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From: "Janis Young" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>, "pcclist" <[log in to unmask]>,
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Sent: Wednesday, June 9, 2010 3:15:23 PM
Subject: LC to formally separate genre/form terms from LCSH

[This message is being cross-posted to multiple lists. Please excuse the
duplication.]



In 2007 the Library of Congress’ Policy and Standards Division (PSD,
then called the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, or CPSO) began to
develop genre/form terms in the area of moving images. Since then terms
for recorded sound and cartography have also been included. Genre/form
terms for law, literature, music, and religion will be incorporated
within the next two years.



PSD’s intent has been to develop a thesaurus distinct from Library of
Congress Subject Headings ( LCSH ), but for the past three years the
authority records have been assigned MARC 21 coding indicating that they
are part of LCSH . When the terms have been assigned in bibliographic
records, they have been coded with second indicator “0” (zero), which is
used for LCSH . They have also been assigned LCCNs with the same prefix
as subject headings, “sh.” Additionally, approved genre/form terms have
been published in the Supplementary Vocabularies volume of LCSH and
instruction sheets governing their development and use have appeared in
the Subject Headings Manual ( SHM ).



PSD now plans to formally separate genre/form terms from LCSH , in both
MARC records and in printed products. The details are outlined below.



*Title of thesaurus and MARC source code

Since 2007 the genre/form headings have been referred to as a genre/form
list or a genre/form thesaurus, because the thesaurus did not yet have a
formal title. PSD has now coined the title Library of Congress
Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials ( LCGFT ). This
title will appear in print for the first time in the Supplemental
Vocabularies volume of the 32 nd edition of LCSH , which will be
published this summer.



On May 26, 2010 the Network Development and MARC Standards Office
(NDMSO) announced that it has assigned the MARC source code “lcgft” to
the thesaurus. The code may be used in exchange records after July 27,
2010 (for the NDMSO announcement see
http://www.loc.gov/marc/relators/tn100526src.html ).



*MARC 21 records

Within a MARC 21 authority record, the thesaurus to which the heading
belongs is coded in one of two ways. It may be recorded in byte 11 of
the fixed field (008/11), or through a combination of 008/11 and
subfield $f of the 040 field. After conferring with NDMSO, PSD has
decided to utilize the latter option.



Authority records for genre/form terms will be coded as follows.



008/11: z (“Other”)

040$f: lcgft



In bibliographic records, genre/form terms are always contained in the
655 field, and again there are two methods to designate the source
thesaurus: the value of the second indicator, or a combination of second
indicator “7” and a source code in subfield $2. PSD has chosen the
latter option. LC genre/form terms in bibliographic records will be
coded:



655 -7 $a [Term]. $2 lcgft



This formula has been employed successfully for many other thesauri and
lists of terms and PSD expects that its use for the LCGFT will be
equally successful.



Timeline for implementation: Late 2010 or early 2011; a firm date will
be announced when it has been determined.



*LCCNs

PSD plans to institute a new prefix of “gf” for genre/form terms. The
format of the new LCCN will be identical to that for subject headings:
the two-character prefix will be followed by 10 digits comprising the
four-digit year and a six-digit serial number.



Timeline for implementation: Late 2010 or early 2011. The existing
genre/form authority records will be cancelled and new ones will be
issued with the “gf” prefix. PSD will publicly announce the specific
date of this event no fewer than six weeks before it is to occur in
order to provide time for MARC Distribution Service subscribers to
prepare.



*Documentation

A separate manual for genre/form terms is being written. It will include
instructions and guidelines on proposing and applying LC genre/form
headings, and will be formatted similar to the way that the SHM is.
(Until it is developed, instruction sheets for genre/form headings will
continue to reside in the SHM .) PSD is also investigating the
possibility of extracting LCGFT from Supplementary Vocabularies and
publishing it separately.



Timeline: No earlier than 2012.



Questions or comments on these plans may be directed to Janis L. Young,
LC’s genre/form coordinator, at [log in to unmask] .





Janis L. Young

Policy and Standards Division
Library of Congress