An Analysis of Tables of Contents in Recent English-Language Books

Abstract

A sample of 648 current English-language book publications with Library of Congress cataloging was examined to determine how many have tables of contents suitable for inclusion in bibliographic records. They were also examined to determine the number whose bibliographic records already contain contents notes (MARC field 505) supplied by the Library of Congress, the overall average length of their tables of contents, the levels of complexity or hierarchy of tables of contents, whether the tables of contents were subject-based or author/title based, how many new author names would be added to a bibliographic record that contained an analytic tables of contents note, whether books on certain subjects are more likely than others to include tables of contents, and to determine the proportion of books with usable tables of contents that also have subject indexes which might be usable for enhancing keyword access. Finally, I examined all current bibliographic records produced by the Library of Congress in order to determine how many books in general include subject indexes and how many bibliographic records contain contents notes. It was found that 92.75% of the books examined had tables of contents that could be included in catalog records, with an average length of 67.75 words. Most tables of contents contain one or two levels of hierarchy. Author/title based tables of contents account for 25.62% of the sample pool, with each table containing an average of 15.58 names. Finally, 1.12% of the bibliographic records currently produced by the Library of Congress include contents notes and 53.96% indicate the presence of an index.