Genre Headings and Authorities in the University of Washington Libraries Catalog

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Genre Headings and Authorities in the University
of Washington Libraries Catalog

• Adam L. Schiff
• Principal Cataloger
• University of Washington Libraries
• aschiff_at_u.washington.edu

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Nota Bene

• Comments are applicable to the UW Libraries-Only
  Catalog (Innovative Interfaces OPAC)
• http//catalog.lib.washington.edu/search/
• not the UW WorldCat or Summit catalog
• The WorldCat catalog currently lacks authority
  control (no cross-references, BTs, NTs, or RTs
  are available) and genre/form headings are
  neither hotlinked nor faceted for refining
  searches)

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Three Issues

• Indexing of Genre/Form Headings
• Genre/Form Policies
• Genre/Form Authorities

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Genre/Form Index

• Includes data from
• 655 fields
• Locally defined 695 field
• Form subdivisions (v) from all 6XX fields

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• 655 0 Feature films.
• 655 0 Biographical films.
• 7 Feature filmszUnited
• States.2local

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Genre/Form Policies

• 655s are accepted in copy cataloging for all
  resources, but we have developed specific
  policies for genre/form access for certain types
  of resources, specifically
• Artists Books and Miniature Books
• Audiobooks
• Childrens Literature
• Ethnic and Special Audience Newspapers
• Graphic Novels, Comics, and Cartoons
• Oral History Materials
• UW Theses and Dissertations and Thesis-Like
  Documents
• Videorecordings

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Sources of Genre/Form Terms

• for most materials, prefer terms from LCSH
• if appropriate terms not available in LCSH
• propose them through SACO whenever possible, e.g.
• Angel films Private Snafu films
• Ballet films
  Scooby-Doo films
• Ballet television programs Televised
  dance
• Dance films Television sequels
• Dance television programs Time-lapse
  films
• Documentary-style television programs
• Filmed ballets
  Wizard of Oz films
• Filmed dance Zatoichi films
• Filmed interviews
• Harry Potter films
• Indiana Jones television programs

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Sources of Genre/Form Terms
For genres/forms for which LC is not yet creating
authority records tagged as 155, topical headings
that represent genres or forms may be used in
bibliographic records tagged as 650 or 655,
depending on LC and your local policies. SACO
proposals for such headings may also be
submitted, but for now only with 150 tags. Later
LC projects will hopefully result in the creation
of parallel 155 headings. Adventure
stories Finnish essays American poetry--21st
century Folk songs, Khmer Artists writings,
French Gothic fiction (Literary
genre) Australian fiction--Aboriginal Australian
authors Landscape photography Childrens
periodicals, Latvian Librarians
writings Cootie catchers Lipograms Didjeridu
and flute music Picture dictionaries,
English Erotic drawing Requiems

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Sources of Genre/Form Terms

• if appropriate terms not available in LCSH
• b) use a different controlled vocabulary if it
  provides needed terms, e.g.
• Art Architecture Thesaurus for oral history
  materials
• 655 _7 Transcripts. 2 aat
• 655 _7 Reminiscences. 2 aat
• Genre Terms A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book
  and Special Collections Cataloging
• 655 _7 Anti-communist literature. 2 rbgenr
• 655 _7 Newsbooks. 2 rbgenr
• 655 _7 Prospectuses. 2 rbgenr
• Newspaper Genre List
• 655 _7 Feminist newspapers. 2 ngl
• 655 _7 Labor newspapers. 2 ngl

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Sources of Genre/Form Terms

• if appropriate terms not available in LCSH
• c) use local terms/strings specified in
  cataloging policies, e.g.
• Videorecordings
• 655 _7 Historical reenactments. 2 local
• 655 _7 Foreign language films x Swedish. 2
  local
• UW theses and thesis-like documents
• 655 _7 Theses x Anthropology. 2 local
• 655 _7 Professional papers x Forestry. 2
  local
• 655 _7 Research projects x Music. 2 local
• Childrens literature
• 655 _7 Science fiction v Juvenile. 2 local
• 655 _7 Baseball stories v Juvenile. 2
  local
• 655 _7 Christmas plays v Juvenile. 2 local

