Catalog of Copyright Entries. Fourth Series

The Catalog of Copyright Entries, Fourth Series, was produced by the Library of Congress Copyright Office between 1979 and 1982. This series represented a pivotal transition in the office's methodology, moving away from the comprehensive, annual registrations of the Third Series toward a more streamlined, microfiche-based format designed to accommodate the rapidly increasing volume of copyright filings during the late twentieth century.

The design was dictated by the functional requirements of the Copyright Act of 1976, which mandated the maintenance of public records for original works. The format was meticulously organized by the Copyright Office to serve as an official legal reference for researchers, attorneys, and archivists. While the series provided essential bibliographic control, it was received primarily as a utilitarian tool rather than a aesthetic publication, ultimately serving as the final iteration of the print-based catalog before the office shifted entirely to digital database systems.