The purpose of this study is to investigate material designation in library cataloging and to suggest General Material Designation (GMD) and Specific Material Designation(SMD) in Korean. A summary of the study follows. In library cataloging, methods of indicating the type of material are : (1) color-coding, (2) media code as part of the call number, (3) material designation in physical description area or note area, (4) GMD and SMD. GMD is a term indicating the broad class of material to which a bibliographic item belongs. SMD is a term indicating the special class of material to which a bibliographic item belongs. GMD was listed in parenthesis following the title proper before AACR1975 code, but currently it is listed in square brackets after the AACR1975 code. AACR2 was the standard cataloging rule in GMD and SMD terminology. It is suggested that GMD be used in Korean for graphic material, sound recordings, drawings, microform, multimedia, videorecordings, manuscripts, photographs, slides, printed music, motion pictures, printed texts, objects, braille, cartographic materials, computer files and transparenies.