Fordham Law School
FLASH: e Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History
Sta Publications Law Library
10-28-2013
It Takes a Village: Developing Library of Congress
Genre/Form Terms
Janis L. Young
Library of Congress
Yael Mandelstam
Fordham University School of Law
Follow this and additional works at: hp://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/sta_publications
Part of the Library and Information Science Commons
is Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Library at FLASH: e Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been
accepted for inclusion in Sta Publications by an authorized administrator of FLASH: e Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more
information, please contact tmelnick@law.fordham.edu.
Recommended Citation
Young, Janis L. and Mandelstam, Yael, "It Takes a Village: Developing Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms" (2013). Sta
Publications. Paper 2.
hp://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/sta_publications/2
It Takes a Village: Developing Library
of Congress Genre/Form Terms
JANIS L. YOUNG
Policy and Standards Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
YAEL MANDELSTAM
Leo T. Kissam Memorial Library, Fordham University School of Law, New York, New York, USA
The Library of Congress (LC) is in the process of developing a separate
thesaurus of genre/form terms, which describe what a work or expression is,
rather than what it is about. From the beginning, LC policy specialists realized
that to accomplish this undertaking, it would be both necessary and desirable to
collaborate with the library community. This article examines and evaluates the
various methods of collaboration used by LC in the creation of the genre/form
thesaurus.
KEYWORDS: authority control, controlled vocabularies, genre/form terms,
indexing vocabularies, LCGFT, Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for
Library and Archival Materials, audiovisual materials, law materials
INTRODUCTION
In 2007, the Cataloging Policy and Support Office of the Library of Congress, now the Policy and
Standards Division (PSD), undertook an experiment to develop a thesaurus of genre/form terms in
the discipline of moving images (films, television programs, and video recordings). The experiment
was successful, and six more projects were added: non-musical sound recordings, chiefly radio
programs; cartography; law; literature; music; and religion. Active development of the sound
recording, cartography, and law projects is complete and the others are ongoing.
Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT), as the
thesaurus is now known, is intended to fulfill the need for a unified, cohesive, multidisciplinary list
of genre/form terms that provide for enhanced resource discovery. PSD envisions its use in a wide
range of institutions, from research and academic to public and school libraries, as well as in
archives.
A review of the literature revealed that other organizations that have developed new
controlled vocabularies have experienced many of the same challenges that PSD and its partners are
encountering. For instance, in their article on the Kaunokki Finnish Fiction Thesaurus, Jarmo Saarti and
Kaisa Hypén discussed specificity versus depth of terminology. They noted that the context in
which the thesaurus was to be used was important, because scholars and public library users have
different needs. The thesaurus developers have tried to accommodate those differences.
1
After the
first edition of the thesaurus was published, feedback from libraries indicated that the scope should
be broadened to include not just “traditional text,” but also “movies, comics, and so on,”
2
which was
accomplished for the second edition.
Developing Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
Page 2
When Barbara Brenny, Richard Duncan, and Hugh Kelsey set out to develop a thesaurus for
the cataloging of Universal Design images, “they realized the biggest challenge would be keeping
their creation simple, straightforward, and easy to understand.”
3
This was particularly important
because the thesaurus was intended to be applied by Universal Design practitioners, not by
librarians. They examined existing controlled vocabularies such as Library of Congress Subject Headings
(LCSH) and the Art and Architecture Thesaurus to find pertinent terms to use as the basis of the new
thesaurus. As the Universal Design expert on the team, Duncan reviewed the terms and added
terminology and scope notes.
4
The impetus for the National Indian Law guiding principles of LCGFT development
Library’s development of a subject heading list to supplement LCSH was the submission of NILL’s
bibliographic records to a union catalog, which made it necessary to learn to apply LCSH. NILL had
a local subject heading list, which was independent of LCSH; an initial review found that many local
headings duplicated LC subject headings and could be removed. The staff of NILL then used the
local subject headings list as the seed for developing specialized Indian law terminology that is not
present in LCSH.
