Page 208 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Unit 10: Subject Heading List

materials often concentrate on very small aspects of larger subjects, the cataloguer may not find Notes
in the List the specific heading that should be used. In such instances the cataloguer should be
generous in adding new subjects as needed. Topical subject headings assigned to non-book
materials should not include form subdivisions to describe physical format, such as motion
pictures, slides, sound recordings, etc.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
13. Biography is a form of writing given the topical subject heading.
14. Headings that are always stationary are always given national adjectives and are not
subdivided geographically.
15. With indigenous minority groups written in their own language are given the name of
that language.

10.6 Use of Subject Headings

The library catalogue is vital function at the very centre of a library, and as such it is always
growing and changing to reflect the growing collection and to meet the changing needs of the
users. It is a challenge to the cataloguer to add new records, revise existing records, and make all
the appropriate references, and at the same time maintain the integrity of the catalogue.

10.6.1 Adding New Headings

The first thing to be determined is whether or not there is already an existing heading in the List
for that concept. Upon consulting the List it becomes clear that those words are not headings but
references. At other times the appropriate heading for a book is not a new heading but a new
combination of an established heading and a subdivision.
The cataloguer should keep in mind that it is not only appropriate but essential that types of
things and examples of things not found in the List be established as headings and added to the
List locally as needed. The general references in the List should reinforces in the List should
reinforce the point that the List does not aim at completeness and must be expanded. Even where
there is no general reference, narrower terms for types of things and examples and instances of
things must be added as needed.

10.6.2 Revising Subject Headings

All the inverted headings in the Sears List, for example, were eventually revised to the uninverted
form. With each new edition of the Sears List a library should consult the List of Cancelled and
replacement Headings in the front of the volume and revise its catalogue accordingly. Any
headings created locally based on the pattern set by a Sears heading, and strings consisting of a
Sears heading and a subdivision, must also be revised if that heading is revised in Sears.

Notes In card catalogue the subjects are physically erased and retyped, either on all the
cards on which they appear or on the subject entry cards alone. If in card catalogue
replacement of a term ids desirable but the number of bibliographic records to be revised
is prohibitive, a history note can be used instead.

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