What's Up With LCGFT (LC's
Genre/Form Terms for Library
and Archival Materials)?
Amy Pennington
Catalog Librarian, Pius XII Memorial Library, Saint Louis
University
apennin5@slu.edu
Missouri Library Association Conference
Oct. 4, 2012
LCGFT: What are they and how are
they different from LCSH?
• Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and
Archival Materials
• They describe what the item/resource *is* rather than
what the item/resource is *about*
• ‘Documentary films’ as a subject heading (LCSH) would
be added to a record for a book *about* documentary
films
o 650_0 Documentary films.
• ‘Documentary films’ as a genre/form term would be
added to a record for a documentary film itself
o 655_7 Documentary films. $2 lcgft
• They were originally part of LCSH – then separated out
into their own index – May 2011
o Old headings (with LCCN prefix ‘sh’) were marked for deletion and new ones
(with LCCN prefix ‘gf’) created
Example of old (now deleted) genre term authority record:
Current LCGFT authority record
•
•
•
Note the LCCN with ‘sh’ prefix that was copied from the deleted record and entered
in 010 $z
Subj ‘z’ = other
040 $f lcgft
Are LCGFT the only
genre/form terms?
Nope!
There are lots of controlled vocabularies/thesauri that
include genre/form terms, including:
o Getty’s Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
o LC’s GSAFD (Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction,
Drama, Etc.) – though it’s likely that LCGFT for literature will replace this…
o LCSH (some LCSH can be used as genre/form terms – more on this in a
few slides!)
o Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) – provides for some publication types
(which are essentially “forms”)
o LC’s Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM)
o Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections
Cataloging (RBMS – Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of ACRL)
o Newspaper Genre List
What’s the difference between a
form and a genre?
• Form is defined as “a characteristic of works with a
particular format and/or purpose.”
o Moving image examples: Short, Animation, Documentary
o Law examples: Treaties, Statutes and codes, Wills
• Genre “refers to categories of works that are
characterized by similar plots, themes, settings,
situations, and characters.”
o Moving image examples: Western, Thriller, Fantasy, Comedy
o Literature examples: Mysteries, Historical fiction, Fairy tales
• LCGFT often combines the two in one term
o Horror films, Comedy films, Fantasy television programs
o The first part of the term is the genre while the second part is the form
Moving toward a
“faceted” system
• Terms are a single word or phrase that contain only one
concept (or possibly include both a form and a genre in
some cases…) and that are entirely contained within $a
• No subdivision of any kind is allowed in LCGFT
• Significant word brought to the front, not combined with
other significant words
o ‘Sports films’ and ‘Fantasy films’ and ‘Feature films’ instead of ‘Fantasy sports
films’ or ‘Sports feature films’
• Provides general collocation of “like” items while
allowing for post-search limiting
• Terms are not intended to repeat data already found
elsewhere in the bibliographic record (language, etc.)
Types of terms already
“authorized”:
• LCGFT are being implemented on a discipline-bydiscipline basis
• Moving images (films, television programs, and video
recordings)
• Spoken-word recorded sounds (including radio
programs)
• Legal materials
• Cartographic materials
• All of these are currently included in the genre/form term
list and are usable!
o
o
o
o
Can be found in the ‘Genre’ index in OCLC Connexion
LC Authorities website (included in ‘Subject’ index)
ClassWeb
Supplemental Vocabularies volume of LCSH
Projects still in process
(or not yet in process):
• Music – LC working with Music Library Association
o Have begun to develop a new thesaurus of terms representing vocabulary for
the medium of performance of musical works
• Celtic harp, Bongo, Cell phones, Voice (Musical medium of performance)
o Also a list of terms describing genres and forms of musical works
• Blues (Music), Fiddle tunes, Sacred songs
• Religion – LC working with The American Theological
Library Association
• Literature
• All LCSH form subdivisions are being looked at – some
will be recommended as genre/form headings
o Abstracts, Pamphlets, Quotations, Rules, Diaries, Dictionaries
• Other projects if requested, pending the approval of LC
Acquisitions and Bibliographic Directorate managers
MARC tagging/coding
for LCGFT:
• 655_7 [Term]. $2 lcgft
• LC does not allow for any type of subdivision
(geographic, topical, chronological, form) with
genre/form terms.
• Many ask “Why??!!”
• The main reason for this goes back to the desire for a
“faceted” system
• Much debate on the issue!
