Page 127 - DLIS405_INFORMATION_STORAGE_AND_RETRIEVAL

Information Storage and Retrieval

Notes provides a background on Charles A. Cutter’s specific and direct entry—the idea that if a specific
subject exists for an entry, it should be added. Additionally, the “Principles of the Sears List” chapter
explains how the teacher-librarian may create a heading according to guidelines if the desired heading
does not exist. Furthermore, the inclusion of suggested Dewey numbers for each subject heading
continues in Sears 19, providing yet another aid for the school librarian to use when evaluating the
catalogue for both location and contextual usefulness/accuracy.

Features “Principles of the Sears List”

“Principles of the Sears List’ is one of the reasons why all institutions that teach subject analysis and
all libraries that have untrained technical services staff should buy Sears 19, even if the library assigns
Library of Congress subject headings. Sears’ explanation of subject headings is written in clear English
and is an excellent description of the function and construction of subject headings. Libraries that
assign Library of Congress subject headings can easily adapt the ‘Principles of the Sears List’ to refer
to the LC subject list because the fundamental principles of subject analysis are the same.”—
Technicalities.
Sears had a long career as a cataloguer and bibliographer at a variety of libraries (Bryn Mawr College,
University of Minnesota, New York Public Library), before she joined the publishing company H.
W. Wilson Company in 1923 to publish her List of Subject Headings for Small Libraries. The book
provides a list of subject headings for small libraries to use in lieu of Library of Congress Subject
Headings. Library of Congress headings are often not as useful for small libraries because they are
too detailed. Sears’ List of Subject Headings also offers small libraries guidance on how to create
their own new subject headings consistently when necessary.
In order to create her subject headings, Sears consulted small and medium sized libraries throughout
the country to discern patterns of usage. She then developed her own system, based in part on the
Library of Congress Subject Headings, but with a simplified subject vocabulary. In Sears’ system,
common terms are much preferred over scientific and technical terms. Her system also allowed
individual libraries the authority to create their own subject headings. The Sears model is not meant
to serve as a standardized bridge for union catalogs, but rather as a model “for the creation of
headings as needed”.

Classify the term sears list subject headings and principles of the sears list.

Like the Library of Congress Subject Headings, Sears’ system is a subject list arranged in alphabetical
order, making use of overarching subject categories and hierarchical subject subdivisions. However,
Sears’ headings favor natural language. Her headings make use of only four types of headings:
topical, form, geographic, and proper names. She also tended to convert inverted headings into
direct entries.
In the third edition of the book (1933), Ms. Sears added a section called, “Practical Suggestions for
the Beginner in Subject Heading Work”. These “Principles of the Sears List” were eventually
published as a separate document and became a widely used teaching tool for library schools. In
subsequent editions of the List, Sears’ subject headings were also linked to appropriate Dewey
Decimal numbers.
In addition to creating the List, Sears edited the Standard Catalog for Public Libraries of the American
Library Association, and an edition of the Standard Catalog for High School Libraries. She eventually
left H.W. Wilson to teach at Columbia University’s School of Library Science, where she started the
first graduate course in cataloging. Sears also remained an active participant in the American Library
Association and the New York Library Association. After her death in 1933 at age 60, the book was
eventually renamed in her honor to The Sears List of Subject Headings. The List is currently in its
20th edition.

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