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Local Decisions

• How do you provide access for
• Place of production
• Foreign language materials
• How do you
• Distinguish between adult and juvenile materials

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Place of Production
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655 _7 Feature films z Japan. 2 local 655
_7 Silent films z Soviet Union. 2 local
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Foreign Language Films
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Juvenile vs. Adult Resources
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Genre/Form Authority Records
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Authority Record Loaded in Our OPAC
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Genre/Form Authorities

• Acquired from our authorities vendor (Backstage
  Library Works) based on monthly processing of our
  bibliographic records LCSH, GSAFD, AAT
• GSAFD authorities are also available for free
  downloading more information from
  http//www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/
• resources/org/cat/marc21authority.cfm
• Acquired from OCLC Terminologies Services Pilot
  Project Newspaper Genre List authorities

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LC genre authority record (in OCLC)
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GSAFD authority record
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AAT authority record
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NGL authority record
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Genre/Form Authorities

• Locally created authorities used in some cases,
  as well as some local modifications to authority
  records obtained from outside sources
• Needed because the index contains terms from
  multiple thesauri for the same thing as well as
  conflicts between genre/form headings and
  subdivisions in LCSH
• Needed because full hierarchical relationships in
  some thesauri are not expressed, which is not
  helpful in a single, general genre index
• Needed to help users navigate among locally used
  terms

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Problems Using Multiple Thesauri in One Index

• LCSH Humorous stories
• GSAFD Humorous fiction
• LCSH Film adaptations and Television
  adaptations
• LCSH form subdivision v Film and video
  adaptations

Solution provide references or links between
the equivalent terms. 7XX linking entry fields
in the MARC 21 authority format are available to
do this, but LCSH topical and genre subject
authority records dont include them. Also, many
systems do not use them to generate links.
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Problems Using Multiple Thesauri in One Index
Our solution create local authority records to
enable references between equivalent terms
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Problems Using Multiple Thesauri in One Index
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Problems Using Multiple Thesauri in One Index
Solution add Newspapers as a broader term to the
authority records for the NGL
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Navigating Among Locally Used Terms
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Conclusion Issues to Consider

• Should you create a genre index that is
  separate from any subject indexes you may have?
  If yes, what fields will you index? (e.g., just
  655, or also v from subjects?)
• Will you allow terms from multiple thesauri in
  your genre index or attempt to only use terms
  from a single controlled vocabulary? Which
  vocabulary/vocabularies will be permitted? How do
  you achieve this? (e.g., will catalogers have to
  make sure only acceptable thesauri have been
  used, or can your system delete unwanted
  headings?)
• Can your system be configured to limit what
  gets indexed? (e.g., based on second indicator
  value in 655 or based on source code in subfield
  2)
• If you get authorities from a vendor, can you
  protect any local modifications from overlay when
  a change is made to the authority?
• If you add linking entry fields to your
  authorities, will your system actually use them?
  How can we get linking fields into national
  authority records, and persuade system developers
  to make use of them?
• Do you need to use locally-devised headings?
  How will you maintain them? Do you need to also
  create local authority headings for them?

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Conclusion Issues to Consider

• Will you use headings from existing thesauri in
  non-standard ways? (e.g., subdividing literary
  genres with v Juvenile for childrens materials
  or Foreign language films by language)
• Can you easily convert headings tagged 650 to
  655 in your OPAC? How will you avoid converting
  headings on records for resources that are about
  the genre rather than examples of it?
• Are there records in your catalog to which you
  will retrospectively add genre headings? Can
  this be done using automation or batch
  processing? For example, Subject Cataloging
  Manual H 1913 says to always assign one of the
  following headings Fiction films, Nonfiction
  films, Fiction television programs, Nonfiction
  television programs. Since these headings are
  new, can you easily retrospectively add them to
  already cataloged resources? What about other
  newly created genre headings that were not
  previously available for use?
• Will existing master records in OCLC be
  converted to the correct coding? Who will do
  this?

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Conclusion Issues to Consider

• If you use LCSH genre headings, will you
  propose new genre headings through SACO?
• Are some materials more important than others
  to provide genre access for your users?

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Thank You!