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Chapter 12. Other Subject and Genre/Format Vocabularies

Chapter Outline

  • FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology)

  • Sears List of Subject Headings

  • Medical Subject Headings

  • Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)

Key Takeaways

This chapter introduces you to other controlled vocabularies, both general in scope, like FAST and Sears List, but also some domain-specific KOS, like MeSH and AAT. One of the trends we see is moving away from pre-coordinated subject headings to more faceted controlled vocabularies.

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In addition to subject vocabularies, this chapter covers genre and form terminologies. 

Faceted vocabularies

Facets, in the context of KOS, are general aspects or characteristics of subjects. Facet analysis and synthesis is the analysis (or breaking up) of a subject into its component parts and the synthesis (or reassembling) of those parts as required in subject representation. Facet analysis and faceted structures are most often associated with classification systems. Faceted vocabularies establish separate terms for subject facets and allow for post-coordination of more complex topics. One example of faceted vocabulary is FAST, which is based on LCSH. 

Thesauri

Thesauri are controlled vocabularies with a set organization and structure so that the relationships between terms are clearly identified by standardized relationship indicators. Thesauri may display their terms in multiple methods, such as in alphabetical, hierarchical, or other structured displays. One example of a thesaurus is the Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT).

Genre and form

Genre and form terms describe what something “is,” rather than what it is “about “ but as they are an aspect of the intellectual content of an information resource, they are often included in subject vocabularies or used in conjunction with subject vocabularies and part of the subject analysis and access process. An example of a genre/form vocabulary is the Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT).

Chapter References/Notes

  1. Chan, L. M., Childress, E., Dean, R., O’Neill, E. T., & Vizine-Goetz, D. (2001). A faceted approach to subject data in the Dublin Core Metadata Record. Journal of Internet Cataloging, 4(1/2), 35– 47.

  2. ALCTS/CCS/SAC/Subcommittee on Metadata and Subject Analysis. (1999). Subject data in the metadata record: Recommendations and rationale. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/org/ cat/subjectdata_record

  3. OCLC Research. (1998). FAST (faceted application of subject terminology). Retrieved from http://fast.oclc.org/

  4. Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office. (2008, April 7). MARC Code list for geographic areas. Retrieved from www.loc.gov/marc/geoareas/gacshome.html

  5. Chan, L. M., & O’Neill, E. T. (2010). FAST: Faceted application of subject terminology: Principles and application. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

  6. Library of Congress. (2016). Library of Congress authorities. Retrieved from http://authorities.loc.gov

  7. J. Paul Getty Trust. (2019). Getty thesaurus of geographic names online. Retrieved from http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn/

  8. Bristow, B. A. (Ed.), Hugger, M., Spires, K., & Fielder, C. (Assoc. eds.). (2018). Sears list of subject headings (22nd ed.). Ipswich, MA: H. W. Wilson Company.

  9. For a discussion of these principles, see “Principles of the Sears List,” in Sears List of Subject Headings.

  10. Bristow, Hugger, Spires, & Fielder, 2018, p. A-53.

  11. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2018a). Medical subject headings. Retrieved from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/

  12. Dunn, K. (2017). The National Library of Medicine. In J.D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds), Encyclopedia of library and information science (4th ed., pp. 3334–3345). Boca Raton: CRC Press.

  13. Mehnert, R., & Hoffmann, C. F. B. (1986). The National Library of Medicine. In A. Kent (Ed.), Encyclopedia of library and information science (Vol. 41, Supp. 6). New York, NY: Marcel Dekker.

  14. National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2013). The NCBI handbook (2nd ed.). Bethesda, MD: National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK143764/

  15. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2018b). Medical subject headings: Preface. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/intro_preface.html

  16. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2018a).

  17. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2018c). Medical subject headings: MeSH tree structures. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/intro_trees.html

  18. Gullion, S. L. (1983). Cataloging and classification: Classification and subject cataloging. In L. Darling, D. Bishop, & L. A. Colaianni (Eds.), Handbook of medical library practice (4th ed.). Chicago, IL: Medical Library Association.

  19. National Library of Medicine (U.S.), 2018a.

  20. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2018e). Medical subject headings: MeSH qualifiers by allowable category -- 2018. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/topcat.html

  21. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2018f). Medical subject headings: Publication characteristics (publication types) with scope notes – 2019 MeSH pubtypes. Retrieved from www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/pub-types.html

  22. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2018h). Medical subject headings: Use of medical subject headings for cataloging. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/catpractices.html

  23. J. Paul Getty Trust. (2018). Art & architecture thesaurus online: About the AAT. Retrieved from https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/about.html

  24. J. Paul Getty Trust. (2019). Getty vocabularies. Retrieved from http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/

 

Additional Readings

Here, you will find readings specific to the contents of this chapter.

You may find more readings about similar topics on the Cataloging and Classification Web Resources page

FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology)
 
Sears List of Subject Headings
 
​Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
 
​Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)

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Genre/Form Terms
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