The Library Catalogue and Subject Headings

Spent the weekend getting my head around the readings-there was a lot! It took awhile to absorb all the material in both chapters of the text and the readings for Week 7 and 8. I know that I am ahead in readings a bit, but next week I want to concentrate on Assignment 2 and I need to comprehend many aspects of the catalogue, before I feel that I am ready for the challenge.

The textbook and my binder are invaluable. Together they provide me with the necessary information for years to come. I have highlighted all the main ideas and details to be referred to in the future. On my blog, I will give a synopsis of my understanding and outline the areas that will affect me directly as a teacher-librarian of an elementary school library.

The most important aspect of the library catalogue is providing patrons, and in this case my students and staff, the ability to access the materials in the Gibson library easily. The purpose of the library catalogue is to:

1. provide a record of what is available
2. to provide access to the information in the collection

Ammi Cutter first discussed the 'objects' of the catalogue and it is my job to ensure that my student are able to locate a resource by its author, title, subject and to its character (literary or topical).

The text and notes delineated the characteristics of an effective catalogue. Since cataloguing it is done at the district level in Delta, many of the decisions that are required by a cataloguer are made for me, but I think it is wonderful how I can tweak the records in order to facilitate the 'ease of use' for my staff and students.

I can see why, if one was to go on and become an individual in charge of making cataloguing decisions, one would need various courses and lots of practice in assigning records for the variety material available in libraries, especially larger ones. Nevertheless, as a librarian, it is essential to understand the basics and this course is grounding me in the underlying principles of cataloguing.

The most important function of the catalogue is locating and collocating records in the school library. Students need not only to locate the material, but they should also be able to view other materials dealing with the same subject and or view other works by the same author. This widens their search and even at the elementary level this is an important function. This is where they can begin to learn the rudiments of an effective search using the catalogue system and will provide them in good stead for years to come. Having said this it is mandatory that as a librarian, I need to understand the principles behind Subject Cataloguing.

1. Summary-level indexing- easy enough to understand, but was intrigued to discover the "Rule of Three" for users of the Sears List of Subject Headings.
2. Identification and Collocation- Using keywords and controlled vocabularies will assist users to find what the want from the items displayed.
3. Elimination of Synonyms- approved terms and related terms
4. Unambiguous Terminology
5. Coextensive Terminology- This means that the terms should have "an exact match in specificity" The book gives a good example with "trees" not broad ("plants"), nor narrower ("maple trees"), but match the breadth of the topic= "trees"
6. Terminology is 'user-friendly'-mostly common usage is preferred and phrases which are not used as subject headings are often cross-referenced.
7. Arrangement of Subject Headings- arranged in classified or alphabetical order- now understand what they are talking about! Interesting to follow some of the rules and philosophy behind the tools that are used. Digits are treated as digits in numeric value order, preceding the alphabetic characters. Abbreviations are used as is. ALA ignores all punctuation (LC recognizes them). So in ALA the whole string of words in a subject heading is typed as is.

I would now like to quote my course notes that I feel is very important to add to this blog:

"Cataloguing is the process of creating a record
describing an item in the school library according
to bibliographic standards, accepted formats, and
assigning both classification numbers and file or
index headings to it.

Subject Cataloguing

In week 8 we go in to greater detail of subject cataloguing. I think that the analogy described in our course notes is apropos- poorly chosen access points result in a window that is small in size and framed with frosted glass that gives a "blurred vision."

Subject Access Points:

• from the call number ("address for each item")
  
• assigned subject headings ( alphabetical index)

The key point raised is that a good record should provide enough subject headings (provides adequate cross-referencing), that will assist the user to locate materials quickly and easily.

Effective Authority Control

• same term is applied consistently
  
• controlled language
• Americanized spelling is used

Bibliographic Tool

• Sears List of Subject Headings and Canadian Companion
• Library Congress Subject Headings- LCHS

SEARS
Of all the tools and systems described so far in the course, I was able to follow the text and course notes with relative ease. For once I did not get all the answers wrong on the exercises for using the Sears Headings provided in our text! Hooray!

Structure

• dictionary style
• headings that are to be used are in bold type
• provides DDC notation
• subject and form headings
• subject- topical descriptors
• form- often refer to literary genres, encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, etc.
• structures include names, single nouns, compound nouns, qualified nouns and noun phrases
• subdivisions provide further info and are separated from the basic headings with a long dash; the first letter is capitalized, i.e. Bed and breakfast accommodations-Scotland
• common types of subdivisions: topical, form, period(chronological- history, literature and art), place
  

How Subject Heading Lists are Structured in Sears

1. Allowable subject headings=Bold Print
2. Not allowable= accentuated print
3. USE=directs cataloguer to accepted heading
4. UF= used for
5. BT = broader term
6. NT = narrower term
   
7. SA = see also
8. RT = related term (useful)

It is important to choose the most precise heading possible. I can see that in order to accomplish this it follows that the cataloguer needs to read all the notes necessary. One more added tip is to be as the text puts it "format blind," which means to treat all resources as if it were a book.

I do believe that using the Sears List of Subject Headings allows students, especially younger ones, the ability to search the catalogue. It provides for a simple and uncomplicated search. You do not need to be a scholar to get good results in your search quest!