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
Since legislators are investigating specific problems, looking at them
from a single point of view, and not always considering a subject in
its broadest sense or in its relationship to knowledge in general,
the question of subject headings, outside of classification, becomes
practically the most important single proposition the cataloger has
to consider. In practically every case the popular rather than the
technical form of heading is desirable. The simple ordinary term should
be chosen, for it is under this type of heading that your reader
will be most certain to look. In his haste and absorption he fails
to realize that there is any possible viewpoint, other than his own.
Having but one thought in his mind, he naturally expects to find his
material under this subject. Most certainly he should find at least a
cross reference. Therefore, one recommendation is to be exceedingly
generous in the matter of cross references. Under such conditions it is
always wiser not to trust one's own judgment, but to call upon various
people asking under what heading they would look for material of a
certain type. In this way the cataloger may secure suggestions which
are unusually helpful and which put into the catalog the ideas of many
persons rather than of one.
For instance, a book or pamphlet relating to the extortion practiced by
usurers would be found under a heading such as "Interest" or "Usury."
However, there are various other headings under which individuals might
expect to find material of this kind, depending upon the particular
phase of the question which he had in mind at the time. A busy man,
wishing to draft a bill putting the loan shark under control, would
be thinking of a loan shark and not of the underlying principle of
interest. Another man approaching the question through interest in the
installment plan would expect to find material of use to him under
that subject. Another man taking a broader view of the subject might
look under "Interest." Each of these men would be justified in looking
under the particular subject he had in mind, expecting to find either
the material or a reference sending him to the chosen heading. Every
possible heading which suggests itself is worthy of consideration,
for such an investment of time will more than pay for itself in the
satisfaction it brings to those who use the catalog. The necessity for
painstaking effort and careful thought in this connection is verified
by experience.
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