the small print you had just ignored. When the title and cover disagree, do not be the first to choose between them. Look at what they say, note them separately, and let the book tell you what the book is so you can build your record around it.