A library wants catalog-note style rules to stick when Claude writes output. Which placement approach fits?

Placing catalog-note style rules near the end-of-prompt output section improves adherence when library staff ask Claude to write notes. That approach works because generation-time constraints stay salient when they sit next to the write instruction, increasing the chance that house style for capitalization, subject headings, and prohibited marketing language actually shapes the note. Municipal libraries depend on consistent catalog notes for discovery and accessibility; placement is a cheap lever compared with post-hoc rewrites.

Placing style rules in the opening system background section for catalog notes fails because background context is read once and then faded while Claude generates, so the constraints are less salient at the exact moment the note is written. Embedding style rules inside the mid-prompt source example block for catalog notes fails because the rules get tangled with example content and may be treated as part of the example rather than as a binding instruction for the actual output. Attaching style rules to the catalog tool description for retrieval formatting tasks fails because tool descriptions govern retrieval behavior, not the stylistic shape of the catalog-note text Claude actually emits.

Exam caveat: end-of-prompt placement helps but does not cure overloaded or conflicting instructions elsewhere; overall prompt clarity still matters. Operational check: keep a single style block adjacent to the catalog-note output directive, remove duplicates and contradictions, score note conformance on a weekly sample, and revise placement or wording when conformance drops below the library's catalog quality target.