Session 9: Subject Analysis

Session 9: Subject Analysis Fundamental concepts and rules of subject analysis Keywords vs. controlled vocabularies How do librarians add controlled vocabulary to bibliographic records? Characteristics of LCSH Building subject headings Subject heading tools 2 This is our outline for this morning-- Up to now description & coding concern what object *is* Now what object is *about* Cataloger s judgment really comes into play here and how to be consistent and fit it into your catalog in an appropriate way How do we assign subject terms This afternoon how do we control those terms & names or series assigned how can we be consistent how do we assign numbers to shelve objects understandably? First subjects as words 2

Haykin s Fundamental Concepts Your patron is the focus Unity (1 primary heading or 1 call number for all material on that subject) Usage (heading is common usage for reader) English vs. foreign terms prefer English Specificity be as specific as possible 3 Should always be thinking about your patron These principles apply to *subjects* & to *numbers*--classification is all about making objects findable by patrons by making terms clear, unambiguous, & specific E.g., if it s about chemistry, don t assign subject Science. If it s about analytical chemistry, don t assign subject Chemistry. David Judson Haykin, Chief of the Subj Cataloging Div of LC in 1940 s 3

Sayers Classification Rules Place book where it will be most useful (i.e., analyze your user) Class by subject, then form Consider predominant tendency/ purpose of book (i.e., the subject concerned, rather than the audience aimed at. Example: chemistry for premed) 4 There s *always* more than one call # that s appropriate; there are usually several subject headings that would work. BE CONSISTENT IN YOUR CHOICES! Class by form. A science dictionary - the fact that something is a dictionary is not as important as that it is about science. W.C. Berwick Sayers- had a lot to do with LCC class J 4

Sayers, cont d Be as specific as possible (=close classification) If no number or subject exists as yet, put where closest If 2-3 subjects, classify under dominant & cover others with subject headings; if more than 3, classify under general heading covering all Class 1 subject applied to another with the subject to which application is made, e.g., Math for accounting 5 Think about *who* is going to be using this book. Where would they expect to find it? 5

Sayers, cont d Classify pro & con books together be honest towards the author s intent Avoid classification that implies criticism describe, don t judge Always have reasons for decisions Document your decisions CHECK SUBJECT/CALL NUMBER IN USE IN YOUR CATALOG. CONSISTENT CATALOGING MAKES FOR A COHERENT CATALOG 6 133 is occult not the place to put a book on latitudes/longitudes just because an astrologer *could* use the info! Very important to document your decisions, because there may be more than one cataloger, or you may leave. You want people to know why you made the decisions you did. We ve talked the rest of the week about description, & following AACR is designed to make that consistent. Typos especially in titles can cause access problems, BUT consistency is absolutely vital when it comes to call #s, subject headings, & all other authority-controlled access points 6

Keywords vs. Controlled Vocabularies Keyword = retrieves term located almost anywhere in bibliographic record, e.g., title, note, subjects, authors, other titles, series [postcoordination] Controlled vocabulary = retrieves in a subject search the defined, related, chosen terms added to bibliographic record as subject headings [precoordination] 7 Can t talk about subject access without talking keyword. Lots of talk out there about Google replacing LCSH even LC seems to be considering dropping or utterly changing LCSH! Let s compare Google (keyword) vs. LCSH (controlled vocabulary). Post-coordination somebody is pulling these subject strings out of their head after cataloging; retrieval relies on Boolean searching all terms listed singly Pre-coordination you are adding the subject terms & strings as you catalog this is what we do as librarians Example: They saw the elephant book about women s experiences going west & living there, during the Calif. gold rush--*nothing* about elephants! 7

Keyword Keyword relies on post-coordinated combinations of individual terms if user can t think of synonyms, a lot will be missed Keyword doesn t allow for different meanings for same terms looks for word, not context Keyword retrieves jumble of info, some relevant & some completely not BUT Keyword can retrieve new, distinctive terms not included in controlled vocabularies yet Keyword results can be narrowed with proximity or other qualifiers 8 Some pros & cons of keyword Need to define proximity 8

Search by Keyword stress With no further qualification, you could retrieve items on psychology engineering linguistics botany etc. 9 Let s look at a few searches & search results 9

10 Plant stress psychological stress metal stress! 10

Controlled Vocabulary Authorized terms distinguish different meanings of identical words Pre-coordinated subject strings add hierarchy & relevance to search Browse displays of pre-coordinated subject strings allow for organized hit lists to click on for specific title information 11 Main con for controlled vocabularies: complicated & largely unknown structure, going into search. Sometimes keyword bib subject strings assigned to bib clicking on string other titles in catalog is best way to go combining best of both search mechanisms 11

