Form/Genre Headings --DRAFT-- LCSH for Video Form/Genre Headings --DRAFT-- 9/22/2018

Subject Cataloging Resources Use the following Subject Cataloging Manual Instruction Sheets: H 1913 Moving Image/Genre Form Headings H 2230 Visual Materials and Non-Music Sound Recordings Keep in mind that H 1913 dates from 2008, so many bibliographic records in Orbis and OCLC reflect earlier practices 9/22/2018

Topical vs. Form/genre Topical: “aboutness” Example: Science fiction films A book about science fiction films A film documentary about science fiction films MARC authority record tag: 150 MARC bibliographic tag: 650 In LC cataloging practice, a form/genre heading used topically must be subdivided: Science fiction films—History and criticism. Orbis label generated by 650 tag: Subjects (Library of Congress) 9/22/2018

Authority Record (150) 9/22/2018

Topical vs. Form/Genre Form/Genre: “is-ness” Example: Science fiction films A video of The war of the worlds MARC authority tag: 155 MARC bibliographic record tag: 655 In LC cataloging practice, a heading used to identify the resource as belonging to a particular form/genre is never subdivided, even geographically Orbis label generated by the 655 tag: Type of material 9/22/2018

Authority Record (155) 9/22/2018

OPAC View 9/22/2018

Prior to 2008 LC did not create form/genre authority records (MARC 155) Both topical and form/genre headings were represented by authority records coded as “topical” (MARC 150) By default, a heading represented by a 150 subject authority record was only used topically, unless the authority record scope note (680) stated explicitly that the heading should be used only or alternatively for form/genre access, or the LC Subject Cataloging manual instructed the cataloger to use the heading for form/genre access 9/22/2018

Earlier Practice Prior to 2008, the form/genre aspect of fiction films (such as Science fiction films), was brought out in 3 ways: Topical heading with subdivision --Drama Form headings [tagged as 650] that expressed either genre (Science fiction films) or technique (Silent films) The form heading [tagged as 650] Feature films or Short films 9/22/2018

MARC Example: Pre-2008 Here is an abbreviated MARC example showing the subjects assigned to a feature film using the LC guidelines of the time: 245 4 ‡a The War of the worlds ‡h [videorecording] / ‡c Paramount pictures; directed by Byron Haskin; produced by George Pal; screenplay by Barre Lyndon. 260 ‡a Hollywood, Calif. : ‡b Paramount Home Video, ‡c 1999. 300 ‡a 1 videodisc (85 min.) : ‡b sd., col. ; ‡c 4 3/4 in. 650 ‡a Martians ‡v Drama. ‡a Science fiction films. ‡a Feature films. 9/22/2018

OPAC Screenshot 9/22/2018

Problem with Form/Genre Headings (pre-2008) When the same term & tag represent both the topic and the form/genre, the computer cannot distinguish between a heading for a book about science fiction films and a heading for a video of a science fiction film A heading search on Science fiction films (tagged as 650) will retrieve both videos and books about the form/genre It should be noted that assigning the same term to represent both about-ness and is-ness is not practiced across the board; in music LCSH, the singular term is used for the concept & the plural term is used for scores and sound recordings 9/22/2018

Using Subdivisions with Form/Genre Headings The LC workaround prior to 2008: The form/genre heading was used without a subdivision for cataloging of fiction films The form/genre heading was used with a subdivision for books about the form, e.g. –History and criticism, --Dictionaries, --Religious aspects, etc. The workaround was not made explicit in the subject cataloging documentation or the scope notes but may be inferred from the guidelines for drama 9/22/2018

Current Practice Form/genre heading as topic (150) is established separately from form/genre as exemplum (155) In addition, the scope note in the authority record for the topical heading (150) states explicitly that the form/genre heading as topic must be subdivided There is no corresponding scope note in the authority record for the form/genre heading as exemplum (155) The other practices (headings with subdivision –Drama and assigning Feature films or Short films) continue, but-- Feature films & Short films are now tagged 655 for cataloging of videos and films 9/22/2018

MARC Example Using Current Rules MARC example showing the subjects assigned to a feature film using the current LC guidelines: 245 4 ‡a The War of the worlds ‡h [videorecording] / ‡c Paramount pictures; directed by Byron Haskin; produced by George Pal; screenplay by Barre Lyndon. 260 ‡a Hollywood, Calif. : ‡b Paramount Home Video, ‡c 1999. 300 ‡a 1 videodisc (85 min.) : ‡b sd., col. ; ‡c 4 3/4 in. 650 ‡a Martians ‡v Drama. 655 ‡a Science fiction films. ‡a Feature films. 9/22/2018

OPAC Screenshot 9/22/2018

Maintenance Issues (1) Videos cataloged prior to 2008 use 650 for form/genre headings Member records added after 2008 may follow the obsolete practice Currently no updating of 650s to 655 is done in copy cataloging Records for videos with unsubdivided 650s cannot be retagged automatically to 655 since unsubdivided 650 will still be valid for non-fiction films 9/22/2018

Maintenance Issues (2) Retagging 650s without subdivisions on records for videos if there is also a 650 Feature films or Short films might be a possible strategy, with the following caveats: Only LC is likely to have followed the instruction to assign 650 Feature films/Short films to fiction films consistently, and LC’s primary cataloging focus has been archival motion pictures, not video Member library cataloging of fiction film videos often ignores LC guidelines and subdivides form/genre headings geographically 9/22/2018

Impact on Users Current Orbis OPAC using Simple Search Using either Keyword or Subject searches “science fiction films” will retrieve only or primarily videos the search may miss a handful of records where member libraries added a geographic subdivision Using Subject search “science fiction films history” will retrieve only books about the form/genre Using the Keyword search “science fiction films history” will retrieve a mix of videos of feature films and books about the form/genre Using the Keyword search “science fiction films criticism” will retrieve only books about the form/genre 9/22/2018

Impact on Users (2) Current Orbis OPAC using Advanced Search Advanced Search allows the user to combine the phrase “science fiction films” & limit to form/genre headings The results will not reflect the library’s holdings, since most of the form/genre headings in records for videos are tagged as 650 rather than 655 Impact on next-generation retrieval (YuFind) On an All Fields search “science fiction films,” facets can be used to discover video or book holdings Topical facets: Feature films (YuFind: 351) Format facets: DVD (318), VHS (118), Book (309) Compare DVD/VHS total with Feature Films total 9/22/2018

If No Maintenance? Current OPAC searches for form/genre headings are not significantly affected unless there is a high number of Advanced form/genre searches Past & current LC practice results in a large video retrieval from either Subject or Keyword Simple Searches that may frustrate the average user’s access to books on the history & criticism of the form/genre In the current Simple Search configuration, neither subject nor keyword searching would be improved by updating the tagging from 650 to 655 Past & current LC practice means the user must perform relatively sophisticated searching to retrieve “books about” 9/22/2018

If No Maintenance? YuFind demonstrates that the Next Generation OPAC, through facetting, could use other elements of the bibliographic record to discover & distinguish between “books about” & video exempla, without requiring an update of the tagging Even if YuFind is not adopted, maintenance could be postponed until we have a better idea of how the next catalog will work 9/22/2018