BCC2002/SAS/3

Subject Analysis Committee of ALCTS/CCS
Report from the ALA Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, June 2002

The following report represents selected coverage of topics from the SAC meetings in Atlanta on June 16-17.

1. Report of MARBI Liaison (submitted by Shelby Harken)

   The report centered around discussions in MARBI on multiple versions (“format variation”) and the concept of the expression level as delineated in IFLA’s Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR). In connection with this issue a study at OCLC indicated that 80% of the bibliographic records contained in the OCLC database represent unique entities.

   
   
   
2. LC report (Lynn El-Hoshy)

   LC News

   It was reported that David Smith, Chief of the Decimal Classification Division, has retired, and that a national recruitment search is underway for his replacement. Mail delivery at the Library of Congress, which had been suspended from October 17, 2001, to March 3, 2002, resumed March 4, following testing on the environmental and health effects of handling irradiated mail. Much mail sent during this period appears to have suffered damage from the irradiation process. Normal mail delivery will likely not resume for several months.
   
   

   The Web site for the Library of Congress has been redesigned and the paths reorganized to expedite navigation through the site. The site also includes links to the Catalog Policy and Support Office’s LC Classification Outline. In addition, the Web OPAC has also been redesigned and upgraded to Voyage 2000.1.3. Beginning July 1 the Web OPAC will launch a new feature, Web Authorities, on a trial basis. Name, subject, and title authority records (including series authority records) will be available to search, display, and download at the address http://authorities.loc.gov
   
   

   The Library of Congress celebrates two anniversaries this year: the Center for the Book is observing its 25th anniversary, and the Cataloging Distribution Service marks its centennial.
   
   

   Subject Headings and Classification

   Following a year-long software upgrade process, the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials has been updated and new terms are again being added, both to the Subject Terms (TGM I) and Genre and Physical Characteristics (TGM II). These lists are available to search and download at the following sites: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/ (TGM I) and http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm2/ (TGM II).
   
   

   The 25th edition of the Library of Congress Subject Headings appeared in late spring. It includes 263,000 headings revised or established through mid-November 2001. One major subject heading change is that from “Handicapped” and “Physically handicapped” to “People with disabilities.” The subject subdivision “Textbooks” is now established as a form subdivision.
   
   

   Preliminary discussions by CPSO staff are now underway regarding creation of authority records for form/genre headings in 155 fields and more widespread assignment of form/genre headings in 655 fields of bibliographic records. Plans call for an implementation to be phased in by format or discipline. After the completion of the project to create authority records to control free-floating subdivisions and to recode instances of form subdivisions in authority records from subfield code &x to &v, more attention will then be devoted to identifying issues and initial planning for this implementation.
   
   

   CDS now offers Classification Web, a fee-based Web site that provides access to LCSH and Library of Congress Classification Schedules. Classification Web is intended to replace Class Plus, the CD-ROM product, which will be discontinued later this year.

   
   
   
3. Discussion of FAST (Lois Chan and Lynn El-Hoshy)

   OCLC is developing a subject vocabulary, FAST, for application to Web resources. FAST is based on LCSH but is intended to be easier to apply. A FAST team comprised of four OCLC staff members as well as Lynn El-Hoshy and Lois Chan has been organized to oversee this development. The goals of FAST are as follows:

   1. It should be easy applicable, scalable, and intuitive
   2. It should retain richness of vocabulary
   3. It should enable machine validation of headings

   
   

   FAST comprises three phases:

   1. faceting
   2. validation
   3. creation of an authority file with an appropriate syndetic structure

   
   

   FAST will remain coordinated with LCSH to reflect changes that are made within LCSH. Except for those that require a cross reference, dates will not be included.
   
   

   A question was raised in the meeting about the need for a separate system for metadata. It was noted that LCSH strings are fuller and more specific; Web search engines apart from OPACs are generally less sophisticated; and most persons involved in creating Web pages are not trained catalogers. FAST is also intended to be more compatible with other thesauri.

   
   
   
4. Dewey Decimal Classification Division Reports

   WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey were released in January. WebDewey is a web-based version of the enhanced DDC 21 database. (For more information see http://www.oclc.org/fp)

   
   
   
5. Report of the IFLA liaison (Lois Chan)

   IFLA will hold its 2002 conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Aug. 18-24. Program information is available at http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla68/index.htm

   
   
   
6. Report of the SAC Subcommittee on Semantic Interoperability (Shelby Harken)

   This subcommittee is charged with surveying the current state of international semantic interoperability projects which focus on subject and/or classification data. One of the subcommittee’s main purposes will be to investigate approaches to integration and harmonization of subject vocabularies and knowledge information schemes used in various metadata standards for the purposes of effective and efficient resource discovery. The subcommittee plans to present either a program or preconference on its findings at the 2004 Annual conference.

   
   
   
7. Report of the SAC Subcommittee on Subject Analysis Training Materials (Lori Robare)

   The charge of this subcommittee is to collaborate with the Program for Cooperative Cataloging Standing Committee on Training (PCC SCT) in developing authoritative, standardized training materials in subject analysis. One module is scheduled to be previewed in a program at the ALA annual meeting in 2003.

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Last updated September 25, 2002