Authoritative and comprehensive...will help catalogers and others in the library to apply suggested headings to works of fiction, enrich catalog entries, and point library users in the right direction.

Updated Library of Congress subject headings and revisions based on current practice make this the one-stop source for subject headings to classify all types of fiction.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is used by more libraries worldwide than any other controlled vocabulary system. Yet, many librarians and paraprofessional staff do not have any formal education or training in LCSH. They find themselves having to decipher or construct LCSH strings and don’t know where to begin. Here’s a resource that uses language non-catalogers can understand and provides hands-on, user-friendly training in LCSH. Here Karen Snow transfers her popular LCSH workshops and continuing education courses to book form for those who can’t attend her courses. This book offers material on the basics of subject analysis, the importance of controlled vocabularies, and the main features and principles of LCSH. It explains and provides guidance on the application of LCSH. Library of Congress’ instruction manual for LCSH, the Subject Headings Manual, is discussed at length. Several chapters concentrate on assigning LCSH to resources of a certain focus or genre: fiction works, biographical works (or works that focus heavily on a certain person or their works), and resources that emphasize a geographic location. A separate chapter on encoding subject information in the Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) standard will be particularly useful for library staff. Most chapters contain exercises (with answers at the end of the book) that test a reader’s understanding of the chapter material and provide opportunities to practice applying LCSH and subdivisions.

The LCSH Century traces the 100-year history of the Library of Congress Subject Headings, from its beginning with the implementation of a dictionary catalog in 1898 to the present day. You will explore the most significant changes in LCSH policies and practices, including a summary of other contributions celebrating the centennial of the world's most popular library subject heading language.

The fourth edition of the late Lois Mai Chan's classic Cataloging and Classification covers the analysis and representation of methods used in describing, organizing, and providing access to resources made available in or through libraries. Since the last edition published in 2007, there have been dramatic changes in cataloging systems from the Library of Congress. The most notable being the shift from AACR2 to Resource Description and Access (RDA) as the new standard developed by the Library of Congress. With the help of the coauthor, Athena Salaba, this text is modified throughout to conform to the new standard. Retaining the overall outline of the previous edition, this text presents the essence of library cataloging and classification in terms of three basic functions: descriptive cataloging, subject access, and classification. Within this framework, all chapters have been rewritten to incorporate the changes that have occurred during the interval between the third and fourth editions. In each part, the historical development and underlying principles of the retrieval mechanism at issue are treated first, because these are considered essential to an understanding of cataloging and classification. Discussion and examples of provisions in the standards and tools are then presented in order to illustrate the operations covered in each chapter. Divided into five parts—a general overview; record production and structure, encoding formats, and metadata records; RDA; subject access and controlled vocabularies; and the organization of library resources—each part of the book begins with a list of the standards and tools used in the preparation and processing of that part of the cataloging record covered, followed by suggested background readings selected to help the reader gain an overview of the subject to be presented. This book is the standard text for the teaching and understanding of cataloging and classification.

The Sears List of Subject Headings, an outstanding name amongst subject headings lists, is used all over the world in small and medium sized libraries. It has constantly been revised and kept up to date, both in its methods and contents, by incorporating new subjects and updated organizational machinery. Being handy, simple, inexpensive and always current, the Sears List is a convenient choice for teaching subject headings work in library schools. User’s Guide to Sears List of Subject Headings, 2nd Edition is a companion book which, although based on the 222nd edition of the Sears List, should also be useful to the libraries using some previous edition. It attempts to explain the theoretical foundations, history and application of the Sears List as well as of the subject headings work ion general. It explicates the various hidden potentials of the system to construct subject headings needed for local situations. The object of this small, practical introduction is to be simple, clear and illustrative. The book assumes no prior knowledge either of the Sears List or of subject headings work in general. It is a manual for beginners to understand the importance of vocabulary control, the process of subject analysis, the structure and organization of the Sears List, and the methods to locate, specify and construct subject headings and provide cross references for the public catalogue. Subject headings in the complex areas of languages, literatures, biographical and geographical works are given a chapter each. Review questions and exercises conclude most chapters. A bibliography and glossary are valuable features of this work