Controlled Vocabulary, cont d Browse displays are the only mechanism providing vocabulary control of freefloating elements of subject headings Patrons don t need to know or type in complete string only first element Meaning of pre-coordinated phrases and Menu visible in browse searches are equally important 12 12

Keyword Yugoslavia and History Overwhelming, jumbled results Too many responses with right words in inappropriate contexts 13 13

10,000 +!!! 14 Looks like a Google result, right? 14

Subject Browse on Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Antiquities Yugoslavia Bibliography Yugoslavia Civilization Yugoslavia Economic conditions Yugoslavia Historical geography Yugoslavia--History Yugoslavia Politics and government Yugoslavia Social life and customs 15 Without knowing any specific subdivisions ahead of time, patron retrieves display that should give him idea of where to go next 15

Only 25 lines 16 Much more helpful! Not only easy to decipher, there s some assurance that patron has found all relevant items on the subject 16

So what do catalogers do to add controlled vocabulary to bibliographic records? We try to figure out what the book is about 17 17

To begin with, we: Examine all works [book, non-book, fiction, non-fiction] for subject content title abstract introduction preface table of contents index bibliography jacket or cover or label or box blurbs accompanying materials, inserts, boxes Identify main subjects Identify author s point of view 18 Similar to technical reading of a book, but now we re trying to figure out what book is *about.* Author s point of view + *why* you bought the item very imp t considerations when deciding where to park it (number classification) & what subject headings to assign. If you don t understand it, you may have to ask someone for more info, too! Back to latitude/longitude book, if you think book is likely to be used by someone interested in astrology, add the appropriate subject headings! Just don t *judge* it by classifying it in such a narrow spot. 18

Then, we use the primary source of controlled vocabulary, Library of Congress Subject Headings, aka LCSH or the red books, either in print or online in OCLC s Connexion or in LC s Cataloger s Desktop. LCSH has subject terms, additions to terms, and helpful notes about how and when to use them. It also sometimes includes suggested LC classification numbers. 19 19

Some Important LCSH Characteristics There are several types of headings: Single words Poor Qualified words Iris (Eye) Phrases Career plateaus Inverted phrases Medicine, Arab Series of nouns Law reports, digests, etc. Some uniform titles Bible 20 Discussing organization & format of LCSH 20

A Few More Few almost none! personal or corporate names. George Bush & Federal Bureau of Investigation aren t included Recent trend toward natural word order (rather than inverted) and fewer hyphenated terms Pattern headings, e.g., Corn (for plants and crops) Shakespeare (for personal authors) Subdivisions are preceded by -- in LCSH & are separately subfielded in MARC authority records 21 LCSH is already 4-5 triple-columned page volumes couldn t begin to *also* include proper names, so that s what online authority files are for. 21

Looking at an LCSH page, note: Indentions, preceded by hyphens Boldface entries Scope notes Cross reference structure LCC numbers Capitalization Punctuation Alphabetization in structured display 22 LCSH uses indentions with double hyphens, rather than entering terms over & over. You need to follow the indentions to see just what a subdivision should be coming after. Boldface is a good indication of valid heading when referring to a term at the left column margin, but not so reliable with indented terms. 22

Chicachas Indians USE Chickasaw Indians Chicago, Judy, 1939- Dinner party UF Dinner party (Art) BT Art, American Chicago (Ill.) -- Description -- -- To 1875 -- -- 1875-1950 -- -- 1951-1980 -- -- 1981- -- Haymarket Square Riot, 1886 USE Haymarket Square Riot, Chicago, Ill., 1886 -- History [F548] -- -- To 1875 -- -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [F548.4] -- -- 1875- -- Massacre, 1812 USE Massacres Illinois Chicago -- Politics and government -- --To 1950 Bold vs. unbolded Indentions Hyphens USE, UF, BT -- --1951- Chicago (Ill.) Politics and government 1951- -- Riot, 1968 (August) Chicago (Ill.). North Lawndale USE North Lawndale (Chicago, Ill.) 23 We have bolded headings, we have indentions, we have classification numbers (we need to check these, and not just blindly use them) Indentions Chicago Ill is bolded, then Description, then the double indentions mean that you can put a time frame after Description It can be tricky to follow your indentions if we had 1951 you see that is a double indention go back to Politics and government Gives you Chicago (Ill.) Politics and government 1951- Talk about Use for Chicachas Indians Talk about UF Dinner part y and Chicago, Judy BT broader term Art, American Make sure you cover everything on the page 23

Some LCSH terms you should know: Subject headings/terms Subject subdivisions Pattern headings Subject heading strings May subdivide geog. direction Scope notes Cross references [the BT, RT, etc., we ll talk about later today] 24 Definitions & examples are on next screens Introd. to LCSH defines all these terms. 24

