Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) : Assigning and Constructing

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) : Assigning and Constructing

http://librarianshipstudies.blogspot.com/2015/12/library-of-congress-subject-headings.html

New Post on Librarianship Studies & Information Technology Blog provides a comprehensive and most up-to-date description of Assigning and Constructing Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) : Principles, Practices, and Examples From Subject Headings Manual (SHM) Instruction Sheet H 180 (Visit above link to read complete article ... ... ...)

BACKGROUND: This instruction sheet contains general practices followed by the Library of Congress for assigning subject headings to individual works being cataloged and for constructing subject heading strings in the Library of Congress subject heading system. This instruction sheet begins after the initial steps of subject analysis have taken place, that is, after an examination of the item to determine its subject focus and an identification of how that basic subject is expressed with the controlled vocabulary of the Library of Congress subject heading system.

Contents:

1. General rule (how-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to the work being cataloged) 

2. Cataloging treatment (how-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) corresponding to the cataloging treatment of the work) 

3. Number of headings (what is the number of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) required in a catalog record) 

4. Specificity (in assigning Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))

5. Depth of indexing (how-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) that most closely correspond to the overall coverage of the work) 

6. General topic and subtopic; principle vs. specific case (how-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) if a work discusses a general topic with emphasis on a particular subtopic, or presents a principle and illustrates the principle with a specific case or example)

7. Two or three related headings (how-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) if a heading exists, or can be established, that represents the two or three topics discussed in a work)

8. Rule of three (when it is appropriate to assign up-to three Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))

9. Rule of four (when it is appropriate to assign up-to four Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))

10. Multi-element topics (How-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) if a work discusses a complex or compound topic for which a single heading neither exists nor can be practically constructed or established)

11. Additional aspects (How-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) with important additional aspects, such as limitation to a specific place or time, focus on specific named entities, and presentation in a particular form)

12. Concepts in titles (How-to assign Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to bring out concepts in titles and subtitles)

13. Additional headings (How-to assign additional Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) which are required because of the complex nature of certain topics, or special practices that have been developed for particular topics)

14. Objectivity (Principle to avoid assigning Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) that label topics or express personal value judgments regarding topics or materials)

15. Constructing headings (Examples of different types of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))

16. Complete subject heading strings with subdivisions (Addition of subdivisions to Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to complete subject heading strings)

Major Steps in the subject cataloging process: Principles of SLAM

Translate into LCSH

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is the most widely used Subject Heading List throughout the world. Even though all libraries use LCSH to provide Subject Heading, most of them are not aware of the proper guidelines and practices for applying LCSH headings. I am saying this from my experience of working in some major libraries in India, namely the National Library of India, Central Reference Library, and the Indian School of Business Library and observing the catalogs of various libraries of different countries and also records in WorldCat database of OCLC, world's largest library catalog. Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is one of the focus areas of Librarianship Studies & Information Technology Blog. It aims to generate awareness and provide information to librarians and catalogers about Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) based on international standards. Till recently Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Subject Headings Manual (SHM) were available as paid products from LC and were very costly. Now that these are made available for free, it is a great initiative and service by the Library of Congress to the profession of librarianship and libraries should cash this opportunity to provide Subject Headings in their catalogs in the correct way using LCSH.

See also:

• Librarianship Studies & Information Technology Blog (Category) - SUBJECT HEADING
• Librarianship Studies & Information Technology Blog Page - Subject Heading
• About Librarianship Studies & Information Technology Blog
• Follow Librarianship Studies & Information Technology
• RDA Blog - Cataloger's Reference Directory

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Librarianship Studies & Information Technology Blog will be more focused on Library Technical Processing and Information Access Through The Subject with special reference to the techniques of Library of Congress Classification (LCC) and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) by use of Classification & Shelflisting Manual (CSM), Subject Headings Manual (SHM), and Classification Web tool of Library of Congress. Librarianship Studies Blog will also highlight the history, development, and techniques of providing classification number using Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC).

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