A processing center which would meet both the cataloging and acquisitions needs of the public libraries of New York state has been proposed. The part defined in this report is a computer-based catalog preparation system, capable of producing both book and card form catalogs. It was designed with the objective of providing sufficient flexibility (by use of special control parameters) to meet the requirements of both research libraries and general public libraries and to allow the testing of various procedures in practice. The functions of the system can be divided into three general categories: input, output, and computer processing and related operations. The input to the system is either through a manually prepared worksheet upon which is written the descriptive cataloging data or through utilization of machine-readable bibliographic data. Outputs of the system, other than catalog cards in the traditional format and book catalogs, are supplements to the basic catalog and various error listings and other administrative records. Specifications and instructions for completing the cataloging worksheet are given, as is information relating to the handling of the various cataloging elements used to generate a catalog entry. Procedures related to computer processing of the data are also discussed. (CM)