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Discussion on Standardizing Subject Headings
This is a place to discuss ways of standardizing the subject headings we apply to materials, or even whether it is worth it to do so.
As it stands we have been using the FAST subject terms that have been applied in various places and compiled through OCLC. These subject headings can at times be oddly specific. Sometimes there may only be a single subject term that does not accurately represent the material. There is also a huge number of headings, resulting in similar items (say a book and its closely related sequel) having different terms applied.
That is not to say it is a poor system, just that there could be room for improvement if we can put together some kind of system or taxonomy that can be applied economically.
I would say that any scheme needs to:
- Describe items accurately without being too narrow/specific
- Take into account the level of accuracy required by the patron-base
- Be small enough to reasonably manage
- Be intuitive enough that we don't need to look terms up all the time
- Be economical enough that the time spent working on it isn't greater than the time it saves
- Not just repeat the information found in the genre terms
Systems to look at using or cannibalizing:
| Pros | Cons | |
|---|---|---|
| LOC | Very accurate | Massive amount of terms - unmanageable |
| Most widely used | Unintuitive for average user | |
| Will need to be copied from other sources | ||
| FAST | More easily readable than LOC | A lot of terms - unmanageable |
| Can be poached from OCLC | Some items are poorly described in OCLC | |
| Variations in similar items | ||
| BISAC | Intuitive for patrons | Very low level description |
| Small enough to be manageable | Similar to genre terms with a bit more depth | |
| Works well for bulk-purchases | Probably won't be able to copy catalogue | |
| CSH | Accurate for Canadian context | Not sure if easy to use for patrons |
| Maybe too limited for the collection | ||
| X̱wi7x̱wa Classification and Names | Nice to have for collections related to indigenous material | Has to be used in conjunction with other subject headings |
| Likely require more work to implement |
Links to each:
LOC (This is pretty useless as a reference - Classification Web would be nice but requires a login)
FAST (Go to Applications to use the Search function)
X̱wi7x̱wa Classification and Names
At a glance I like BISAC because it's small and simple. We could incorporate the whole scheme into Drupal, and it would be small enough that typing a bit of the heading would yield a usable drop-down selection. Of course not being able to copy catalogue means that we would have to spend a bit more time reading the description (unless we could find a place to copy from). Also it doesn't describe fiction very well - basically just Genre. It might be a scheme we could use for Non-fiction though - for example look at History; I think it would describe history books to a reasonable level - basically time and place.
_ I'm personally really not a fan of using the FAST headings… because sometimes they work great but sometimes they're just plain weird…The ability to search by title/ISBN is really awesome but when you're working through more obscure titles that aren't in there and are just trying to find some acceptable subject headings it can be a bit of a nightmare! - lg
