Discusses the importance of cataloging to library service and addresses some of the debilitating effects that downsizing or elimination of cataloging departments, combined with outsourcing, and the consequent decline in bibliographic integrity, have on library service. Includes a sidebar on outsourcing. (JKP)

Discusses how collections in the digital library, instead of traditional cataloging, call for metadata, structured information about information. Describes three categories of metadata information about digital resources: descriptive, structural, and administrative. Examines emerging standards for digital-library classification. (AEF)