Library of Congress Catalog Number
A Library of Congress catalog card number is a unique identification number that the Library of Congress assigns to the catalog record created for each book in its cataloged collections.
Librarians use it to locate a specific Library of Congress catalog record in the national databases and to order catalog cards from the Library of Congress or from commercial suppliers.
The Library of Congress assigns this number while the book is being cataloged.
Under certain circumstances, however, a card number can be assigned before the book is published through the Pre-assigned Card Number Program (PCN).
Without this data your book could sit in a library for several months before personnel know how to log it or where to put it.
By participating in CIP, you will be provided pertinent information that can be printed right on the copyright page of your book.
If however, your material is in booklet form under fifty pages, light fiction or poetry, the CIP program is not for you: librarians don’t need CIP data for these.
If the CIP Program is appropriate for your material, you start the procedure rolling by writing to:
Library of Congress
Cataloging in Publication Division
COLL/CIP (4320)
Washington, DC 20450-4320
Contact their site: http://cip.loc.gov/pcn
As a publisher you will be expected to submit a special Library of Congress Cataloging Data Sheet together with information on each book several months prior to its publication.
They prefer to receive the whole manuscript, but usually a copy of the table of contents and introduction, plus any promotional material, gives them what they need to draw from.
Your Library of Congress catalog card number will be assigned. It should appear on the copyright page of your book and in reviews.
This number allows subscribers to the Library of Congress catalog service to order cards by number and eliminate a search fee.
Approximately twenty thousand libraries belong.
Many libraries still mandate a LOC number so if you plan to sell to ALL libraries, you must have an LOC number.
Librarians use it to locate a specific Library of Congress catalog record in the national databases and to order catalog cards from the Library of Congress or from commercial suppliers.
The Library of Congress assigns this number while the book is being cataloged.
Under certain circumstances, however, a card number can be assigned before the book is published through the Pre-assigned Card Number Program (PCN).
Without this data your book could sit in a library for several months before personnel know how to log it or where to put it.
By participating in CIP, you will be provided pertinent information that can be printed right on the copyright page of your book.
If however, your material is in booklet form under fifty pages, light fiction or poetry, the CIP program is not for you: librarians don’t need CIP data for these.
If the CIP Program is appropriate for your material, you start the procedure rolling by writing to:
Library of Congress
Cataloging in Publication Division
COLL/CIP (4320)
Washington, DC 20450-4320
Contact their site: http://cip.loc.gov/pcn
As a publisher you will be expected to submit a special Library of Congress Cataloging Data Sheet together with information on each book several months prior to its publication.
They prefer to receive the whole manuscript, but usually a copy of the table of contents and introduction, plus any promotional material, gives them what they need to draw from.
Your Library of Congress catalog card number will be assigned. It should appear on the copyright page of your book and in reviews.
This number allows subscribers to the Library of Congress catalog service to order cards by number and eliminate a search fee.
Approximately twenty thousand libraries belong.
Many libraries still mandate a LOC number so if you plan to sell to ALL libraries, you must have an LOC number.