Page 78 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

64 Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians

States; they may be chronological, such as His tory–1945-1953. In
any case, the directions out lined in Library of Con gress Sub ject
Head ings or Sears List of Sub ject Head ings must be fol lowed.
Besides the terms used for as signing sub ject headings, both Li-
brary of Con gress Sub ject Head ings and Sears List of Sub ject Head -
ings offer dif ferent kinds of ref erences to guide us ers to more re lated
ma te ri als. Ref er ences given in clude “USE” ref erences that di rect
users to the cho sen terms, and “SA” references that list more re lated
terms so that us ers can get added relevant in formation. Also, for the
users’ con venience, broader and nar rower top ics (BT and NT) are
listed.
This chap ter dis cusses these two reference tools in de tail. Pay spe -
cial attention to the one that your library uses.

TERMINOLOGY

author ity file: A set of the estab lished author itative forms of head -
ings, accord ing to the Library of Con gress or the local library, used in
cataloging for input ting bib liographic records and for mak ing ref er-
ences to and from the head ings. A file of all the estab lished sub ject
headings is called the sub ject author ity file. A file of all the estab-
lished names is called the name author ity file. A file of all the estab-
lished series tiles is called the series authority file. A card cat alog can
serve as the author ity file. The com puterized catalog usu ally has
built-in authority files gen erated by the Library of Con gress. Any
bibliographic utility or com mercial library ser vice com pany may pro -
vide an author ity file.

BT: Stands for broader topic(s). Broader topics are listed so that the
user can find more related infor mation on the sub ject.
free-float ing sub di vi sion: A list of sub divisions and how they may
be applied in con junction with sub ject headings.

NT: Stands for nar rower topic(s). Terms listed under NT are more
specific and may add in-depth mate rials for the researcher.