BCC2005/SAS/2

MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
SUBJECT ACCESS SUBCOMMITTEE
2005 CONFERENCE REPORT

Members: Keith Chapman, Patricia Thomson, Neil Hughes, Mary Huismann, Beth Flood, Wendy Sistrunk, Geraldine Ostrove (Library of Congress rep.), and Mark McKnight (Chair).

Mark McKnight, chair, gave a brief report from the ALA Midwinter Conference in Boston. We discussed the success of the pre- and post-conference workshops on LC Subject Headings and Music, which were given last year in Washington, D.C. It was reported that some of the information from these sessions will be included in an article to be published as part of a collection of essays. A report was given by Geraldine Ostrove of the Library of Congress. She discussed a project on which she is working to include LC biography cutters in 053 fields for name-authority headings for composers. She reported that she is now working on “B.” Other relevant items from LC included the news that Music Cataloging Decisions will now be incorporated as part of Library of Congress Rule Interpretations. A revised edition of the LC Classification schedule for class M will include more scope notes and removal of obsolete terminology.

Subcommittee member Wendy Sistrunk gave a brief report on the status of the Faceted Access to Subject Terminology (FAST) project, which is being headed by a group at OCLC. Currently approximately 1.3 million FAST records have been created. Thus far little effort has been made to address music headings in FAST, most of which seem to be identical with headings in the LCSH. It was decided that for now our subcommittee will continue to monitor develops within FAST and the chair will report on the progress of the project periodically as it is reported via the ALA Subject Analysis Committee, which now has a FAST Subcommittee.

The subcommittee next discussed program ideas for future meetings. MLA’s new program-planning structure was explained. Wendy Sistrunk introduced the idea of a presentation on form/genre headings and the use of the 655 field. She had attended an OLAC conference in October which included a presentation on forms/genres by Robert L. Maxwell of Brigham Young University, who has done a lot of work in this area. The idea of teaming with other MLA groups, such as the Technical Roundtable, which Wendy will begin serving as co-chair, to present a program on this topic was discussed and will be pursued.

Finally, three members, Ray Heigemeir, Patricia Thomson, and Wendy Sistrunk, completed their terms with this meeting and their contributions to the subcommittee were gratefully acknowledged.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark McKnight, Chair

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Last updated April 30, 2005