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Guidelines on Subject Thesauri
General Guidelines
The subject vocabularies indicated here are intended for use as a supplement to, not in lieu of, the Library of Congress Subject headings. The vocabularies are designed to provide additional access points relevant to specific communities, cultural identities, and areas of practice.
Non-LCSH subject terms from another controlled vocabulary receive a MARC 650 tag with a second indicator 7. A ‡2 should be added with the source code for the vocabulary, i.e. ‡2 homoit
A comprehensive list of codes can be found at the Library of Congress' Subject Headings and Term Source Codes page.
The Homosaurus
| Vocabulary Name | Maintained by | ‡2 code | List of Terms | Background Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Homosaurus | The Homosaurus Editorial Board | ‡2 homoit | Homosaurus Vocabulary | Homosaurus: About |
The Homosaurus is a specialized vocabulary for describing LGBTQIA+ materials in libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions. The Homosaurus vocabulary uses the current language of the LGBTQIA+ community, and is congruent with best practices for its description. It also includes a number of historical LGBTQIA+ terms with instructions on the subjects and periods to which these terms can be applied. It includes both narrower terms and more culturally-appropriate terms than are available in the Library of Congress Subject Headings.
Example: Supplementing an LCSH term with a more culturally-appropriate term from the Homosaurus
650 _0 ‡a Sexual minorities.
650 _7 ‡a LGBTQ+ people. ‡2 homoit
Rationale: "LGBTQ+ people" is more commonly used than "Sexual minorities" in contemporary discourse, colloquial and scholarly, by members of this community and those writing about them.
Example: Supplementing an LCSH term with a narrower term from the Homosaurus
650 _0 ‡a Gay men.
650 _7 ‡a Macho men. ‡2 homoit
Rationale: "Macho men" describes a specific sub-community within the broader gay community, reflecting a specific way of presenting one's gender and sexuality.
Note: If LCSH and the Homosaurus use identical terms to express the same concept, such as Bears (Gay culture), use the LCSH term in a 650 _0 field. If the terms are similar but not exactly identical, use cataloger's judgment to determine if adding a Homosaurus term is necessary.
Subject Headings for Chinese rare books
| Vocabulary Name | Romanized title | ‡2 code | List of Terms | Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 中國古籍善本書總目分類表 | Zhongguo gu ji shan ben shu zong mu fen lei biao | ‡2 sk | Chinese language vocabulary (rare materials) | pre-1795 publications |
| 中國古籍總目 | Zhongguo gu ji zong mu | ‡2 skbb | Chinese language vocabulary (rare materials) | post-1795 publications |
The bibliographic description of Chinese rare books requires the addition of more detailed, specialized Chinese subject headings to be integrated with the application of more general Library of Congress subject headings. The two resources above are used exclusively for Chinese subjects of rare materials, and are added with parallel fields in vernacular and in Romanized form. Ex.:
650_7 ‡a Zi bu ‡x Zhu jia lei ‡x Jidu jiao zhi shu ‡2 skbb
650_7 ‡a 子部 ‡x 諸家類 ‡x 基督教之屬 ‡2 skbb
and
650_7 ‡a Zi bu ‡x Tian wen suan fa lei ‡x Li fa. ‡2 sk
650_7 ‡a 子部 ‡x 天文算法類 ‡x 曆法. ‡2 sk
The second indicator of MARC field 650 must be 7, paired with subfield 2 with the appropriate vocabulary's approved code. Both vocabularies can be applied together.
Guidelines on Form and Genre Thesauri
General Guidelines for Form/Genre Terms
Assign Form/Genre terms according to cataloger judgment and/or project guidelines. The policy attempts to establish uniformity in the description of similar materials, while also accommodating description of the broad range of rare materials held in PUL’s collection. Catalogers’ application of form/genre terms should take into consideration the research needs/interests of PUL Special Collections users: curatorial and public services staff, faculty, students and other researchers.
CaMS professional catalogers should apply MARC 655 form/genre terms from the thesauri indicated, in order of preference, in the table below. RBMS Controlled Vocabularies (comprising six distinct thesauri) are treated as the most-preferred source of terminology.
