ALC CATALOGING COMMITTEE

SUBJECT HEADING FUNNEL PROJECT

Fall 1995

PARTICIPANT LIST

Elisabeth Sinnott, New York University
Loumona Petroff, Boston University
Louise Leonard, University of Florida
Janet Stanley, Smithsonian
Margaret d'Ambrosio, Smithsonian
Andrew De Heer, Schomburg Center NYPL
Margaret Richards, University of Cape Town
Ken Lohrentz, University of Kansas
Nenita Fernandez, Yale University
Paul Thomas, Hoover Institution
Joe Lauer, Michigan State
Nancy Lyon, Yale University
Elizabeth Plantz, Northwestern University (Funnel Coordinator)

PROJECT STATUS

So far 8 new subject headings have been submitted through the funnel. All were submitted by Joe Lauer. In early October I received the following message from Caroline Sturtevant our contact person at LC:

The following headings have been established in September, although the distribution of approved headings to the utilities sometimes takes a couple of weeks after the editorial meeting in which they are considered:

Mpus dialect
Waja language
Nkoya language
Law, Kongo
Shimaore dialect

We have also made some adjustments for those languages in our class schedules. On some proposals, we have been asked to clarify the relationships between a language and its dialects to provide a clearer hierarchy as required by LCSH. Another cataloger of African materials is helping us with that.

The subject proposal process is usually not this long, but the complexity of the languages has been a factor.

The other headings Joe proposed are:

Doyayo language (Found on OCLC since Sept.)
Lungu language (In verification process)
Mbara language (I could not find entered into MUMS)

HOW TO SEARCH MUMS

You can reach the LC catalog to see if headings have been proposed or verified using telnet.

*Telnet to LOCIS.LOC.GOV

N.B. If you follow the directions indicated on the screens and search LXCR you will end up in SCORPIO (the public catalog) and not be able to access the subject authority file.

*When the screen comes up, choose option #1: Library of Congress Catalog.

*Then choose option #1: Books:English language....

*Type: find s _______;f=oc or find s ______;f= su

N.B. "f=oc" searches the bibliographic and authority files. "f=su" searches the subject authority file. In my experience one way may work better than the other. You may sometimes need to experiment.

*Use the following codes to search the list generated by your search and view the record you are looking for.

page s# to see a range of numbers
page b# to see a specific record
page np to see next page of a range or a record