Doing Research at the Library of Congress

IIC. Additional Tips on Subject Headings

Proper names are not usually listed in the LCSH red books; but they can still appear as valid headings in the catalog itself.

If you wish to find foreign-language books on your topic, you still need to use the English-language subject headings to find them. Thus, books on "Venezia" are not categorized under the Italian form; all of the books, in all languages, on this city are grouped together under Venice. (Once you have the group, however, it is then possible to limit it to only works in a particular language.)

The subdivision --Bibliography appearing in a subject string is unusually important. Be sure to look for it deliberately in browse displays.

It is possible to combine individual elements from subject strings in Boolean combinations (e.g., World War and Africa, North and Personal narratives) through the Guided Keyword or Command Keyword search menus in the Library's online catalog. Ask reference librarians for help if the screen prompts are not adequately self-explanatory.