Page 81 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

Subject Headings 67

cial li brary au to ma tion com pa nies also pro vide sub ject head ings on
CD-ROM to li braries. Se lected new Li brary of Con gress sub ject head -
ings have been linked to the Dewey Dec imal Classification num bers
and are avail able on the Dewey home page <www.oclc.org/fp/l>.
New head ings are added and outdated terms are de leted on a regu-
lar ba sis. Head ings to be used are listed in bold faced type. Sub ject
headings come in different forms and lengths. The head ings may be
just one word, such as Art, or may be two words, usu ally an ad jective
and a noun, such as Art stu dents. Headings may ap pear in in verted
form, such as Art, Amer i can. A head ing may be fol lowed by the leg -
end (May Subd Geog). For broad top ics, sub divisions ap ply, such as
Art—Study and teaching. Sometimes head ings may in clude con -
junctions and prep ositional phrases, such as Art and lit er a ture and
Art in lit er a ture, or they may be a per son’s name, a cor porate body’s
name, or a geo graphical name. Al though these ex amples dem onstrate
varied forms and struc tures, a care ful and pa tient search will match
what is be ing cat aloged and, thus, the proper pro cedure will come into
ef fect. Ac cord ing to LCSH, 36 per cent of head ings are fol lowed by Li -
brary of Con gress Clas sification num bers. Stu dents are warned, how -
ever, that the class num bers are of fered as a guide only, and, there fore,
ver i fi ca tion in the Li brary of Con gress Clas si fi ca tion Sched ules is nec -
es sary.
Some gen eral prin ci ples for as sign ing and con struct ing sub ject
head ings ac cord ing to Library of Con gress Sub ject Head ings and Sub-
ject Cat a loging Man ual: Sub ject Head ings in clude the fol low ing:

1. Assign one or more subject headings that best summarize the
contents of the work. The heading must represent at least 20 percent
of the work.
2. Assign as many headings as needed.
3. Assign headings that are as specific as the topics of the work. If
precise headings are not possible, assign broader or more general
headings.
4. Assign a more general heading if the heading includes two or
three related topics in the work and the heading represents no
other topics.