Subject Headings & Classification Or, why catalogers don’t seem to think like normal people IDS4930: 5 February 2013

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At some point, a system is needed… Photo credit: sindesign ( design/) Redistributed under Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license

Subject Headings “The LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings) were created by thousands of catalogers over the course of 100 years using a strict set of ever-changing rules.” -- Heidi Lee Hoerman School of Library and Information Science, U. of South Carolina.

Subject Headings Can be Ideas/concepts Events Places (even imaginary ones) People (even imaginary ones)

Narrowing It Down Subdivisions can be Geographic (United States, Florida, etc.) Chronology (dates; these are NOT the same for all headings) Form (what kind of a thing it is: Periodicals, Dictionaries, Blogs, etc.) Topic (Religious aspects, economic aspects)

What is This? Image source: / (Public domain image)

Why??? Parsnip, but also Philodrendrons! Working class women was established about 1985, Working class men in 2005! Neighbors was not a subject heading until 2006 Mosquito nets was not a subject heading until 2008 – and this term was requested and created by a cataloger at UF. Often, but NOT always, scientific names are used for plants and animals. If your research involves the sciences, use the authority file to find the correct LCSH. It will save much trouble. LCSH suggestions courtesy of Christopher Walker, The Pennsylvania State University

And some are just … odd… LCSH suggestion courtesy of Kevin Furniss, Tulane University

Library of Congress Classification Get the big picture:

So What Do You Do? Search keywords, but then look at the whole record and click the subject heading that matches your idea Check your subject or name at Clip art source: Microsoft

Yes, We Have Fiction in West! Not the same amount or kind as the public library, but we do. Here are some of the secret tips: Authors are sorted by nationality and/or language; British authors and American authors are in different classes. You can often find criticism of important books near that book, or near the end of all books by the author. Look around. You may discover authors who were popular in your parents’, grandparents’, or great-grandparents’ time, but have fallen out of favor.

Some Numbers: American Authors Dashiell Hammett: PS3515.A4347 Shirley Jackson: PS3519.A392 James Weldon Johnson: PS3519.O Mary Higgins Clark: PS3553.L287 Stephen King: PS3561.I483 Barbara Kingsolver: PS3561.I496 Amy Tan: PS3570.A48

Some Numbers: British Authors Agatha Christie: PR6005.H66 Mary Renault: PR6035.E55 J.R.R. Tolkien: PR6039.O32 Evelyn Waugh: PR6045.A9 P.G. Wodehouse: PR6045.O Douglas Adams: PR6051.D3352 Ian Fleming: PR6056.L4 P.D. James: PR6060.A467

PZ We also have the PZ call number for many items. Cover image source: Goodreads

Clip art source: Microsoft

Please Ask! Naomi Young Principal Serials Cataloger See a mistake in the UF or union catalog? (Typos, the wrong contents note, something obvious like that? )