Table of Form/Genre Thesauri, Listed in order of Preference
Organization | Name of Thesaurus | Source Code | Parenthetical Qualifier | Chronological Subdivision | Geographic Subdivision | Website | |
RBMS | Genre Terms | rbgenr | [none] | Do not subdivide | Do not subdivide | ||
RBMS | Binding Terms | rbbin | (Binding) | Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known | Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known | ||
RBMS | Paper Terms | rbpap | (Paper) | Subdivide Item-specific terms by century, if known | Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known | ||
RBMS | Printing & Publishing Evidence | rbpri | (Printing) | Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known | Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known | ||
RBMS | Provenance Evidence | rbprov | (Provenance) | Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known | Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known | ||
RBMS | Type Evidence | rbtyp | (Type evidence) | Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known | Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known | ||
LC | LC Genre/Form Terms | lcgft | [none] | Do not subdivide, as per LC policy | Do not subdivide, as per LC policy | ||
Getty AAT | Art & Architecture Thesaurus | aat | [none] | Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known | Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known | ||
LC | Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms (TGM II) | gmgpc | [none] | Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known | Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known | ||
PUL | Local terms | Do not use; update legacy terms if possible | Do not use | Do not use | Do not use | ||
Indicators, Subfields, and Parenthetical Qualifiers for Form/Genre Terms
Indicators and subfields
When using thesauri terms from any public (non-local) thesaurus on the list above, catalogers should add the source code for the thesaurus from which the term comes after the terms themselves, using MARC format ‡2: ‡2 rbgenr, ‡2 rbprov, ‡2 aat, for instance.
Thesaurus terms used in should also be coded as “655_7” to indicate that the source of the term is specified in subfield ‡2 For example:
- 655_7 ‡a Fairy tales. ‡2 rbgenr
- 655_7 ‡a Inscriptions (Provenance) ‡2 rbprov
Parenthetical Qualifiers
Terms from the RBMS Binding Evidence (rbbin), Printing and Publishing Terms (rbpri, rbpub), and Provenance Evidence (rbprov) thesauri should also include the relevant qualifier after the thesauri source code (in parenthesis), immediately after the thesauri term itself. For instance:
- 655_7 ‡a Binders tickets (Binding) ‡2 rbbin
- 655_7 ‡a Miniature books (Printing) ‡2 rbpub
Chronological and Geographic Subdivisions
RBMS Genre Terms, LC Genre/Form Terms, and PUL Local Terms should not be subdivided chronologically, geographically, or topically.
Chronological and geographic subdivisions may be applied to item-specific form terms only from the following vocabularies:
- RBMS: Binding (rbbin), Provenance (rbprov), Printing (rbpri)/Publishing (rbpub), Type (rbtyp), Paper (rbpap)
- Getty AAT
- Thesaurus for Geographic Materials II (GMGPC)
The subdivisions should reflect the date/place of the aspect described by the form/genre term, rather than the printing/publication date/place of the manifestation as a whole (which may or may not differ from the date of the item-specific aspect described).
Chronological subdivisions: should be applied by century, not specific year. For example:
- Authors’ presentation inscriptions (Provenance) ‡y 18th century ‡2 rbprov ‡5 NjP
Geographical subdivisions: should be applied by country, not by city or smaller geographical entity. For example:
- Armorial bindings (Binding) ‡z Great Britain ‡y 18th century ‡2 rbbin ‡5 NjP
LCSH (655 _0) terms should be subdivided following LC practice for Geographic and Chronological subdivisions, according to the Subject Headings Manual.
Item-Specific Terms
Form terms used to describe aspects of materials that are specific to the item (copy) at hand, such as inscriptions, presentation autographs, or bespoke bindings, should be coded ‡5 NjP at the end of the 655 field in Voyager cataloging. For example:
- 655_7 ‡a “Inscriptions (Provenance) ‡2 rbprov ‡5 NjP”.
If cataloging directly in OCLC, use ‡5 PUL in lieu of ‡5 NjP. For example:
- 655_7 ‡a “Inscriptions (Provenance) ‡2 rbprov ‡5 PUL”.
Form terms that refer to aspects of the broader manifestation (issue or edition, in bibliographic terms), such as printed paper wrappers in an edition or a publisher's edition binding, should not be coded as ‡5, since these are not unique to the item at hand.
PUL Local Terms (NO LONGER IN USE)
Previously, a select number of Local Form/Genre terms were developed by Special Collections curators and catalogers, for application to specific subsets of material. As their application and MARC encoding has been sporadic, the use of local terms by PUL cataloging staff has been discontinued.
- Please do not add local genre/form terms when creating or updating catalog records.
You may encounter legacy local terms in our catalog such as "655 _7 $a Photographs, Original. $2 local" If so:
- Replace the local term with an equivalent term from a preferred controlled vocabulary. For instance, "Photographs, Original" is equivalent to "655 _7 $a Photographs. $2 lcgft"
- Leave the term as-is if no alternative can be found.