BCC2007/SAS/3

ALCTS CCS SUBJECT ANALYSIS COMMITTEE REPORT
ALA Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., June 21-26, 2007
Submitted by Beth Flood, Chair, Subject Access Subcommittee
of the MLA Bibliographic Control Committee

The following report represents selected coverage of topics from the SAC meetings and other related sessions during the conference.

LC’s Implementation of Genre/Form Headings for Moving Images

During the SACO-at-large meeting, Janis Young from CPSO gave an informative presentation on LC’s implementation of genre/form headings for moving images. Objectives for the project include creating a system of authority records that permit future development by LC and other libraries and determining issues that arise in order to assess feasibility for genre/form headings beyond moving images. CPSO is beginning the implementation with moving images because it is a small, defined subset of headings, and it will allow CPSO to identify and solve problems that might be encountered in larger projects.

The process for creating headings will be as follows: if a heading exists in LCSH already (as a 150), the scope will be identical, and the hierarchical structure will be retained except for the top terms. If a term is not in LCSH, one will be constructed based on MIGFG (Moving Image Genre-Form Guide), MIM (Moving Image Materials: Genre Terms) or other thesauri. Headings will not include geographic subdivisions or language, and they will reflect the original release of the work (the expression, not the manifestation.) Currently, two LC catalogers are creating all of the records, though other LC and PCC catalogers will be invited to make proposal submissions using the mechanisms employed for other LCSH headings.

The new genre/form terms will appear in the beginning of volume one of the printed LCSH, and they will have their own entry point on Classification Web. Headings may begin to appear on Tentative Weekly Lists in August, with the first group of approved records being distributed through CDS on September 3 or later. Headings can be applied as soon as they show up on the weekly lists.

Genre/Form Headings for Music

Genre/form terms for music are one of the areas next in line for implementation, following the outcomes of the moving image implementation. Because of the scale of music headings, more methods are needed to identify the terms. Currently, one method being considered is identifying genre/form terms for chamber music, using classification numbers M217-M990 via Classification Web. This method could also be used to tease out additional terms such as medium of performance headings which are followed by “, Arranged.” Another area of music terms which could be extracted from LCSH are free-floating subdivisions that represent musical forms, though a decision needs to be made as to whether such terms should be separated from the terms they follow (i.e., Holidays $v Songs and music.)

In conjunction with LC’s decision to create authority records for subject heading strings including free-floating subdivisions, LC will be creating authority records for many more music headings, including pattern headings and music headings with free-floating subdivisions. For headings that currently have no authority record, LC will first go to the FAST authority file as a source of records. When sufficient documentation and training have been put in place, catalogers outside of LC may begin participating in the conversion project.

LC News

In addition to creating genre/form authority records for motion pictures, television programs and videos, CPSO has drafted a new section to the Subject Cataloging Manual, H 1913, to cover these headings. The plan is that CPSO will create similar instruction sheets for music, radio, law, and other subject areas.

LC has implemented a policy change which will result in more authority records for subject heading strings for topics and places followed by free-floating subdivisions. The purposes of this change are to make systems more effective in validating subject headings, to minimize the need for creating headings “from scratch,” and to reduce the cost of subject cataloging.

CPSO generated a report on the pros and cons of precoordinated subject strings, and recommended that LC continue to apply LCSH in a precoordinated manner. The ABA Directorate Management Team will explore additional means to reduce the cost of subject cataloging and to ensure its relevance in search environments beyond the library catalog.

Staff from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS) from Washington, D.C. and Dayton, Ohio began relocating to the new National Audio-Visual Conservation Center near Culpeper, Va. in May. As of June 2007, over 95 percent of LC’s film, video and sound collections have been moved to the new storage building.

SAC Subcommittee on FAST

FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) is a subject vocabulary derived from LCSH that is being developed by OCLC and LC. The final three facets, Chronological Periods, Events (Conference and Meeting Names), and Uniform Titles, were completed in fall 2006. As of June 2007, the FAST authority file contained over 1,400,000 records.

During the meeting, it was suggested that because authors and uniform titles are separate facets, author/uniform title combinations in subject headings will be split into separate access points in FAST. The initial suggestion was to use the 630 field for the uniform title, qualified by the author’s name: Concertos, violin, orchestra, K. 216, G major (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus). This resulted in several alternative suggestions, one of which is creating a new MARC tag for name/uniform title access points (essentially, a hybrid work facet combining the author and title facets).

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Last updated August 28, 2007