Beyond the Subject: Non-Topical Facets for Exploration and Discovery
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Date
2019-08-14
Authors
McGrath, Kelley
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oregon Library Association
Abstract
New developments in the cataloging world can help libraries better answer questions like: What music do you have for string quartets? What young adult fiction do you have by African American male authors? Do you have any diaries written by pioneer women in Oregon in the late nineteenth century? Do you have any recent movies from China?
Historically, the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) have included terms both for what something is about (topic) and for what something is (genre or form). Many users are looking for something either as a topic, or as a genre or form, and not for the two things mixed together. Sometimes LCSH makes a clear, albeit not intuitive, distinction. Starting in 2007, the Library of Congress (LC) began work on a new vocabulary, now known as Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT), to use for genre and form instead of LCSH. In addition, they created two additional new vocabularies: Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music (LCMPT) for instruments and voices and Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT) for audiences and creators. This article investigates the application and results of using these new, faceted vocabularies.
Description
Keywords
faceted vocabularies, faceted search, library discovery interfaces, library catalogs, Subject headings, Library of Congress, Genre/form terms, Library of Congress, Medium of performance thesaurus for music, Library of Congress, Demographic group terms, Library of Congress
Citation
McGrath, K. (2019). Beyond the Subject: Non-Topical Facets for Exploration and Discovery. OLA Quarterly, 25(1), 9–16. https://doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1970