Music catalogers have embraced in current cataloging the flexibility, intuitiveness, and expressivity afforded by the Library of Congress’s new faceted vocabularies. In order to realize the...

An Amicable Divorce: Programmatic Derivation of Faceted Data from Library of Congress Subject Headings for Music

Catalogue 2.0: The Future of the Library Catalogue

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.

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Beyond the Subject: Non-Topical Facets for Exploration and Discovery

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is the most widely used subject vocabulary in the world. It includes headings that represent every discipline, as well as headings describing the genres and forms of resources, the characteristics of their creators and their intended audiences, and, in the case of musical works, their mediums of performance. The benefits of LCSH’s comprehensiveness are offset, though, by inconsistently formulated headings that inhibit both intellectual understanding and algorithmic manipulation.

In 2007, the Library of Congress began to develop three vocabularies that will enhance retrieval by providing direct access to non-topical aspects of resources: Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials, the Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music, and Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms.

This paper discusses why the exclusive use of LCSH is insufficient for today’s resource discovery needs. It will then describe the scope and structure of each of the three new vocabularies, and conclude by showing how the new vocabularies will provide enhanced access to library materials when used alongside LCSH or another subject vocabulary.

Unlimited Opportunities for Enhanced Access to Resources: The Library of Congress’ Faceted Vocabularies

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"Contextualized Digital Library Evaluation: The Perseus Digital Library within Theological Research"

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Subcommittee on Faceted Vocabularies

Papers

Best Practices for Recording Faceted Chronological Data in Bibliographic Records