Beyond the Subject: Non-Topical Facets for Exploration and Discovery

Abstract

New developments in the cataloging world can help libraries better answer questions like: What music do you have for string quartets? What young adult fiction do you have by African American male authors? Do you have any diaries written by pioneer women in Oregon in the late nineteenth century? Do you have any recent movies from China? Historically, the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) have included terms both for what something is about (topic) and for what something is (genre or form). Many users are looking for something either as a topic, or as a genre or form, and not for the two things mixed together. Sometimes LCSH makes a clear, albeit not intuitive, distinction. Starting in 2007, the Library of Congress (LC) began work on a new vocabulary, now known as Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT), to use for genre and form instead of LCSH. In addition, they created two additional new vocabularies: Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music (LCMPT) for instruments and voices and Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT) for audiences and creators. This article investigates the application and results of using these new, faceted vocabularies.