Subject Access Project
For many years librarians and library users in Australia have been frustrated by the limitations of the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) when it has come to describing a publication which is either uniquely Australian or for which the LCSH terminology is inappropriate for the Australian scene. This frustration will soon come to an end through a project which has been undertaken by the Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD) Section at the National Library.
The aim of this project is to maximise the impact of online access to Australian subject terms.
The Subject Headings Review Panel was appointed to provide advice on improving subject access to information on the Lawi Project.
Cataloguing Standards
Subject heading classification standard
The standard for subject heading classification in Libraries Australia is the Library of Congress Subject Headings and the following subject cataloguing manual should be used:
•Subject cataloging manual : subject headings / prepared by the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress. 5th ed. Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1996.
Australian subject headings (authorised in LCSH) are listed in the Australian extension to LCSH.
Note: Australian subject headings should be coded using the Australian Content Indicator.
Name heading classification standard
The standard for name heading classification in Libraries Australia is the Library of Congress Name Authorities:
•Library of Congress name authorities (LCNA), in the most current cumulated edition and latest supplement. Freely available online: http://authorities.loc.gov/
LCNA will take precedence over name, title and series headings which have already been verified as authorities in Libraries Australia, and these headings may be retrospectively changed to conform with LCNA. The exception is for Australian name, title and series headings, because authority records for Australian names, titles and series will usually be established earlier and more accurately by Australian libraries. Therefore, authorities for Australian names, titles and series, which conform to RDA and the Library of Congress rule interpretations, should not be changed retrospectively simply to conform with LCNA.
Standards for non-Roman scripts
Romanisation should follow the Library of Congress standards (see: www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html). Note that the Library of Congress will continue to follow the McCune-Reischauer system to romanise Korean with the exceptions noted in http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/Korean.pdf . For the McCune-Reischauer system, see Romanization of the Korean Language: Based upon its Phonetic Structure by G.M. McCune and E.O. Reischauer ([S.l.: s.n., 1939?), reprinted from Transactions of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (pdf, 2.1 MB) (made available with the kind permission of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society).
Please also refer to the following sections of the Cataloguing Client Manual:
•4.3.3.7: Non-Roman scripts specific information for details on how to create records in non-Roman scripts in the ANBD, and,
•Appendix 8 for Unicode fonts, keyboard layouts and Imput Method Editors for a range of Windows operating systems.
Additional standards & guidelines
•MARC21 format for bibliographic data : including guidelines for content designation / prepared by Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress in cooperation with Standards and Support, National Library of Canada. 1999 ed. Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service, 1999- . Freely available online: http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/
Members assigning classification numbers from Dewey Decimal classification or Library of Congress classification must use the latest editions of the appropriate schedules:
•Dewey decimal classification and relative index / devised by Melvil Dewey. Ed. 21 / edited by Joan S. Mitchell, Julianne Beall, Winton E. Matthews, Jr., Gregory R. New. Albany, N.Y. : Forest Press, a division of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, 1996 (latest changes to the Dewey schedules are published in Dewey decimal classification additions, notes, and decision. Albany, N.Y. : Forest Press, 1981- ). Online access via OCLC Connexion (called WebDewey)
•Library of Congress classification. Online access via LC’s Classification Web
In addition to all of the above, we have also produced a set of guidelines specifically for our cataloguing service. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these guidelines as they provide specific instructions for cataloguing onto the ANBD. They are all accessible from our manuals, guidelines & user guides page.
Tools for cataloguing specific materials
The following tools might be found useful for cataloguing specific types of material:
•The RDA Toolkit
•Cataloger’s Desktop
•Map cataloguers may find the links to gazetteers and map scale tools on the Cataloging Guide for University of California, Los Angeles useful. The gazetteers and map scale tools are under Geographic Name Resources and Map Cataloging Resources by Topic respectively and are accessed via the Map Cataloging tab.
Contributing libraries are encouraged to contact the Help Desk regarding additional tools they find useful in the cataloguing of particular types of material.
Establishing subject authorities
The subject authority file on the Libraries Australia database is based on Library of Congress Subject Headings, but is not identical to LCSH. It contains additional headings and references approved by the Libraries Australia Subject Headings Review Panel.
All subject headings must be checked in the most current edition of LCSH and the list of approved subject headings available at Australian Extension to LCSH.
Free-floating subdivisions are to be checked in the most current edition of LCSH, or the LC Subject Cataloguing Manual. Most free-floating subdivisions have restrictions on their application, and must be used in accordance with certain guidelines which can be found in the scope notes given under each subdivision in LCSH, and also in the LC Subject Cataloguing Manual.
When creating authority records in Libraries Australia, the following references should be added from LCSH:
UF
RT
BT
Scope notes
The references NT and USE are not be added as these are created automatically by the system when a BT, RT or UF reference is added to the reciprocal heading.
Tagging of subject headings
Subject headings in Libraries Australia may be tagged as personal, corporate, family, conference or meeting name, topical, geographic, or uniform title.
See also Library of Congress Subject Cataloguing Manual: Subject Headings, h305, CSB 78, p2
Subject headings that designate groups of countries or regions of the world are tagged 151. This applies to headings that represent geographically contiguous groups of countries, such as Scandinavia, Benelux countries, Slavic countries, or groups of countries that share a common political, ethnic or other trait, regardless of whether they are geographically contiguous, such as Developing countries, European Union countries, Arab countries, Communist countries, or regions that are geographically contiguous or share a common trait, Polar regions and Tropics (but not Arid regions).
An alphabetic list of ambiguous entities is maintained by the Library of Congress – http://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/saco/alpha405.html
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