Cataloging rules and syntax conventions governing how data are entered into elements, categories or fields.

• Archival Moving Image Materials: A Cataloging Manual - rules, supplementing AACR2, for the description of archival motion pictures and videotape recordings
• Archives, Personal Papers and Manuscripts (APPM) - widely used for archival description in the United States and intended to provide guidance within the general context of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2)
• Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. (AACR2) - rules for the description of bibliographic materials and the access points provided for them
• Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998) - Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
• Draft Interim Guidelines for Cataloging Electronic Resources
• Graphic Materials: Rules for Describing Original Items and Historic Collections - guidelines, supplementing AACR2, for describing graphic/visual materials either as individual items or groups
• General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G)) -- adopted by the International Council on Archives (ICA) as a general purpose descriptive cataloging convention, intended to accomodate many national descriptive standards.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) - 29th edition (2006)
• Oral History Cataloging Manual - guidelines for the cataloging of oral history interviews either as part of collections of interviews, or as individual interviews
• Rules for Archival Description (RAD) - created and adopted by the Association of Canadian Archivists', based on the assumption that archival description exists in a multi-level context
• Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings, 5th ed. - guide for assigning topical heading and subdivisions from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)