Terms Defined Subject headings/terms = Initial subject elements in string Subject subdivisions = Various elements that are added to initial subject terms Pattern headings = examples of subdivisions that can be used with similar subjects Subject heading strings = subject term + any subdivision(s) connected within single field 25 Subdivisions never stand alone just what name implies: subset of something else, so they follow subject headings, separated by double dashes (in print) or subfield codes (in MARC) Some scope notes begin with: Here are entered works on Works on are entered Introd. to LCSH defines all these terms. 25

May subdivide geog. direction = permission to add geographic subdivision after subject or subdivision term Scope notes = explanation of how term or subdivision should be used Cross references: BT = broader term; RT = related term; NT = narrower term; sa = see also; USE = use term directed to; UF = used for 26 Birds Maryland Baltimore but NOT Baltimore orioles Maryland Baltimore. Talk about going indirectly to the city 26

Alphabetization & Capitalization Rules Topic Topic Subdivisions Topic, Inverted extension Topic (Qualifying term) Topic with other words in phrase 27 This is called a structured display it affects alphabetization of various headings in a list 27

Structured Display in Action Reading Ability testing Reading Abstracts Periodicals Reading Congresses Reading Research Reading, Psychology of Reading (Adult education) Reading (England) Reading comprehension 28 All plain topics get alphabetized first, then the terms that have commas, and then qualifiers Alphabetization is *not* letter by letter, except within each type of structure Some subject headings e.g., Botany or United States History can go on for several columns or even pages. Browse around! 28

BREAK?? 29 29

Kinds of Subdivisions Topical --Growth [MARC $x] Form --Fiction [MARC $v] Chronological --To 1950 [MARC $y] Geographic --France [MARC $z] CLUE: You can sometimes find a scope note about the use of a term as a subdivision under entry for its use as a subject heading, whether boldface or not 30 Some terms can be subject headings *or* subject subdivisions, e.g., Biography, Dictionaries Time periods aren t always in words Subdivisions in LCSH aren t labeled as topical, form, etc. you just figure this out. They *are* somewhat labeled in MARC ARs. 30

31 Direct from LCSH We have a classification here for Biography in general; LC classification may or may not be helpful. CT is not where you put a biography of a musician. This would be for a group of biographies (lots of people who do different things) Then we see UF; then we have BT, RT, etc. Go into a little detail about each of these RT are lateral, not broader and not narrower Only put UF once, and only put BT once Then we have the scope note See also all the ways you can use Biography as a subdivision 31

32 The MARC view of the very same info, in an authority record Go through each part (053 is the call number, 150 is the heading that was in boldface on the book page, 360 is same scope note we just saw and the 450s are all terms we can t use) 32

Authorized Subdivisions Established specifically for use under particular heading 650 _0 Cinematography $x Special effects. 651 _0 France $x History $y 1945-1958. Free-floating may be used under certain types of headings without being established specifically 650 _0 Biochemistry $v Congresses. 651 _0 New York (N.Y.) $x Buildings, structures, etc. 650 _0 Short stories, American $x History and criticism Pattern headings may be applied as appropriate 33 How do you know what subdivisions can be added to particular subject headings? Some choices All kinds of subdivisions, by category, are listed/described/given direction to in Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings & in Free-floating subdivisions & in LC Period Subdivisions under Names of Places, as well as in Connexion. Note: You can t just make up dates after geographic names these are established specifically for each place name. 33

Pattern headings give you a bunch of possible subdivisions for a particular kind of subject heading, e.g., subdivisions appropriate or possible after names of plants. These subdivisions aren t repeated after every plant name in LCSH the pattern serves as the primary listing of possible subdivisions for any plant. 34 LCSH would run out of room if all possible subject subdivisions were noted at every subject entry --free-floating or specific! 34

Some Pattern Headings in LCSH Pattern headings Animals (general) Animals (domestic) Diseases Organ, body regions Plants & crops Indiv. lit. authors City State Country Examples Fishes Cattle Cancer; TB Heart; Foot Corn Shakespeare Chicago, Ill. Ohio U.S. 35 Here are a few examples of pattern headings Have to be careful with pattern headings, and only use the subdivisions that really can be applied to other subjects e.g., couldn t use a chronological subdivision that really only applied to Chicago for San Francisco. So, if you wanted to know what headings you could add to a vegetable subject heading, you d check?? 35

Compare Carrots [in Connexion authority search] 36 Connexion browse view Not much there 36

to Corn And we re only at the C s!!! 37 But, wow! Look at the options here! 37

All the subdivisions listed under Corn can be used when appropriate after carrots, potatoes, wheat, etc. Ditto for authors (Shakespeare s the pattern), cities (follow Chicago) OCLC s Connexion includes list of pattern headings at http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/connexio n/browser/authorities/find_auth_records/find_auth _records_pdf.pdf 38 The power of pattern headings! Far more choices at Shakespeare than you d *ever* want to use for any other author, probably, unless you had an especially deep collection of someone s work. Specific chronological headings at Chicago aren t transferable, but all others, as appropriate, are. 38

