communication files, and other such depositories." Essentially, acquiring these items into collections so that they can be of use to the user. "Producing lists of these information resources prepared according to standard rules for citation." Examples of such retrieval aids include library catalogs, indexes, archival finding aids, etc. "Providing name, title, subject, and other useful access to these information resources." Ideally, there should be many ways to find an item so there should be multiple access points. There must be enough metadata in the surrogate record so users can successfully find the information resource they are looking for. These access points should be consistent, which can be achieved through authority control. "Providing the means of locating each information resource or a copy of it." In libraries, the online public access catalog (OPAC) can give the user location information (a call number for example) and indicate whether the item is available. History of bibliographic control While the organization of information has been going on since antiquity, bibliographic control as we know it today is a more recent invention. Ancient civilizations recorded lists of books onto tablets and libraries in the Middle Ages kept records of their holdings. With the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, multiple copies of a single book could be produced quickly. Johann Tritheim, a German librarian, was the first to create a bibliography in chronological order with an alphabetical author index. Conrad Gessner followed in his footsteps in the next century as he published an author bibliography and subject index. He added to his bibliography an alphabetical list of authors with inverted names, which was a new practice. He also included references to variant spellings of author's names, a precursor to authority control. Andrew Maunsell further revolutionized bibliographic control by suggesting that a book should be findable based on the author's last name, the subject of the book, and the translator. In the 17th century Sir Thomas Bodley was interested in a catalog arranged alphabetically by author's last name as well as subject entries. Sir Robert Cotton's library catalogued books with busts of famous Romans. The busts were organized by their name, i.e. N for Nero, and then came the shelf with its assigned letter, and then the roman numeral of the title's number. For example, the cataloging for The Lindisfarne Gospels reads Nero D IV. Cotton's cataloging method is still in use for