Short guide to subject headings and subdivisions

There are 4 types of subdivisions:

          Topical                     subfield x
           Geographic             subfield z
           Chronological         subfield y
           Form                       subfield v

There are 2 basic orders (minor variations are always possible) of subject strings.

            [Place]  -- [topic] headings    (used for aspects of a place)
           
            [Topic] -- [place] headings (used for topical headings that can be subdivided by place)

Order of subdivisions and meanings of subject strings

             Form subdivision always goes last
             Follow instructions in the manual and subject heading books/files
             The meaning of a string may be tested by constructing a phrase using the elements in reverse                order:   e.g.,

                          Authors, English -- 20th century -- Biography.
                          (A biography of a 20th century English author)

The same elements may express different concepts based on their order:

                          Science -- History -- Periodicals.
                          (A periodical on the history of science)

                          Science -- Periodicals -- History
                          (A history of periodicals in the field of science)

Free-floating subdivisions

     General subdivisions                         H1095
     Persons & ethnic groups                   H1100 & H1103
     Corporate bodies and families          H1105 & H1120
     Place names:                                     H1140 (countries, cities, etc.)
                                                               H1145.5 (bodies of water)
     Pattern headings                               H1146-H1200
               

Individual authors ( classes P-PZ)

Normally, all works by the same person (no matter what name they write under) go in the same             number.
Multiple numbers are established for those who write in more than one language.

Factors to consider in locating an author's classification number:
   Language in which the author wrote
   Nationality
   Time period the author was productive
       [Taken from LC's classification manual, F632]

Procedure to find or establish a literary author number:
-- Check NAF, your local catalog, and online LC records
-- If the language is divided by countries (like Spanish), choose the country of the author's citizenship
-- If you can't tell, select a country based on birthplace, parentage, residences, or place of publication       of works

For authors who write in more than one language:
-- Class translations and critical studies of individual works with the original works
-- Class collective criticism of several works according to the language of the works studied
-- Put general criticism and biography of the author in the number that best represents his\her total            literary output.

Progress on my files

I have found and ordered a reader so I can get into my old files.  It ought to make things faster than me typing everything in.

Language and Literature schedules: a general guide

General and Notes on the Tables

--The "major" literatures (English/American, French, Italian, Spanish, Germanic, and Russian) are in     separate scheduled from their literatures.

--All the works of an author go in one number-- they are not separated by novels, drama, etc.

-- English translations of many (especially Greek and Latin) books are in the regular schedules (e.g.,        histories) and not in PA.

--P and PN are the only schedules with their own index.

-- Sometimes there is no instruction pointing you to a table, so we use logic/intuition.

[Information concerning the book schedules and their tables has been removed]

The Outline of Language

Periodicals, societies, collections, etc.

History of philology, history of the language

Study and teaching

General works

Script

Grammar (textbooks, readers morphology and syntax)

Style, composition, rhetoric, prosody (writing and writing styles)

Translating

Etymology (names, words in general)

Lexicography (dictionaries, word lists)

Linguistic geography, dialects, provincialisms (local usage)

The Outline of Literature

Treatment of special subjects and classes

History & criticism by period

History & criticism by special type/genre

General collections

    By type of author

    By special topic

    Translations of general collections

    Collections by period

    Collections by form or subject

Collections by genre: poetry, drama, prose

Individual authors & works grouped by period

Local (Authors who live in "foreign" countries)

[Information on adding subject headings to fiction removed-- it has changed]

PZ Juvenile Belle Lettres

PZ  Juvenile Belle Lettres

Class in PZ:  juvenile and young adult fiction, general collections, picture storybooks, alphabet and counting books with a story line, stories in rhyme, individual song texts illustrated for children, juvenile folk tales, and traditional nursery rhymes.

Class juvenile poetry, drama, humor, and comic books in the P-PT literature schedules.

Polyglot belle lettres go in PZ 10.5.

Bilingual juvenile fiction, fairy tales folklore, and fables go in the number of the lesser-known language (remember LC's bias that English is it's predominant language).  Bilingual poetry and drama go in P-PT with the original language.

