1. Library of Congress Update
Authority Control Interest Group
American Library Association Conference
(2009 : Denver, Colorado)
Janis L. Young
Policy and Standards Division
Library of Congress

2. Name authorities
034 field (Cartographic mathematical data) in authority records
Non-Latin reference project
Resource Description and Access (RDA)
Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)

3. Geographic coordinates for name authorities
Field 034 coming to name authorities in 2009
Guidelines currently being developed for field use by NACO members
Policies will be documented in the Blue and Yellow pages
Investigating the possibility of pre-populating records with data from trusted partners
Watch for future announcements

4. Non-Latin reference project
OCLC has completed the pre-population of the LC/NACO authority file from bibliographic headings
Catalogers may input non-Latin script references for new and existing name authority records
LC will announce a process by which catalogers who have been examining the references can contribute to the development of policies and practices

5. Non-Latin reference project
White paper on Non-Latin references
Frames many of the issues related to cataloger-added references, including
Lack of uniformity in formulation of headings in 880 fields
Whether cataloger-added additions should match those in the authorized form of heading

6. Non-Latin reference project
White Paper available at:
Send comments to
Website for the non-Latin project

7. Resource Description and Access
Specialists in the Policy and Standards Division are compiling LC’s comments on the Full Draft for Constituency Review
LC, NLM, and NAL plan to test RDA before making a decision regarding implementation

8. Virtual International Authority File
On December 11, 2008 the National Library of Sweden became the latest partner in VIAF
Seven other libraries have applied join and should be added in 2009
System will be available in a beta version in 2009

9. Subject authorities Library of Congress Classification (LCC)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
LCSH SKOS
Library of Congress Genre/Form Headings

10. Updated LC class schedules
BL-BQ (Religion (General). Hinduism. Judaism. Islam. Buddhism)
BR-BX (Christianity. Bible)
C (Auxiliary sciences of history)
DS-DX (History of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.)
H (Social sciences)
PJ-PK (Oriental philology and literature. Indo-Iranian philology and literature)
PQ (French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese literatures)
R (Medicine)

11. Development of law schedules
KBS: Canon Law of the Eastern Churches
KBT: Canon Law of the Eastern Rite Churches in Communion with the Apostolic See in Rome
Are in draft form and can be viewed in Classification Web, but are not approved and should not be used

12. Subject and classification manuals
Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings
New edition will be published in 2009, titled Subject Headings Manual (SHM)
Will consolidate previous updates

13. LCSH “Red Books” 31st edition available in spring, 2009
Will be current through January 23, 2009
New feature
Genre/form headings available in separate section in the front of volume 1

14. Subject heading validation records
Approximately 35,000 created
Not printed in “Red Books”
Are available through MARC Distribution Service and Classification Web
Are maintained as headings are revised
Project halted in mid-2008 due to a programming glitch; will begin again when problem is resolved

15. LCSH SKOS
In was launched as an experimental prototype that made LCSH freely available on the Internet through SKOS format
To facilitate use of LCSH for data manipulation and other applications
Prototype will be replaced with an official LC site

16. LCSH SKOS
Feedback to LC demonstrated the public’s interest in freely available records
Future plans include expanding to include genre/form authority records, TGM, and MARC code lists

17. LCSH SKOS
The Library of Congress is committed to providing LCSH freely on the Internet, with the goal of encouraging experimentation and use, reuse, and interoperability of LCSH

18. Genre/form headings
Projects for moving images and radio programs are almost completed
LC catalogers implemented headings in new cataloging as of January 1, 2009
SACO members may contribute proposals for new and revised headings beginning February 1, 2009

19. Genre/form headings
In November LC management approved five new projects: cartography, law, literature, music, and religion
Cartography project getting underway
Will require revision of many topical headings for cartographic materials
Sample list of headings is available on LC’s web site at

20. Genre/form headings For general information about the projects:
FAQ
Reports
Timeline
Announcements
Requests for comment

21. Questions?