[Heb-NACO] FW: LCSH $v and LCGFT Religion Headings

[Taub, Aaron]

Dear Heb-NACO Colleagues,

I am forwarding this exchange between Janis Young of LC's Policy and Standards Division and myself.  It is a follow-up to one of the agenda items at the Cataloging Committee meeting at the AJL Convention in Pasadena.  Thanks for your feedback!

Best,
A

From: Young, Janis
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 12:04 PM
To: Taub, Aaron
Cc: 'Treesh, Erica'; 'Bell, Lenore'
Subject: RE: LCSH $v and LCGFT Religion Headings

Hi, Aaron,

We're trying to keep LCGFT at a high level.  With religion, many genres and forms cut across faiths and traditions, although each faith may use different words.  In those cases, we're preferring to use a generic term, and then the specificity can be brought out with a subject heading.  When a genre or form is specific to a particular faith (e.g., Koans), then it may be included in LCGFT, translated into English if that is reasonable and practical.

When ATLA asked us about prayers (and by extension liturgies), we replied that we would like to use very high-level terms.  Practically speaking for prayers, this means that ATLA's religion thesaurus includes "Prayers." We'll bring all prayers together in that way, regardless of the occasion on which they're to be read or recited, or by whom.  The subject headings would then bring out the specific information.  Example:

A collection of prayers for Jewish women
650 #0 $a Jewish women $v Prayers and devotions.
655 #7 $a Prayers. $2 lcgft

I won't completely rule out the idea that in the future we might decide to be a little bit more specific (perhaps Prayers of supplication; Prayers of thanksgiving, etc.).  It's unlikely that LCGFT will include terms for specific prayers or liturgies, though, or even for prayers at particular times of the day (bedtime prayers; grace at meals), because we want to have "bucket" terms.  Plus, many of the liturgies and prayers are actually more like titles than like genres or forms -- although they are often coded in 150/650.  I think the Haggadot might fall into this category?

If the AJL wants to examine LCSH for specifically Jewish genres and forms, that would be fine with me, and I would welcome their report.  However, they need to be aware that most of the headings in LCSH are probably too specific for LCGFT, and are thus unlikely to be incorporated into LCGFT.  Even if we make slightly more specific terms, then the Jewish concepts would be included in generic terms that cut across religions.

I hope this helps,

Janis




Janis L. Young
Policy and Standards Division
Library of Congress

From: Taub, Aaron
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 3:32 PM
To: Young, Janis
Cc: 'Treesh, Erica'; 'Bell, Lenore'
Subject: LCSH $v and LCGFT Religion Headings

Dear Janis,

Thank you so much for your "LC Digital Future and You" presentation yesterday on LC Genre/Form Headings.  One of the points in your talk--"Apply subject headings as usual, including form subdivisions ($v)"--in particular caught my attention.

At the Cataloging Committee meeting at the most recent Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) Convention, a sub-committee was formed to investigate LCSH for distinctively Jewish genres to ensure that they be represented in the developing LCGFT list.  The full text on this point from the Cataloging Committee meeting minutes is excerpted below.  However, based on your presentation yesterday, it seems that the current practice of applying LCSH will remain.  Given that the LCSH headings will be applied as usual, should the AJL sub-committee even pursue this task at all?

As an example, I am thinking of Haggadot, arguably a uniquely Jewish genre.  Currently we use:

650 b 0 Haggadot $v Texts.
650 b 0 Seder $x Liturgy $v Texts.
650 b 0 Judaism $x Liturgy $v Texts.

Will we simply be adding on a 655 Liturgies (or Prayers) and retain our current LCSH set, as seems to be the case based on the scope note from the recent Religon LCGFT list (cited at the bottom of this e-mail)?  Or should we actually pursue getting Haggadot (and possibly other headings) included in the LCGFT list?  We use similar LCSH sets for "Siddurim" (Daily prayers) and Mahzorim (Holiday prayers), although those are more parallel to standard liturgical works in other religions than haggadot and would fit more "neatly" into "Liturgies."

Many thanks for your guidance!

Best wishes,
Aaron



===============================================================================================================
Excerpt from the Minutes of the AJL Cataloging Committee Meeting, June 17, 2012

4) Religion Genre/Form Headings Update:  The Cataloging Committee continues to participate in the effort led by LC, in coordination with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), to develop genre/form terms in the discipline of religion for inclusion in the LC Genre/Form Thesaurus.  A report was received from Erica Treesh, ATLA, noting that the term "Parashiyot ha-shavua'" was newly accepted as genre term.  In general, the terms that have been accepted to date are at a very high level, and are not distinguished by religion when applicable across religions.  It was noted that a MARC field for religion may be proposed to distinguish such genres further.
Action item:  An effort will be undertaken to further check LC Subject Headings for topical headings representing  distinctively Judaic genres to ensure that they are either captured in the list of terms or appear as upward see references to more generic terms.  Aaron Taub volunteered to lead the effort, and Lenore Bell volunteered to assist.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scope note in the most recent draft of the LC Genre/Form Headings list (Compiled by ATLA, August 1, 2012) states as follows for prayers:



Prayers

Scope note: This heading is used for all types of prayers. Prefer to bring out the occasion for the prayers or the denominational aspects by means of subject headings as appropriate; e.g. Buddhism-Prayers and devotions; Judaism-Prayers and devotions; Prayers for animals; Prayers for the dead; etc.

UF: Altar prayers

UF: Bedtime prayers

UF: Pastoral prayers

UF: Prayers for peace
UF: Prayers for the dead


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