Glossary of Collection subjects

Art, Photography, and Architecture

Materials about those fields in which skills and creative imagination are combined to produce aesthetic objects. Includes fine arts, arts and crafts (including arts and crafts as a hobby), graphic arts, etc. Includes materials about creating aesthetic objects and materials that contain or display the aesthetic objects.

Country or region-specific

Materials about, or pertaining to, a particular country or region. A region may be within a country or extend across multiple countries.

Economy

Materials relating to, or based on, the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, including business, industry, employment, trade, and economic sectors such as finance, service, construction, housing, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, commercial fishing, etc. For materials about defense industries and military production, select instead Military and defense.

Education

Materials dealing primarily with teaching, learning, schooling, or training through formal instruction and supervised practice. This category is for materials about education. For materials which are educational in nature, e.g. intended to instruct others in a subject or discipline, select instead Educational or instructional in the Collection Form category.

Geography and travel

Materials about the physical features of the earth's surface, or about journeying from one place to another for exploration or tourism. Includes nonfiction works featuring or promoting geographic or cultural location(s), often in a romanticized manner. Includes moving images that accompany "tour" lectures; travel documentaries; and sponsored work by transportation companies, travel agencies, chambers of commerce, national parks, and other entities that promote modes of transportation, package tours, resorts, vacation areas, or other locations. For materials about the geologic composition of the earth's surface, crust, or interior, select instead Science.

Government, politics and law

Materials concerning law, government, and the art or science of guiding or influencing governmental policy. Includes international relations.

Health and medicine

Materials concerning the general condition of the body, as well as the art and science of maintaining good health and preventing, alleviating, or curing disease. Includes dentistry, nursing, allied health fields, psychology and psychiatry, complementary and alternative therapies, and consumer health. For biomedical or behavioral sciences with a focus on theory and research rather than practical application, select instead Science.

Military and defense

Materials about the armed forces and the military-industrial aggregate associated with the production of arms for attack or for resisting attack. For international relations, including conflicts between countries, select instead Government, politics and law.

Natural history and environment

Materials about the air, water and land in or on which people, animals and plants live. Includes materials about animals and plants within their environments. Includes scenics, materials about nature, natural history, ecology, conservation and renewal of natural resources. For materials that focus on tourism in undeveloped areas or the physical rather than the ecological features of the earth's surface, select instead Geography and travel.

Performing arts

Materials about those arts involving public performance, including music, dance, theater, etc.

Recreation and sports

Materials concerning activities designed to divert, amuse, refresh, or stimulate, including hobbies, games, and athletics. For arts and crafts hobbies, select instead Art, Photography and Architecture.

Religion and philosophy

Materials about belief systems concerning existence, knowledge, and ethics, including belief systems surrounding the worship of a god or gods. Includes mythology. For materials that are predominantly focused on anthropology or archaeology rather than mythology or religion, select instead Society.

Science

Materials about systems of knowledge covering general truths or operation of general laws as obtained and tested through scientific method. Includes physical sciences, earth sciences, space sciences, biological sciences, biomedical sciences, behavioral sciences, mathematics, etc. For materials about natural history, select instead Natural History and Environment. For materials about the science which studies the physical features of the earth's surface, select instead Geography and Travel. For materials about the practical application of knowledge, such as communications, media, transportation, energy, computing, etc., select instead Technology. For materials about the practical application of biomedical and behavioral sciene for disease prevention and cure, select instead Health and medicine.

Society

Materials about the communities, nations, or broad groupings of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests. Includes materials about family, home life, trends, fashion, socio-economic-political problems and movements, anthropology and archaeology, ethnography, social groups, ethnic and minority groups, etc. Includes materials on genocide (e.g., the Holocaust). For materials about religious practice and mythology, select instead Religion and philosophy.

Technology

Materials about the practical application of knowledge. Includes communications, media, transportation, energy, computing, etc. For materials about theoretical knowledge and scientific research, select instead Science. For materials about the application of technology to the prevention or cure of disease or disability, select instead Health and medicine.