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

Provides a list of subject headings for use in smaller libraries.

Last published in 2010, this new update is filled with new subject headings created in the last four years. Delivering a core list of key headings, together with patterns and examples to guide the cataloger in creating further headings as required, Sears List of Subject Headings has been the standard thesaurus of subject terminology for small and medium-sized libraries since 1923.

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.

For 80 years, Sears List of Subject Headings has served the needs of small and medium-sized libraries, delivering a basic list of essential headings, together with patterns and examples to guide the cataloger in creating further headings as needed. Practical features include a thesaurus-like format, an accompanying list of cancelled and replacement headings, and legends within the list that identify earlier forms of headings.