Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Ottawa, Canada, June 26-July 2, 1912
Science
Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Ottawa, Canada, June 26-July 2, 1912
American Library Association; Library science -- Congresses
Starting with the intention of retaining all headings upon which
the A. L. A. list and the Library of Congress were agreed, I soon
found that some of these very headings had occasioned the greatest
dissatisfaction. If the new list was to be acceptable to any
considerable number of those who had taken sufficient interest in the
subject to answer Miss Crawford's questions, I must endeavor to get
closer to the point of view of the users of the catalog, rather than be
governed by theory or established precedent.
The Library of Congress headings are admittedly devised to meet
conditions in the Library of Congress,--certainly very different
conditions from those of a public library. Moreover, the Library of
Congress headings have been, and still are, in a state of development.
Many changes have been made in the last dozen years, and as it is
plainly impracticable to reprint immediately all cards bearing a
discarded heading, libraries purchasing cards printed several years ago
will often find headings suggested that are no longer in use by the
Library of Congress. Sometimes cards for two editions of the same book
bear altogether different headings.
The varying headings adopted by the departmental libraries, whose cards
are printed and issued by the Library of Congress, cause still further
apparent inconsistency. We cannot be sure that any particular heading
was ever approved by the Library of Congress unless the card bears the
Library of Congress serial number. The Department of Education, for
example, uses Secondary education and Art education, while the Library
of Congress uses Education, Secondary, and Art--Study and teaching.
The Department of Agriculture has adopted Botany, Agricultural; Fruit
and fruit trees; and U. S.--Forestry; while the Library of Congress
enters the same material under Botany, Economic; Fruit culture; and
Forests and forestry--U. S. Such variations make it impossible for
any cataloger using the printed cards to follow blindly the headings
suggested thereon, and emphasize the fact that no list of headings can
be satisfactory to all kinds of libraries.
Most of the headings for the new A. L. A. list were decided upon before
the Library of Congress began to issue its printed lists. On comparing
the lists first received, I found cases where the Library of Congress
had changed its practice, and as each instalment was issued I made
changes in the manuscript already prepared, in order to bring the two
lists into closer agreement. Doubtless in the Library of Congress lists
yet to be issued there will be many headings different from those in
use five years ago, at the time the list which was my guide was copied
from the Library of Congress catalog.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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