• Example - Title: American Map Virginia state road atlas
o 655_7 Road maps. $2 lcgft
o 655_7 Atlases. $2 lcgft
o All of the road maps that the library holds will be collocated, without regard for
the form (e.g., folded sheet map, atlas, wall map, digital map). The search
can then be limited to atlases, if desired.
Using LCSH as
Genre/Form
LC *does* tell us we can use certain LCSH as genre/form
terms and code them as 655 fields!
o For disciplines not yet included in the term list (i.e. literature)
o “If the scope note [of the LCSH] says that the heading is used for
works of a given type, then it can be used in a 655 field. If the scope
note says that a heading is used for works about (or on) a given
topic, then it cannot be assigned to a 655 field. If there is no scope
note, then the cataloger should use his or her best judgment.”
o 655_0 Short stories. [note 2nd indicator 0 for LCSH; no $2 needed]
o 655_7 Interactive art. $2 local [scope note specifies heading is for
works on art, not the works of art themselves…]
o See LC’s FAQ, Q #35 for more info http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/genre_form_faq.pdf
o Problems with this include “split file” issues in our catalogs
More on using LCSH as
Genre/Form
• List of LCSH topical headings usable as form/genre
headings by Joel Hahn
• Not necessarily authoritative, but very helpful!
• View list by category or entire list sorted
alphabetically
http://www.hahnlibrary.net/libraries/formgenre-categorized.html
Cartographic Materials
(Maps!)
Cartographic headings have been simplified (and are now more “faceted”):
Before: 651_0 Alamo Reservoir $v Maps, Bathymetric.
After: 651_0 Alamo Reservoir $v Maps.
655_7 Bathymetric maps. $2 lcgft
Those form subdivisions for specific types of maps have been cancelled; the
entry order was reversed so that the specific type of map comes first.
These changes are resulting in a lot of necessary bibliographic file
maintenance!
Also, recently a discussion paper was put out regarding treatment of globes
in LCGFT (LC’s PSD (Policy and Standards Division) works with LC’s
Geography and Maps Division on these matters)
Types of terms for
moving images:
• Genre
o
Comedy films, Documentary films, Fantasy television programs
o
Feature films, Short films
o
Can (should?) we use these as well as more specific terms – OLAC (Online
Audiovisual Catalogers) best practices say yes to both – it’s okay to use terms at
different levels of hierarchy
• Duration
• Fiction/Nonfiction
• Accessibility
o
Video recordings for the hearing impaired, Video recordings for people with visual
disabilities
Guidance on applying moving image and radio program
genre/form terms can be found in Subject Headings Manual
(SHM), instruction sheets H 1913 and H 1969.5
LC (PSD) says separate documentation for applying LCGFT is
forthcoming (will be separated out from SHM)
More on moving images:
“Character- and franchise-based terms” cancelled
(ca. 90 of them)
Before: 655_7
Friday the 13th films. $2 lcgft
After:
Slasher films. $2 lcgft AND
Voorhees, Jason (Fictitious character) $v Drama.
655_7
650 _0
Before: 655_7
Pirates of the Caribbean films. $2 lcgft
After:
Pirate films. $2 lcgft AND
Comedy films. $2 lcgft AND
Sparrow, Jack (Fictitious character) $v Drama.
655_7
655_7
650_0
A few more “character- or franchisebased” examples:
Before: 655_7 Harry Potter films. $2 lcgft
After:
655_7 Fantasy films. $2 lcgft AND
650_0 Potter, Harry (Fictitious character)$v Drama. AND
650_0 Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Imaginary organization) $v
Drama.
Before: 655_7 Toy Story films. $2 lcgft
After:
655_7 Comedy films. $2 lcgft
655_7 Children’s films. $2 lcgft
655_7 Computer animation films. $2 lcgft
Why did they decide to cancel these?
• LCSH terms often took care of the character- or franchise-specific aspect
• Terms were not being consistently applied
“Library of Congress to Cancel LCGFT Character- and Franchise-Based Terms for Moving
Images (November 23, 2011)” http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/character_franchise_disposition_112211.pdf
Moving images:
Goldfinger
Goldfinger (a James bond film)
• 650 _0 Bond, James (Fictitious character) $v Drama.
• 655 _7 Action and adventure films. $2 lcgft
• 655 _7 Spy films. $2 lcgft
• 655 _7 Film adaptations. $2 lcgft
• 655 _7 Feature films. $2 lcgft
• 655 _7 Fiction films. $2 lcgft
• 655_7 Video recordings for the hearing impaired. $2
lcgft
Sports films
Sport-specific terms have also been cancelled!
