subjectheadings

Subject heading are words and phrases which make up a standard set of terms or “controlled vocabulary" designed to describe the subjects of materials. They provide a very useful tool in helping to locate items in the library catalog. Subject headings used in the Booth Library catalog are established by the Library of Congress and are listed in the five volume set of red books entitled Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) located near the second floor copier. When searching the catalog, you will notice that the various items have these subject headings assigned to them located under the term Subjects. Using these terms to search can be helpful because they will lead you to other items on the same topic and may bring up more results than free language keyword searching. The following sample is taken from an entry in the LCSH books and has accompanying explanations.

Art    (May Subd Geog)
             [N]

Here are entered general works n the visual arts. Works on the arts in general, including the visual arts, literature, and the performing arts, are entered under Arts.

UF

BT
RT
SA

Art, Visual
Arts, Fine
Iconography
Visual arts
Arts
Aesthetics
subdivision Art under names of

individual persons who lived before 1400, under names of deities or legendary figures, and under headings of the type [topic]--[subdivision], e.g. Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint--Art; Zephyrus (Greek deity)--Art; Holy Cross--Legends--Art

Academic art
Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Drawing
Expressionism (Art)
Naturalism in art
Video art

-- 19th century (May Subd Geog)
         USE Art, Modern--19th century
-- -- United States
            NT Flintridge Foundation Visual
                       Artists Awards
-- Extraterrestrial influences
             [N7429.2]

(May Subd Geog) May Subdivide Geographically. A place may follow the subject heading.

[N] Call number(s) indicating the location of the topic on the shelves.

May include a definition of the types of works described by this subject heading.

UF: Used For. These are not authorized as headings, so don't use them.

BT: Broader Topic. More general headings, may find more items using this term.

RT: Related Topic. Headings that are associated with the main term.

SA: See Also. Headings covering similar topics.

NT: Narrower Topic. More specific headings, helps to limit search results.

USE: Refers to appropriate heading to use.

-- -- Hyphens indicate a subdivision where different concepts are combined into one subject heading.

Understanding Library of Congress Subject Headings can help in the use of other controlled vocabularies. ProQuest, for instance, has a less complex, but similar system for help in finding articles on various subjects. The words to look for in ProQuest are labeled Subject Terms and are located with the abstracts of many of the articles. In other resources these terms may be called Descriptors or just Subjects. Whatever they're called, they can be very useful in helping you find what you're looking for.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE ASK A LIBRARIAN