July 02, 2007
Library of Congress to Create Subject Authority Records for Bibliographic Validation Purposes
The Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO) of the Library of Congress (LC) has begun a project to create subject authority records for every subject heading string appearing in its bibliographic records. This is intended to aid Library of Congress catalogers and external users of LC MARC bibliographic records in the validation of LC subject heading (LCSH) strings. Formerly, most subject strings did not prompt the creation of subject authority records because they contained free-floating subdivision(s).
Some of the records are being created manually by the Cataloging Policy and Support Office staff, and some will be generated by machine, but all will be reviewed before distribution occurs. CPSO anticipates that at least 200 records per month will be generated at the start of this project. These records will not be printed in the annual editions of LCSH (the "red books"). Each of these records will contain a 667 field with this data: "Record generated for validation purposes."
For details, please see the CDS announcement of May 25, 2007, at www.loc.gov/cds/notices/2007-05-25-Subject_Authority_Validation_Records.pdf.
LC has already distributed some sample records for the following headings:
OCLC users may find these records in the OCLC Authority File, available through the Connexion browser and client, and the Z39.50 interface to WorldCat. Like all other authority records, these records can be utilized to control headings in WorldCat bibliographic records.
Please send any questions or comments about this new LC practice to cpso@loc.gov. Questions concerning the OCLC Authority File and functionality may be directed to Linda Gonzalez (lgonzale@bcr.org) or Bethany Levrault (blevraul@bcr.org) at BCR.