5
Throughout the process, the NILL project managers consulted with other librarians and also
with attorneys. Monica Martens states, “Volunteer Indian law attorneys participated in a
brainstorming session about terminology, and library subject specialists gave feedback on the
Thesaurus at various stages of its development. NILL librarians needed elaboration on terms related
to … esoteric topics. Missing and preferred terms were also identified by consultants. Input from
practicing attorneys at this stage was particularly valuable.” Martens acknowledged that conflicting
advice was sometimes received, at which time the NILL librarians chose the subject heading
“perceived to best serve library users.”
6
The common denominator in all of these projects is collaboration with the constituencies
for whom the vocabularies were developed. This is also one of the guiding principles of LCGFT
development. PSD is actively working with the general library community in order to understand the
needs of different constituencies, and has formally partnered with other organizations to develop
terminologies and policies to fill those needs. This article focuses on methods of communication
and collaboration employed for LC’s completed projects. It will address informal outreach efforts
such as public calls for comment and examine formal collaboration through a case study of the
partnership between the American Association of Law Libraries and PSD to develop genre/form
terms for law materials. The article will also address other formal collaborations, including those
with other national organizations as well as with various units within the Library of Congress.
COLLABORATION WITHIN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The moving image project was the first and was treated as an experiment through which
PSD would determine whether it was feasible to develop a new terminology and policies governing
the syntax and application of the terms. This project would also experiment with the methodology
for creating the thesaurus, including collaboration.
Initial thesaurus development efforts occurred chiefly within the Library of Congress, and
the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS) was closely
involved in both the moving image and radio program projects. In the 1990s, MBRS had developed
the successful Moving Image Genre-Form Guide (MIGFG)
7
and the Radio Form-Genre Guide (RADFG)
8
but the thesauri were not updated because there was no mechanism or staff time to do so. MBRS
therefore asked whether the Cataloging Policy and Support Office (now PSD) could absorb the
thesauri into LCSH, which is updated regularly through a time-tested process.
Developing Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
Page 3
Although Janis L. Young, the coordinator of the genre/form projects, had extensive
experience in cataloging works of criticism about moving image works and radio programs, she had
limited knowledge of the cataloging practices for the non-book materials themselves. Therefore,
collaboration with others having specialized knowledge was a key element in the process from the
beginning.
During the earliest stages of the project, moving image catalogers and PSD staff developed
an initial list of moving image genre/form terms by examining LCSH to find existing headings that
denote forms and genres of moving images. To that they added selected terms from MIGFG and
Moving Image Materials: Genre Terms (MIM).
9
Significant decisions about the scope of the new
thesaurus had to be made as headings were selected for inclusion. The existing LC subject headings
originally had been proposed to describe works about films and television programs. Should all of
those headings be included in the genre/form thesaurus, even if purists and scholars do not consider
a particular phrase to be a genre or a form? Are language and nationality part of the genre and form?
How granular should the terms be? And most fundamentally, what is a film?
Expert catalogers and policy specialists met to discuss these issues many times over the
course of several months, and communicated over e-mail between meetings. Some of the questions
were answered more readily than others. For instance, the decision to exclude nationality and
language from the genre/form thesaurus was relatively easy once the definitions of genre and form
were examined.
MIM defines genre as encompassing “any recognized category of fictional works which is
characterized by recognizable conventions, i.e., a group of works all of which tend to explore the
same themes and use the same plot formulae, character-types, and icons.”
10
MIGFG agrees with this
definition and expands on it. In its view, genres “contain conventions of narrational strategy and
organizational structure, using similar themes, motifs, settings, situations, and characterizations. In
this way, the makers of moving image works use recognizable patterns of storytelling that are readily
understood by audiences. Typical formulas range from the varieties of Hollywood feature films to
modes of nonfictional discourse.”
11
The two thesauri also agree in substance on the definition of form. MIM defines it as “any
recognized category of works characterized by a particular format or purpose.”
12
MIGFG says
further, “Forms are defined as the basic categories indicating a moving image work’s original
exhibition and release parameters (such as length and medium), and which are separate from its
actual content, not necessarily implying a particular narrative construction. Form terms include
Feature, Short, Serial, Animation, and Television, and can be associated as needed with any
genre….”
