BCC2002/SAS/1

Sunject Analysis Committee Report

2002 ALA Midwinter Meeting
January 20 and 21, 2002
New Orleans, LA

1.        Update on MARBI (Bonnie Dede)

The MARBI liaison reported on the status of proposals 2001-05, 2001-07 and 2002-07 as well as discussion papers 2001-DP05, 2002-DP03 (on FAST subject headings) and 2002-DP05. For details on these please see the report of the MLA MARBI liaison at the MLA Bibliographic Control Group web page: http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/bcc.html

2.        Report of the IFLA liaison (Lois Mai Chan)

Lois Mai Chan reported on the IFLA Satellite Meeting at OCLC on August 14-16. The theme of the meeting was “Subject Retrieval in a Networked Environment” and the emphasis was on interoperability. At the Boston meeting, the Open Forum of the Section on Classification and Indexing had the theme of “Education and Knowledge Organization.” It included presentations on teaching subject access and classification in the United States and Croatia, which were followed by a panel discussion. For the 2002 IFLA Conference to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, the Section is planning programs and workshops on interoperability and on multilingual thesauri.

A working group has been established to develop guidelines for the construction of multi-lingual thesauri. Interest continues in metadata. A Working Group on the Use of Metadata Schemes was formed to develop guidelines for “best practice.” A Discussion group was established as well.

See the web page for the IFLA Section on Classification and Indexing at http://www.ifla.org/VII/s29/sci.htm

3.        Report on the Sears List of Subject Headings

The annual electronic update to the 17^th edition of the Sears List was distributed in November. Among the new headings established is Nightclubs, cabarets, etc., which varies from the term in LSCH, which is (Music-halls) Variety-theaters, cabarets, etc.)

4.        Report of the Library of Congress Liaison (Lynn El-Hoshy)

The first National Book Festival was held on the Capitol grounds on September 8, 2001 and deemed a resounding success. There are plans to hold a second festival this September.

Classification Web, the product that provides web access to the current LC classification schedules and LSCH, is to be released on a subscription basis this year. Information on its availability and pricing can be found at http://lcweb.loc.gov/cds.

Staff is preparing for the migration of the files of Congressional Research Service and National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to the LC integrated library system (ILS) later this year. An upgrade of the ILS to Voyager 2000.1.3 is scheduled for February. Data migration and the regeneration of indexes is expected to take one to two weeks and LC staff will not be able to work in the database during that period. During the downtime, the Cataloging Distribution Service will not distribute records (except for the CONSER and JACKPHY-language records which originate in the OCLC and RLIN databases, respectively). This upgrade will not include vernacular display of JACKPHY characters or access to authority records. LC hopes to make authority records available in LC’s web OPAC in the spring of 2002. This will allow search, display and saving of MARC authority records but will not initially include support for the MARC 21 character set or access to authorities via Z39.50. LC hopes to offer these features in the future. More information on the ILS may be found at http://lcweb.loc.gov/ils.

The Cataloging in Production (CIP) program is facing a major challenge with the disruption of mail service to the Library. No deliveries of U.S. Postal Service mail have been made to the Library since the discovery of anthrax spores in mail facilities serving Capitol Hill on October 17. Publishers are being urged to use electronic submission of CIP data.

The Library of Congress Action Plan for the Bibliographic Control of Web Resources was drafted, based on the recommendations of the Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium, held at LC in November 2000. The updated plan is available on the web at http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/bibcontrol/actionplan.html and comments may be submitted.

Information on the current status of the pinyin conversion project may be found at http://lcweb.loc.gov/cat/dir/pinyin.

The 3^rd edition of the NACO Participant’s Manual and the new SACO Participant’s Manual, along with other information on the Program for Cooperative Cataloging may be found at the PCC web page at http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc.

LC implemented the 2001 amendments to AACR2 on December 1, 2001. The three major rule revisions concern 1) entry of conference publications under the heading for the conference, 2) no longer including British terms of honor in headings and 3) the renaming of Chapter 9 to “Electronic Resources.”

