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8/15/07
The Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO) continues to work toward adding genre/form authority records (MARC 21 tag 155) to Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The first issuance of these records is now being readied. Library of Congress Subject Headings Weekly List 35, 2007 will include approximately 70 records for review at the CPSO weekly editorial meeting to be held August 29, 2007. The authority records for the approved headings will subsequently be distributed by CDS to its customers beginning September 11, 2007. Several batches of these authority records are being readied for review on subsequent lists.
In support of the creation and application of the genre/form authority records, CPSO has finalized the draft of Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings instruction sheet H 1913. This instruction sheet will be included in 2007 Update 2 of the manual scheduled for publication in October, 2007 and for inclusion in Cataloger’s Desktop Update 4, November 2007. H 1913 is also available in PDF format via the link below.
As noted in CPSO’s earlier announcement, this instruction sheet covers only the development and use of genre/from headings for motion pictures, television programs and videos; however, it is anticipated that other instruction sheets for additional subject areas will be added as guidelines and workflow issues are resolved. Note also that in this initial phase, geographic subdivision and "language of film" headings will not be authorized. At the 2007 American Library Association annual meeting, CPSO was made aware of the desire/need to allow these two attributes; however, there did not appear to be a clear consensus on how to apply either of these elements to the headings or strings. Further analysis and discussion is required to determine the best way to enhance the discovery experience for both the public library user and the scholarly community, without sacrificing the needs of one for the other, while also refraining from unnecessarily complicating cataloging instructions and procedures. CPSO will continue to monitor this discussion to determine whether these subject strings can/must support user tasks, or consider whether other MARC 21 elements could be redefined to support such tasks (e.g., field 257 or 662). CPSO reminds SACO participants that change requests and proposals for genre/form headings are not being accepted at this time.
Comments may be sent to Janis Young (jayo@loc.gov).
>- Draft of Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings H 1913
(PDF - 5 p.; 162K)