Building Subject Heading Strings Find appropriate subject heading Look for established subdivisions Add appropriate free-floating subdivisions Check pattern headings for more possibilities Watch for permission by multiples, e.g., English language -- Dictionaries -- French, [Italian, etc.] 39 So, how do we put all these parts together correctly? Because, of course, there s a right way & several wrong ways to do it Note the square brackets, allowing variation without specifically naming all possibilities. 39

Preferred Order of Terms in Subject Heading Strings General subject heading Topical subdivision Geographic subdivision Chronological subdivision Form subdivision 650 _0 $a $x $z $y $v 650 _0 $a Spanish language $x Dialects $z Spain $x History $y 19 th century $v Dictionaries. Place follows last element that allows geographical subdivision, when there s a choice: Not Topic Place Topic But Topic Topic Place 40 How do you know when geographical subdivision is allowed anyone know? [may subd. geog.] after heading or subdivision. 40

41 So what about corn abnormalities in Kansas? [Corn $x Abnormalities $z Kansas -- *not* Corn $z Kansas $x Abnormalities] 41

42 Here s part of the MARC version Note: Type z = authority record type Talk about the i in Geo subd says it s ok to subdivide geog; if blank, you can t 42

Geographic subdivision is always indirect except Jerusalem & Washington, D.C. using latest name of place 650 _0 Birds $z United States. 650 _0 Birds $z Missouri. 650 _0 Birds $z Missouri $z Saint Louis. 650 _0 Birds $z Washington (D.C.) NOT 650 _0 Birds $z Saint Louis. NOT 650 _0 Birds $z United States $z Missouri. 43 Indirect means going thru a larger place to get to a smaller place in subdivision strings. In the U.S., that means going thru states to get to places included in states, e.g., cities, counties; in most other countries, headings go thru the country name. Note that St. Louis is spelled out--ditto for Mount. 43

Miscellaneous Facts If about history or government, whose history or government is most important starting point 651 _0 Connecticut $x Politics and government. Reciprocal headings are sometimes required, e.g., 2- way language dictionary; 2-way foreign relations text 651 _0 China $x Foreign relations $z Brazil. 651 _0 Brazil $x Foreign relations $z China. 44 This is a question most students seem to have where do I begin? It helps to consider info in slide 38 as to order of elements + logically concentrating on beginning with most imp t aspect + experience Could be about politics in general, in which case that would be the main heading. However, if it has to do with the social conditions, history, economics of a place, then that place is your starting point. Dictionaries example: A German-English dictionary only needs one heading, but a German dictionary that also goes English to German, should have both headings, e.g., German language Dictionaries English *and* English language Dictionaries German. Think about the beginning element. It is a good idea to have several beginning elements for browse displays. They saw the elephant, e.g., should have entry elements reflecting Calif./history/time period, Calif. gold rush, women pioneers. It is a good idea to become familiar with the free-floating subdivision list. When you are searching online you don t. get to browse through all of them like you do in the book. 44

Looking at an LCSH Authority Record in MARC, note: 1XX field = authorized form 4XX field(s) = unauthorized, see from form 5XX field(s) = authorized, see also from form 053 field(s) = LC call numbers fixed field info about usage, subdividing geographically, source, rules, etc. 45 Cheat sheet for MARC coding 45

Note L.C. call numbers Unused term Broader term 46 (Go through each part of the slide) Notice that you can subdivide geographically. You can put Dogs Ohio. 46

MARC Bibliographic Fields* for Subject Headings 600 Personal name subject heading 610 Corporate name subject heading 611Conference name subject heading 650 Topical subject heading 651 Geographical subject heading 690 Local subject heading 650 _4 Local subject heading, patterned after LCSH construction *All represented in ARs as 1XX fields, e.g., 100, 150, 151 47 47

Subject Heading Tools LCSH Free-Floating Subdivisions: an Alphabetical Index LC Period Subdivisions under Names of Places Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings OCLC s Connexion database authority file [really LC s authority file, loaded in OCLC] OCLC s Connexion database heading verification (control heading) LCSH pattern heading list in Connexion LC authority file Local system s heading verification Library of Congress Subject Headings: Principles and Application / Lois Mai Chan. 48 Talk about each one of these Connexion has a list of pattern subject headings LC auth file is open to everyone 48

Let s Add Subject Headings to Our Fake Books 49 Let them have about 5 min. 49

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MARC Subject Coding for Our Fake Books 650 _0 Cataloging. 650 _0 Classification. 52 52