1. LIB 630 Classification and Cataloging
Spring 2013
Subject
Analysis
What’s it all about,
Alfie?

2. 2
What is it?
Subject analysis
 Examination of a bibliographic item by a trained
subject specialist to determine the most specific
subject heading(s) or descriptor(s) that fully
describe its content, to serve in the bibliographic
record as access points in a subject search of a
library catalog, index, abstracting service, or
bibliographic database. When no applicable
subject heading can be found in the existing
headings list or thesaurus of indexing terms, a
new one must be created.

3. 3
Say what?
From ISP 603
Information Processing
Denise A. Garofalo
August 3, 1998, rev. September 14, 2000

4. 4
Why do all that?
If we don’t we can’t find stuff!
 “Subject analysis is defined broadly as all
methods and processes which can be
described as representation for retrieval
of information by its subjects, be they
names, geographic locations, or topical
subjects.”
 Quoted from Williamson, N. J. (1997). The Importance
of Subject Analysis in Library and Information Science
Education. Technical Services Quarterly 15(1/2):67-87
by Pamela Hill in LS 500 Organization of Information
Tuesday, February 24, 2004

5. 5
The rose by another name
Access to materials
 Mission of the SLMP:
The mission of the school
library media program is to
ensure that students and staff
are effective users of ideas and
information . . . by:
• by providing access to materials in all
formats
• Empowering Learners, I Developing Visions for Learning,
I. The Mission of the SLMP, p. 8.

6. 6
From the previous AASL guidelines:
Intellectual access
 Mission and Goals of the
School Library Media Program
The mission of the library media
program is to ensure that students
and staff are effective users of ideas and
information. This mission is accomplished:
• by providing intellectual and physical access
to materials in all formats
• Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media
Programs (1988), p.1

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What’s that all about?
What’s the difference between
intellectual and physical access???
What is it all about?
It’s about what it’s about, compared
to touching on the book
Now, figure that one out!
Librarians talk about
ABOUTNESS

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Aboutness
Aboutness
 The totality of subjects explicitly or
implicitly addressed in the text of a
document, including but not limited
to the meaning(s) of the title, the
stated and unstated intentions of the
author, and the ways in which the
information may be used by readers.
Levels of specificity must be
considered in ascertaining the
subject(s) of a work.

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What do you mean?
Example from aboutness entry in ODLIS:
 In the case of the hypothetical title The
Japanese Teamwork Approach to Improving
High School Effectiveness, is the work
about:
1. education?
2. educational effectiveness?
3. high school effectiveness?
4. teamwork?
5. a Japanese approach to teamwork?
• What do you say? See next slide!

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What’s the rule?
Choose the most specific heading
 As a general rule, catalogers and indexers
assign the most specific subject headings
that describe the significant content of the
item.
[In] the Library of Congress Subject Headings list,
the appropriate headings might be “High schools--
Japan,” “Teacher effectiveness--Japan,” and
“Teaching teams--Japan.”
• Aboutness entry in ODLIS

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How do you find out?
Walk like an Egyptian?
• NO! Think like a librarian!!!!

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Yeah, Think Like a Librarian!

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An Important Factor
Cataloger’s judgment
 Individual perspective
– Informed by the cataloger’s background
 knowledge of the subject
– Informed by the cataloger’s cultural background
 Consistency in determining “What is it
about?” leads to greater consistency in
assignment of subject headings
• Basic Subject Cataloging Using LCSH —Trainers’ Notes

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Another perspective
It’s ―a precarious business‖
 The ability to determine what the item is
“about” depends a great deal upon the
cataloguer’s knowledge, biases, and
judgment.
 Deciding the “aboutness” of a particular
item also relies upon the patrons, which
are served by a particular library or
library system.
Library Sciences Site
Paula Laurita
Guest Author

15. 15
In other words
How you do it
 Depends on
1. What you know
2. What your users know (or, rather, what
you think they know!)
3. What you think might interest
your users

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Steps
1. Determine the main subject or subjects of the book
 This is done by examining the title, table of contents,
description on the dust jacket, preface, text, and
illustrations.
2. The next step is to write down the subject and check
to see if that choice is permitted in the standardized
list.
 If the subject selected is not in the list,
the related subjects must be consulted.
It is possible, although not advisable, to
add a local subject heading.
• Chapter 6: Subject Headings

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Why use a standardized list?
Why Subject Headings?
 Subject headings often indicate the contents of books in
terms that their titles do not use, which often may be
nondescriptive or very general. Subject headings in
online databases are often referred to as descriptors, but
they serve the same purpose in locating valuable
resources.
 Along with their subdivisions, subject headings provide a
clear and systematic way of scanning the catalog for what
is needed. Assigned headings are usually the dominant,
and most important, subjects of a given item.
 Subject headings bring like materials together, requiring
less use of the wide variation of synonymous terms that
may appear to describe a single concept (teen, youth,
adolescent, young adult, etc.).
• Using Subject Headings in PantherCat

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Robert Bratton, original cataloger, discusses the
question ―Where do subject headings come from?‖
(a) The stork delivers them.
(b) They grow on trees.
(c) They magically appear on catalog records (which
also magically appear).
(d) Through the determined, diligent work of
librarians.
 As a cataloger, I wish the answer was a, b, or c, but I
know too well that it is d.
No longer publicly available on the web

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More on subject headings
Bratton explains:
 First, catalogers at the University of Maryland Libraries
utilize Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) on
bibliographic records.
 Second, LCSH is based upon the concept of “literary
warrant,” which means that the topics in published
literature drive the creation of subject headings. New
subject headings are created when works about new
topics are published and acquired by libraries. When a
cataloger cannot find an appropriate subject heading for
a work, he or she then considers proposing a new subject
heading.
 Where do subject headings come from? From

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What about subject headings for schools?
Manitoba provides an answer that is true for
USA as well:
 The individual library may choose between Sears List of
Subject Headings and Library of Congress Subject Headings
(see Bibliography).
 The Sears List has long been the standard for school and
smaller libraries. For most school libraries it will suffice.
The Library of Congress subject headings should be
considered only for larger libraries. All other situations
cannot support the cost. Changes in technology may justify
the use of Library of Congress subject headings in the
future. Commercial vendors will provide the opportunity to
select one or the other or both. When cataloguing is
purchased, both Sears and Library of Congress subject
headings should be requested. Then when the records are
loaded, Sears would be used for the present time. The
school library must update its edition of Sears regularly.

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Sears
http://support.ebsco.com/downloads/resources/SearsFM.PDF

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Tips on using Sears
Use as specific a heading as possible:
 A book about bears should be given the subject heading BEARS
rather than the general heading ANIMALS. For a book about
several different animals, the more inclusive heading ANIMALS
should be used rather than separate headings for each animal
mentioned in the text. Determining whether to use a specific or a
general subject entry can pose difficulties. The introduction to
Sears describes how to designate them correctly.
 School libraries often find it valuable to include subject headings
for Fiction and Easy materials. This makes it easier to identify
storybooks about a particular subject or theme. In general, add
the word FICTION as a subdivision of other subjects to indicate
that the item is a work of fiction.
 From Cataloguing and Processing ch. 6

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A useful rule
―Rule of Three‖:
http://support.ebsco.com/downloads/resources/SearsFM.PDF