A
bibliography is an overview of (almost) all publications in some category:
- works of some author;
- publications about some specific subject;
- publications published in some specific country;
- publications published in some specific period.
A bibliography tries to give a complete overview of the (important) literature in its category.
This is opposed to a library
catalog, which only describes items actually found in the library.
However, some national libraries' catalog also serves as a national bibliography,
as (almost) all publications of this country are contained in the catalog.
See List of bibliographies
Bibliographies can be sorted in several ways, similar to library catalogs.