Gleanings from the Subject Analysis Committee meetings
January 2023 (virtual)
Reports and other documents are available in the SAC Public Space (link on outline page for ALA reports).
SAC discussed the Report of the Joint GNCRT/SAC/OLAC Working Group on Compound Terms in the LCGFT Vocabulary. This was an issue that had special resonance for those working with literature headings. SAC suggested a few changes and endorsed the report by email after the meeting.
Library and Archives Canada continues to work on its subject headings for Indigenous peoples. Canadian Subject Headings is not yet available as Linked Open Data but they're working on it. They use WorldShare Management Services and plan on masking offensive terminology.
National Library of Medicine is also working on DEI initiatives. They are obligated to use U.S. government (OMB) terminology.
The LC Policy, Training and Cooperative Programs Division has established a consultants group on Indigenous headings. They have recently changed the heading Maori to Māori (macron on "a"). They are partnering with SACO funnels to work on areas of subject headings. They are studying whether to use form subdivisions in their cataloging; the first experiments are with the subdivision Drama. LC practice is now to capitalize Indigenous but no official change.
A SACO funnel for medical headings is in formation, with interest also in how medical headings interact with other subject areas. Work on changes to slavery/enslavement headings is progressing. The LCSH editorial meetings, which are open to the public, are shifting to a later start time to make it easier for West Coast folks to attend.
The source code cyac is valid for Children's and Young Adult's Cataloging headings (CYAC Program, LC). Old codes lcshca and lcca will be deprecated and should not be used. One cataloger in the CYAC office is working in BIBFRAME.
Homosaurus now has a liaison to SAC. They have gotten a grant to prepare a version in Spanish. They are working on mapping Homosaurus terms to LCSH. They consider the thesaurus a topical index even though some use the terminology in demographic terminology.
MARC Advisory Committee was meeting the week after SAC. One of the proposals was to add $0, $1, $2, and $5 to 720 and 653. MAC did accept this at its subsequent meeting without $2 but with $7 for provenance information. Though name and subject headings in these fields are not controlled by cataloging rules, they may be present in vocabularies available via linked data (e.g., wikidata, iconclass). A discussion paper would add similar possibilities to curriculum terms in 658. MAC also accepted this and moved it to a proposal.
Dewey has filled out its graphic design numbers among other revisions.
FAST Policy and Outreach Committee is seeking comments on geographic and Indigenous headings in FAST. They are also discussing heading maintenance.
OCLC is removing the genre term Electronic books from 655s in the WorldCat database. It is a carrier type, not a valid genre/form term. OCLC will do other "Electronic" resource terms in the future.
RBMS hopes to release its consolidated vocabularies by the end of January 2023. I haven't seen the notice but keep your eyes peeled for release announcements.
AASL has established a working group to look at RDA and places/jurisdictions.
OLAC is established a working group to revise its Best Practice documentation to the model of Toolkit-ready Policy Statements and Metadata Guidance Documentation as is done by LC/PCC.
When someone asked Judy Jeng about how to keep up with IFLA cataloging programs, she mentioned the CATSMAIL list (public but you must subscribe). https://mail.iflalists.org/wws/info/catsmail
The Getty has been adding headings from RKD (significant Asia and Africa content) and from Szeemann (contemporary artists). They are going to have to update their MARC translator in order to get their information into ViAF. Getty codes pejorative or outdated terms as "do not use."
The Working Group on External Review of LC Vocabularies is studying how other vocabularies are built, staffed, maintained, etc.
The Working Group on the Devaluation of Cataloging has begun its work. This grew out of discussions about deprofessionalization, loss of original cataloging positions, the importance of cataloging work, and related concerns.
Notes compiled by Sherman Clarke
ARLIS/NA liaison to SAC