Re: How far do you go? (Was Re: Who's Cataloging Anyway?)

[Mark WIlliams <mark_williams@EEE.ORG>]

At 07:55 AM 7/31/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I, too, often make up my own subject heading.  Sometimes those "UNITED
>STATES - HISTORY - whatever - whatever - whatever" headings are pretty
>cumbersome and ridiculous.



OK, I'll stick my foot in here...

The central idea behind a controlled vocabulary (which is what Sears and
LCSH are) is consistancy.  I would hesitate for a very long time before I
would 'make up' a subject heading.  What if I arbitrarily decided to use
'wheels' instead of 'automobiles'?  One of my students, going to another
library, looks for wheels and finds nothing and goes away, missing all the
material under the far more commonly used heading of automobiles since he
was 'taught' by my use of wheels that that was the correct term.

Cumbersome, ridiculous?  No.  Descriptive and consistant; but above all,
consistant.

I wonder if we would 'make up' the spelling of a name and justify it because
the actual spelling was 'too hard' for students.

Ironically, the advent of automated catalogues makes this topic both more
simple to solve and more critical to deal with.  Computers are literal
beasts.  Without a consistant set of subject headings, they will miss
valuable items in a search if there is not a consistant set of headings
used.  With the flexibility of keyword searching, the alternate terms can be
used in the 520 tag for notes, and the student can find additional materials
even if the legitimate subject term is unknown to him.  But please, be
consistnat in subject headings!  It is the only way a catalog can function
as it was intended to...as the key to the collection, enabling patrons to
find information quickly and accurately.

(Mark steps off his soapbox.)

Mark Williams
Librarian
Colton High School
Colton, CA.  92324
mark_williams@eee.org
Mark Williams
"The wheel is spinning, but the hampster is dead."

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