Page 174 - DLIS402_INFORMATION_ANALYSIS_AND_REPACKAGING

Unit 9: Cataloguing and Subject Indexing: Principles and Practices

visual arts. Work on the arts in general, including the visual arts, literature, and the performing Notes
arts, is entered under Arts).
Thus, the scope note sets the context and distinguishes the heading Art from Arts. Scope note is not
required in all entries. It is only required when there exists an overlap in entries. Directing Elements
An entry may have the following directing elements: USE, UF (Used For), BT (Broader Term), NT
(Narrower Term), RT (Related Term) and SA (See Also). Directing elements are used to interconnect
related subject headings. Related subject headings are interconnected to help the indexer and user/
searcher.
The indexer might have thought of a subject heading to assign to a document that doesn’t exactly
represent the subject of the document. To help him to refine his subject heading, the directing elements
are used. Similarly, for the user, he may use a subject heading to find out the information required
by him, which is not the appropriate heading. The directing elements guide him in refining his
heading to reach his required information.
A subject is related to another subject in any of the following three relational ways:
• Equivalence
• Hierarchical
• Associative
(a) Equivalence Relations: These relations exist between subjects due to word forms, e.g.,
synonyms, technical versus popular terminology, abbreviations oracronyms versus their
full forms, variations in spellings, multiword terms, etc. Since one among the variations of
a term is to be used as an acceptable heading, it is connected to others through USE reference,
e.g., Hindu Gods USEGods, Hindu (May sub Geog)
Adult offspring
USEAdult children 49
Carcinoma
USE Cancer
Iconograph
USE Art
Injuries
USE Accidents
Midday
USE Noon
Cataloguing
USE Cataloguing
(b) Hierarchical Relationships: Subjects related to each other as whole part of whole type are
designated as hierarchical relationships. The directing elements used to connect. Those are
BT and NT, their full forms being broader term and narrower term respectively. Examples:
Gods, Hindu (May subd Geog)
BT Hinduism
Adult Children (May subd Geog)
BT Adulthood
Children
NT Abusive adult children

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 169