PZ used to include all fiction in English, and all juvenile works.
-- All fiction is now classified in literature.
-- All juvenile non-fiction is now classed in the regular subject schedules.

Titbit about my LC notes

I just found the index to my files, and I created 39 files; including examples, references, outlines, and workshops.

Arrangement of the Literature schedules (P-PZ)

P      Philology and linguistics

PA     Classical (Greek & Latin) philology.  Greek & Latin literature.

PH-PH     Modern European languages
                      PB: Celtic
                      PC: Romanic
                      PD-PF: Germanic
                      PG: Slavic, Baltic, Albanian

PJ-PK     Oriental philology & literature.  Indo-Iranian philology and literature.
                     PJ: Oriental (Eastern Mediterranean)-- Egypt, Semitic, Ethiopian
                     PK: Indo-Iranian-- Northern Indic (Hindi, Bengali, etc.), Sanskrit, Iranian, Dardic,
                               Armenian, Caucasian.

PL-PM     Languages, of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania, Hyperborean, Indian, & Artificial.
                      PL: Ural-Altaic, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Sino-Tibetan, Southeast Asia, Dravidian
                             (South India), Oceania, Africa.
                      PM: Native American, Mixed (Creole), Artificial, Picture, Secret.                  

PN       Literature (General)

PQ       French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese literatures

PR      English literature

PS      American literature

PT     German, Dutch, Scandinavian literatures

PG     Russian literature

PZ      Juvenile belles lettres (arranged by language)

P-PZ   Language and literature tables

P-PM  Index to languages and dialects

Organization of the N schedule

N       Visual arts

           This is the broadest and most general of all the subclasses, except for NX.  It includes
              museums and exhibitions; as well as movements which cover more than one country.

NA     Architecture

           The most concrete form of art.

NB     Sculpture

           Goes from general to specific forms.  From large works to small works.

NC     Drawing. Design. Illustration.

            From stone to paper (hard to soft)

ND     Painting

             A special form of drawing.

NE     Print media

            Another special form of drawing.

NK     Decorative arts. Applied arts. Decoration and ornament.

            The smallest and most detailed forms.  The technical side of these forms go in T.

NX     The arts in general.

            This is for items which cover more than just the visual arts (music, etc.)

Other information

            Biographies are classified by the main type of work that the person did; and then by country.                 There are 2 tables used for "special artists" and "special countries".
         
            Countries may be subdivided by time period or artistic movement. Movements are also found               subclass N if the movement being discussed covers more than one country.

General information about LC classification schedules

These are my notes for a very basic outline, tailored to the audience I was teaching. I have more detailed outlines for different subjects/schedules. All comments, corrections, updates are welcome. The geographic arrangement of each book is: United States, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Everywhere else. A: Works too general or comprehensive to go in any subject-- Encyclopedias, dictionaries, museums, periodicals, etc. B: Philosophy (divided by national literatures, time periods and authors) and Religions. D-F: History-- Divided geographically; then subdived by time period and locality. G: Geography-- The only schedule with triple cutters (maps); also contains recreation, anthropology, and folklore. H: Social sciences-- Economics, statistics, crime, social groups. J: Political Science-- Theory to specific, then local. Constitutions used to go here. K: Law: Divided geographically, then by subject, then by local and local subject. Structure is basically the same for all places: Statutes, constitutions, subject When this was written, religious law had not been finished. Law of Europe-- places that no longer exist (e.g., Burgundy) go in their present geographical area (there are places in the schedules for these) Procedure 1. Find county of law 2. Find subject (civil, common, etc.) 3. Use appropriate tables (Law uses form tables rather than place tables. L. Education QRS: Science, Medicine, Agriculture-- these have the most overlap because of different treatments/aspects of the topics. M: Music. Single voice to multiple voice; history and criticism; study and teaching. Keyboard first; then strings, winds, percussion, vocal First by form, then by composer. Double-cuttered: composer/title. N: The arts-- Concrete to abstract. Form then nationality or chronology; then artist. P-PZ: Language and literature History and criticism; chronology, form. T: Technology-- contains technology, flight, cooking. U-V: Military and Navel Sciences. Z: Books, printing, libraries, bibliography.