The document provides an overview of subject cataloguing, emphasizing its importance for effective information retrieval in libraries. It discusses various indexing languages, cataloguing processes, and examples such as the Sears List and the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Additionally, it contrasts thesauri with subject heading lists, highlighting their unique characteristics and relationships within indexing communities.

1. INTRODUCTION TO
SUBJECT
CATALOGUING

2. INTRODUCTION
WHY SUBJECT CATALOGUING?
 The process of seeking and retrieving
information can be frustrating
 Information retrieval systems/tools are
more concerned with the subject approach
 The library is of little value if it is unable
to retrieve the right documents as and
when they are required (Brown, 1982).

3. SUBJECT CATALOGUING
 An intellectual task which deals with; the conceptual analysis
of an item: what is it about? What is its form/genre/format?
And translating that analysis into a particular subject heading
system (Taylor, 1999). In subject cataloguing there are different
indexing languages:
 Natural Language
 Free Language
 Controlled Language: there are two types of this standard list:
Alphabetical controlled
 Classification scheme (Aina, 2004).

4. THE PROCESS OF SUBJECT
CATALOGUING
a)Conceptual analysis
o Examine the information package:
Title and subtitle
Abstract or summary
Table of contents
Reference sources
Introduction or preface(Broughton, 2012)

5. CONT……
o Types of concepts to identify:
Time periods
Title of works
Topics
Names of persons, corporate bodies
Geographic areas
o Consider the level/degree of exhaustibility: depth
indexing and summarization(Brown, 1982)
a) Translation of concepts into index terms

6. SUBJECT HEADING
LISTS

7. Sears List of Subject Headings
Satija (2007) describes Sears list as a tool
for assigning standardized subject headings
to all types of documents in a general small
library having up to 20,000 titles in all
subjects. Has been in existence for more
than 8 decades i.e. since 1923, published by
Minnie Earl Sears. Now it is in its 21st
edition.

8. PRINCIPLES OF THE SEARS LIST
(Satija, 2007)
 Specific entry:
e.g. Rose should be entered under “Roses” not
“Flowers”
 Direct entry:
e.g. Rose is entered as Roses and not Flowers-Rose.
 Common Usage:
e.g. “Birds” instead of “Ornithology”
 Uniformity:
e.g. scope, meaning and spellings

9. TYPES OF SEARS SUBJECT HEADINGS
a. Preferred headings:
 printed in bold
 Under the preferred heading is the DDC class number, scope/definitional
note, instruction for further subdivision and the relationships if any e.g.
Dairying (May subdiv. geog.) 636.2; 637
b. Non preferred headings:
 Written in light font
 Preceded by the word “USE” e.g. Dairy farming Use Dairying
c. Subdivisions:
Types of subdivisions
 Topical: Birds—Eggs
 Bibliographical: Sindhi language – Dictionaries
 Geographical: Trees – India
 Chronological: Botswana -- History—1857-1960 (Satija, 2007)

10. Library of Congress Subject Headings
(LCSH)
 Accumulation of subject headings that were established by
the Library of Congress as their subject catalogue.
 Since 1988, in its 11th edition- other libraries have been
contributing subject headings to LCSH (Taylor, 1999)
 What is it:
 A classifying and search tool- access point to bibliographic
record.
 Tool for subject indexing
 A standard for subject analysis

11. Evaluation of LCSH
QUESTION?
Do librarians understand LCSH?
 Syntax
 Bias e.g. American spellings, culture-ethnic
groups
Applicability in Africa
How many libraries are using it? – DDC!

12. Principles of LCSH (Chan, 2005)
 Literary warrant: the number and specificity of subject
headings are determined by the nature and subject
scope of the LC collection.
 Specific entry
 Unique entry e.g. Homographs
 Dynamism
 Uniform heading e.g. synonyms, spellings, English &
foreign terms, Scientific &popular terms, obsolete &
current terms.
 Pre-coordination and Post-coordination
 Consistency

13. THESAURI
 Aitchison & Gilchrist (1987) describes a thesaurus as a vocabulary of
controlled indexing language, organized so that relationships can be
clearly depicted and concepts are standardized to aid with consistency
in information retrieval systems. The thesaurus have :
 Descriptors- generally single terms but they could also be multi-terms,
compound phrases, names of persons, bodies and places. Each
descriptor should not be ambiguous.
 Non descriptors- terms that cannot be used as search terms but
facilitates with broader searches.
 Hierarchical relationships e.g. “BT” and “NT”
 Preferential relationships e.g. “USE” and “UF”
 Affinitive relationships e.g. “RT” (Aina, 2004)

14. THESAURUS CONSTRUCTION
 Definition of the subject field: establish the depth of the subject and
type of literature.
 Selection of the thesaurus characteristics and layout:
 Presentation i.e. graphical or alphabetical
 Type of language to be used i.e. natural, controlled or a hybrid
 Features e.g. specificity, compound terms
 Notification of intent
 Selection of terms
 Compilers’ experience and knowledge
 Author’s literature and terminological sources in standardized form
 Terminology in users profiles

15. CONT…….
 Recording of terms:
 Use the term record form. Information about the term include :
Source of the term
Synonyms
Definitions
Hierarchies and/ relationships
 Checking with experts and editing
 Testing and production for publication:
 At least 500-1000 documents should be used for testing
 The testing may reveal gaps in the coverage of the subject.
 Deposit with the relevant institution

16. CONCLUSION
 Differences between the thesaurus and a list of subject headings.
 Thesauri = indexing communities while subject heading lists =
library communities.
 Thesauri = narrow in scope (terms from one specific subject
area) while subject heading lists = broader (covers entire scope
of knowledge).
 Thesauri = multilingual while SHLs are not
 Thesauri use single terms and bound terms representing single
concepts unlike subject heading lists which use phrases and pre-coordinated
terms in addition to single terms (Taylor, 1999)
 Relationships in a thesaurus are more extensive than the subject
heading list.

17. REFERENCES
Aina, L. O. (2004). Library and Information Science Text for Africa. Gaborone: University of
Botswana.
Aitchison, J., & Gilchrist, A. (1987). Thesaurus construction: A practical manual (2 ed.). London:
Aslib.
Broughton, V. (2012). Essential Library of Congress Subject Headings. London: Facet Publishing.
Brown, A. G. (1982). An Introduction to subject indexing (2 ed.). London: Clive Bingley.
Chan, L. M. (2005). Library of Congress Subject Headings: Principles and Application (4 ed.).
London: Libraries Unlimited.
Satija, M. P. (2007). Sears List of Subject Headings: An introduction to the Nineteenth Edition.
Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University.
Sears, M. E. (1977). Sears List of Subject Headings (11 ed.). (B. M. Westby, Ed.) New York: The H.
W. Wilson Company.
Taylor, A. G. (1999). The organization of information. Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, INC.

18. THANK YOU
QUESTIONS AND
COMMENTS!!!!!!
Created and Presented By: Liah Machara
LIS621-University Of Botswana
15/09/2014