Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 History and principles of LCSH
- 3 Subject heading lists and the problems of language
- 4 Format and display of LCSH
- 5 The choice and form of headings
- 6 Content analysis
- 7 Assigning main headings
- 8 Structured headings
- 9 Topical subdivisions
- 10 Geographic subdivisions
- 11 Free-floating subdivisions
- 12 More complex headings: combining the different types of subdivisions
- 13 Chronological headings and subdivisions
- 14 Name headings
- 15 Literature and the arts
- 16 Headings for music
- 17 Classification Web
- 18 LCSH in the online world
- 19 Bibliography
- 20 Glossary
- Index
10 - Geographic subdivisions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 June 2018
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 History and principles of LCSH
- 3 Subject heading lists and the problems of language
- 4 Format and display of LCSH
- 5 The choice and form of headings
- 6 Content analysis
- 7 Assigning main headings
- 8 Structured headings
- 9 Topical subdivisions
- 10 Geographic subdivisions
- 11 Free-floating subdivisions
- 12 More complex headings: combining the different types of subdivisions
- 13 Chronological headings and subdivisions
- 14 Name headings
- 15 Literature and the arts
- 16 Headings for music
- 17 Classification Web
- 18 LCSH in the online world
- 19 Bibliography
- 20 Glossary
- Index
Summary
The most superficial examination of a library, bookshop or other collections of documents will reveal that the idea of place is a very common element in the subjects of books. Titles abound such as:
Agro-climatology of the highlands of East Africa
Black country tramways
Day trips from Milwaukee
Industries of Croydon
Inkas: last stage of stone masonry development in the Andes
Orchestral music in Salzburg, 1750-1780
Referendum on independence and presidential election in Uzbekistan
It is therefore vital that any system of subject cataloguing enables us to express these geographic aspects. LCSH does this through the medium of geographic subdivisions.
When to use geographic subdivisions
The great majority of headings are accompanied by the legend (May Subd Geog), standing for ‘May Subdivide Geographically’, which tells the cataloguer that the name of a place can be added to the heading.
Where there is no such instruction, you should assume that geographic sub-division is not permitted, and sometimes, in case you were in doubt, there is a specific injunction not to subdivide.
Example
Chess on postage stamps
Cigarette paper
Filmstrips in religious education
Proverbs
Chevrolet vans (Not Subd Geog)
Dead animals in art (Not Subd Geog)
Golf stories (Not Subd Geog)
Prisoners’ writings (Not Subd Geog)
Wilgefortis (Legendary saint) (Not Subd Geog)
This is usually because such subdivision would be unnecessary, the topic being already limited geographically, as with names of places, or because alternative headings make provision for local specification, as in Prisoners’ writings, Bulgarian or Prisoners’ writings, Chinese. That is not always the case, however, and in some cases it is very hard to see why geographic subdivision is forbidden. Some general types of headings seem always to be debarred from geographic subdivision: for example, names of families, names of fictitious and legendary characters, and headings of the type Brooms and brushes in art, Bureaucracy in motion pictures or other similar combinations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Essential Library of Congress Subject Headings , pp. 117 - 130Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2011