13
The catalogers and policy specialists were able to agree that while works of a particular genre
might differ slightly in mood or emphasis from country to country or language to language, the
themes, motifs, settings, and so on, generally remain consistent. For example, two unrelated films,
one produced in the United States and the other in Italy, could both fulfill MIGFG’s definition of
espionage film, which is, “Fictional work depicting spies and secret agents seeking to uncover or
maintain secrets from each other and for one country or for the benefit of another. Living a
masquerade, spies are usually cynical, amoral, deceitful, alienated, and ready to betray another person
or cause, although these are often seen as merely the means to achieve a patriotic goal. Although the
secrets often have a military application, the setting can be either during wartime or in the Cold
War.”
14
Some of the other policy decisions were more contentious and often reflected the
differences between the terminology of film scholarship and the terminology of the layperson. The
definition of the word film was the first issue to be resolved. Traditionally and in scholarship, films
are those works that are recorded on reel-to-reel film. The layperson’s definition is often much
Developing Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
Page 4
broader, particularly in today’s digital world. Major motion pictures are now recorded on video tape
and on digital media such as DVDs or, in the case of animated films such as Toy Story, are created by
using computer software on a hard drive. Should LCGFT be strict in its definition, or should it be
more encompassing? If the latter, not only LCGFT would be affected, but LCSH would have to be
adjusted as well. The broader definition was adopted after much debate, reflecting PSD’s desire for
the thesaurus to be useful to as many constituencies as possible.
Another controversial decision that reflected the scholarly/lay divide was that of the validity
of LCSH headings that film scholars do not consider to be genres or forms (e.g., Batman films;
Christmas films; Hockey films).
15
Discussions centered around whether the genre/form thesaurus
should represent scholarly views of what constitutes a genre or form, or whether it should be
broader in scope and include terms that do not exhibit academic purity, but reflect the terminology
that most library users are likely to employ. The decision was made to err on the side of
inclusiveness. If an LC subject heading had the syntax of a genre/form term, then it would be
included in LCGFT. That policy has since undergone refinement, as will be discussed below.
The project to develop radio program genre/form terms was a logical extension of the
moving image project, since radio program genres and forms are similar to those for moving images.
The radio program project followed the same trajectory as the one for moving images and was
chiefly an effort to create authority records for the vocabulary already defined in the Radio Form-
Genre Guide. In addition, LC’s sound recordings catalogers and PSD collaborated to review
terminology that already existed in LCSH. This project involved fewer contentious decisions,
perhaps because LCSH includes far fewer headings describing types of radio programs than it does
films and television programs; there is therefore less established policy. Using the moving image
terms as a model, the sound recording catalogers and policy specialists were able to rather quickly
determine what genres and forms should be represented in LCGFT.
In early 2009, PSD began a third project, to develop terminology for cartographic materials.
As with the earlier projects, PSD relied heavily on expert catalogers to provide guidance. Catalogers
from LC’s Geography and Map Division suggested lists of terms, which policy specialists and
catalogers researched. They then prepared proposals for inclusion of the terms in LCGFT. PSD also
consulted with the catalogers on policies for assigning the terms.
INFORMAL COLLABORATION WITH LIBRARY PROFESSIONALS OUTSIDE OF LC
One of the problems inherent in the development of a thesaurus intended for use by a broad
spectrum of institutions, from public libraries to archives, lies in formulating policies and
terminology that will serve all user groups. In order to make the vocabulary useful to a broad range
of institutions, PSD would have to expand its collaboration efforts outside the Library of Congress.
For the project to be successful, its goals and objectives, and, eventually, the rules and policies
governing LCGFT’s development and application, would have to be clearly stated and publicized.
As noted by Jill Ellern in an article on successful project management, confusion can be kept to a
minimum by keeping everyone informed, by asking lots of questions, and by communicating the
answers as they are determined.
16
To enhance communication, PSD developed a genre/form Web page
17
to serve as an archive
of all of the documents that have been publicly released since the project’s inception in 2007. It
includes an FAQ, announcements, reports, and presentations, as well as discussion papers and links
to other documents. According to Ellern, timely notice about changes brought by the project must
be provided to stakeholders because, “depending on the project, patrons, vendors, and other
libraries might need to have timely notice about the changes a project will mandate.”
18
This has