Cataloging production at LC was the highest since fiscal year 1998. Cataloging teams now have the discretion to perform minimal level cataloging for any materials on hand for over two years. In all instances, materials are searched for copy on OCLC or RLIN and copy cataloging is preferred to creation of minimal level records. Copy cataloging at LC is assisted by a contract with Marcadia. LC cataloging staff is now also encouraged to add 505 fields for table of contents information to catalog records.

Last fall LC corrected nearly 98,000 authority records with an obsolete second indicator value blank in the 053 field for LC classification number. LC has decided not to use the 856 field for electronic location and access in name/series and subject authority records. Instead LC is seeking the addition of subfield u (Uniform Resource Identifier) in the 670 (Source Data Found) field.

Last September, new geographic area codes were established for Earth, Moon, Sun, Solar System, individual planets in the solar system, Outer space, Deep Space and the Australian Capital Territory, which have previously been coded as part of New South Wales. A code for Developed countries, which matches a newly approved subject heading, was also added. LC plans to start supplying these codes in MARC records after the upgrade of the ILS in March of 2002.

Subject headings containing the term “handicapped” and “physically handicapped” have been replaced by the single heading People with disabilities. The Subject Analysis Committee had responded to the Cataloging Policy and Support Office with their support regarding this change.

The conversion of the Library of Congress Classification to machine-readable form is now complete. Drafts of subclass KBM for Jewish law and KBP for Islamic law are undergoing review.

The publication of LC Classification: Additions and Changes ceased with List 284 covering October-December 2001. Weekly lists of additions and changes to LC Classification Schedules are now posted at the CPSO web site http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso.

5.        Automated Classification (Gary Strawn)

Gary Strawn gave a demonstration of the computer program he has developed for automatic classification. There is a report at the PCC website http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pcc as well as at ftp://libadmin.library.nwu.edu in the “C toolkit” folder.

6.        Dewey report

The products WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey have both been released. People, Places and Things, a list of over 50,000 LCSH paired with corresponding DDC numbers, is now available.

7.        Report of the SAC Subcommittee on Subject Reference Structures in Automated Systems

The subcommittee reported on its work regarding the searching, display and manipulation of subject authority information in online catalogs. Work continues in this area and the subcommittee will continue its research and discussion in preparation of a final report. The final report should focus on a small number of clear recommendations.

8.        Report of the SAC Subcommittee on the Revision of the Fiction Guidelines

The subcommittee reported on its continued work on the application of subject and genre headings to individual works of fiction. The members have been familiarizing themselves with the recurring problems seen in the application of subject and genre terms. They have also examined the guidelines found for GSAFD, the LC Annotated Card Program, the Sears list and LC cataloging practice. The subcommittee ultimately plans to develop a set of guidelines for application that are generic and could be used with any thesaurus.

9.        Report of the SAC Subcommittee on Subject Analysis Training Materials

The subcommittee had its first meeting at this conference. It outlined the scope of training materials, which would comprise a basic course on subject analysis using LCSH. The group will continue gathering information on training materials in subject analysis, with an eye toward developing its own content. The SCCTP model will be followed. The group is also working to coordinate its efforts with the PCC Standing Committee on Training Task Force.

10.        Discussion of the role of SAC in the ALCTS Task Force on LC’s Bibliographic Control Action Plan

Bibliographic Control of Web Resources: a Library of Congress Action Plan came out of the Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control in the New Millennium. The plan is due to be updated in late January or early February. Diane Dates Casey presented an oral report on the discussion of the ALCTS Task Force. Although SAC is not a lead group on any item, there are SAC connections to at least four of the items within. SAC will monitor the progress of the plan and its role in its implementation.

11.        New Business

SAC approved a proposal for a preconference program on the 22^nd Edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification, to be presented at ALA Annual 2003 in Toronto.

Submitted by Michael Colby

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Last updated July 20, 2002