Page 89 - DLIS103_LIBRARY_CLASSIFICATION_AND_CATALOGUING_THEORY

Library Classification and Cataloguing Theory

Notes degree of subordination of terms required can result in an overwhelming variety of approaches,
thus necessitating an unwieldy cross reference structure.
Machine techniques for sorting, Perry points out, have been developed to a point where searches
can be made quickly and efficiently for highly complex relationships, and particularly for those
which may not have been anticipated at the time the original index references were made. In the
ordinary subject catalogue such relations can only be sought, if at all, through laborious rearran-
gements of the entries in order to bring into juxtaposition the separate components.
In connection with the development of machine techniques it has been observed that there is need
to weigh carefully the terminology and form of subject heading terms employed, since effectiveness
depends upon the precision with which particular concepts can be described and identified. A
machine is incapable of making semantic differentiations. Thus subject heading terms used in
machine sorting must be precisely and exactly defined. While reasonably precise terminologies
are characteristic of the sciences and of law, they are not typical of other fields. The nature of the
problem in the social sciences has been suggested by C. A. Beard and Sidney Hook and by C. J.
Friedrich and Mary C. Trakett . In any case subject cataloguing techniques which use compound,
phrase, and subdivided headings introduce semantic problems. Taube has considered this matter
of terminology in several papers, and has suggested that a “coordinate” system of indexing which
uses single terms as subject entries makes it possible to identify necessary relationships at the
same time that it eliminates the need for complex subject heading terms and an elaborate cross
reference structure. Relations are identified by comparing the entry cards for as many specific
concepts as may be involved, and by isolating the items which are common to all of the entries.
Since individual entries are unit terms only, there is no theoretical limit to the complexity of
relationships which can be sought through this system. A particular advantage cited by Tauble is
the ability of the unit system to absorb subject terms and headings from different authorities or
standard lists, since a separate entry under each term of the heading eliminates the necessity of
considering the particular form in which the heading may be expressed. This hospitality of the
unit system recommends its usefulness in any cooperative indexing project. Taupe’s scheme is
provocative, even though it has not yet been tested fully nor had its applications to subject
cataloguing practices defined clearly.
Since we have come no closer to realizing a precise statement of objectives for the subject catalogue
than the foregoing account indicates, it is evident that there can have been no revolutionary
changes in subject cataloguing methods. Thus the basic code for subject cataloguing is still largely
the same as that formulated by Cutter in 1876. A comparison of Cutter's rules with those contained
in the Vatican Library's Norme, now available in English translation, reveals only a multiplication
of rules to cover specific cases, and no significant differences in method. Two other publications in
recent years have served to crystallize the method. Miss Pettee's somewhat brief account of the
development of the alphabetic subject catalogue identifies origins and clarifies relationships among
the varied forms of subject catalogues. And her exposition of the technique of analyzing specific
headings and their interrelationships is the classic account of how integrity of the logical structure
of the catalogue is to be obtained. More recently, Haykin's manual on subject headings outlines
the body of subject cataloguing principles insofar as they have been developed, and describes in
detail the particulars of L.C. practices in handling some of the more vexing problems, such as those
of reference structure, subdivisions, geographic headings, and filing arrangements. A recent
announcement looks to the early publication of a subject heading code which, presumably, will
have the same purpose and usefulness in subject cataloguing as W. S. Merrill's Code for Classifiers
has for classification.
There have, of course, been other changes. The major general lists of subject headings have been
altered in detail and content, but not in any fundamental way. The L.C list, now grown to larger
size through the addition of new headings, and it has taken over the general plan of arrangement

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