For a film such as Bull Durham…
Before: 655_7 Baseball films. $2 lcgft
After:
650_0 Baseball $v Drama.
655_7 Sports films. $2 lcgft
Decision followed the same logic that led to the cancellation
of the character- and franchise-based terms
“Library of Congress to Cancel LCGFT Sport-Specific Terms for
Moving Images (April 24, 2012) http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/genre_form_sports_terms_canc
ellation.pdf
Local options for moving
images:
• OLAC (Online Audiovisual Catalogers) put out a
best practices document and recommends some
things you can do locally
o Library of Congress Genre-Form Thesaurus (LCGFT) for Moving Images:
Best Practices - http://olacinc.org/drupal/capc_files/LCGFTbestpractices.pdf
• Geographic, language, national aspects
o LC does not specifically provide for/allow this using genre/form fields
(though they are addressed in other places in the bibliographic record)
o Genre/form terms are not to be subdivided at all, according to LC
o But OLAC says, for a film produced in France with the dialogue in French,
you could do the following:
• 655 _7 Motion pictures $z France. $2 local
• 655 _7 French language films. $2 local
I want to start using these! How can my
library acquire LCGFT authority records?
•
Authority records are distributed through three main mechanisms:
o
o
o
o
•
•
•
Through the MARC Distribution Service (MDS), which distributes LCGFT authority records as part of its
Subject-Authorities product. MDS provides records in MARC 21 and MARCXML formats via FTP.
This fee-based subscription service provides new and updated records on a weekly basis.
Through LC Authorities (http://authorities.loc.gov), a free web-based database that allows for
browsing, display, and download (in MARC 21 format) of individual authority records.
Through LC’s SKOS-based interface, Authorities and Vocabularies (http://id.loc.gov), which allows
for browsing, display, and visualization of LCGFT terms, as well as the downloading (in RDF/XML, NTriples, and JSON formats) of the entire LCSH and LCGFT files.
[Through a 3rd party authorities vendor (Marcive, etc.)]
LCGFT terms are also available for viewing online through
Classification Web (‘Search Genre/Form Terms’)
Searchable in the ‘Genre’ index in OCLC Connexion
Also available in printed form as part of Library of Congress
Subject Headings (though it will eventually be separated out)
Searched ‘Fiction films’ in Genre/Form
in ClassWeb:
Can I propose new
genre/form terms?
•
FAQ Q27: Is there any documentation about proposing new and
revised genre/form terms?
o
o
•
FAQ REVISED Q28: Who may propose new genre/form terms, and
in what disciplines?
o
•
A: Guidance on proposing moving image and radio program genre/form terms can be found in
the Subject Headings Manual (SHM), instruction sheets H 1913 and H 1969.5, respectively. For
general information on references, scope notes, and the like, other SHM instruction sheets,
particularly H 187-H 400, should be consulted. Additionally, catalogers can use the approved
genre/form terms as patterns for new proposals. SACO libraries should consult the SACO web
page (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/saco/saco.html) for technical procedures on making
proposals.
SACO = Subject Authority Cooperative Program; part of PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging)
- http://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/saco/
A: Library of Congress catalogers and SACO libraries working with moving images, non-musical
sound recordings, and cartographic materials may propose genre/form terms as needed. The
date on which SACO libraries may contribute proposals for law materials will be announced when
it is available.
FAQ Q29: May SACO libraries submit proposals to revise
genre/form authority records?
o
A: SACO proposals to revise existing genre/form authority records may be submitted through the
same SACO workstream that is used for proposed updates to subject authority records. The
proposed changes should be supported by research, just as any change proposal is.
Some issues/options to
consider:
•
•
•
•
•
Indexing – how are you going to index these in your catalog? Options
include:
o
o
o
Creating a separate genre/form index
Including them in the subject index
Index only as keywords
o
May have ‘Short stories’ as 650 and also as 655
o
o
Some catalogers are using LCGFT, some are not
Variation in the records you find/export from OCLC
o
o
Very time-consuming!
Authority vendor can help, but still lots to do manually
Split files when using LCSH as genre/form terms
Inconsistency in records
Bibliographic file maintenance
OCLC Terminologies Service
o
o
o
o
•
Can be integrated with Connexion or used as a standalone tool
Provides faster, easier access to multiple thesauri
Creates consistent metadata with searching, copy and paste functionality
http://www.oclc.org/terminologies/
What will be useful and beneficial to YOUR users?
Thanks!
Questions?