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Three Decades Since Prejudices and Antipathies: A Study of Changes in the Library of Congress Subject Headings by Steven A. Knowlton 

  

Alternative vocabularies and thesauri

LTS has updated HOLLIS to display (also indexed and faceted) subject headings from African Studies Thesaurus, Homosaurus, and First Nations House of Learning:  


African Studies Thesaurus 650#7 $$a Enslaved

From their website: "The African Studies Thesaurus is a structured list of English terms covering the broad field of African studies, with an emphasis on the social sciences and humanities. It contains 13419 terms (5588 descriptors or preferred terms and 7831 non-descriptors directing the user to a descriptor) and includes the names of African countries and regions, almost 1000 ethnic groups, some 500 African languages, more than 340 traditional polities and about 170 political parties. The thesaurus was developed by the Library, Documentation and Information Department of the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL) to facilitate subject access to the ASCL library collection. It reflects the main subject areas of the ASCL library collection and is directly linked to the library's online catalogue."

African Studies Thesaurus terms are NOT faceted, so you are only able to assign general headings using it. Because of this it is best to use this vocabulary as a supplement to the LCSH since it is more robust and faceted when you are looking for more complex structured headings with $$v $$x and $$y fields.

To use this vocabulary in the 650 subject field use a second indicator of 7 and add a subfield 2 with the source code ascl

Examples of usage:

650_7 $$a enslaved people. $$2 ascl  

650_7 $$a enslaved women $$2 ascl

Since the LC term available is currently Slaves, it is preferable to use the African Studies term of enslaved people. The thesaurus also has the term enslaved people, while LC's term is Women slaves.


Homosaurus: An International LGBTQ+ Linked Data Vocabulary 650#7

From their website "The Homosaurus is an international linked data vocabulary of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) terms. This vocabulary is intended to function as a companion to broad subject term vocabularies, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions are encouraged to use the Homosaurus to support LGBTQ research by enhancing the discoverability of their LGBTQ resources."

Homosaurus terms are NOT faceted, so you are only able to assign general headings using it. Because of this it is best to use this vocabulary as a supplement to the LCSH since it is more robust and faceted when you are looking for more complex structured headings with $$v $$x and $$y fields.

To use this vocabulary in either the 650 subject or 655 genre fields use a second indicator of 7 and add a subfield 2 with the source code homoit

Examples of usage:

Subject example: 650_7 $$a Non-binary people. $$2 homoit (This vocabulary is not faceted. Should be used to supplement LCSH on records for more accurate/specific terms but won’t be sufficient if faceted headings are needed)

The LC term of Gender-nonconforming people is an umbrella term that subsumes both Non-binary people and Genderqueer people, where Homosaurus has separated these terms out so a more specific term can be used.

Genre example: 655_7 $$a LGBTQ+ autobiographies. $$2 homoit

While the available LC term of Autobiographies provides a very general description and should be included in the record, the Homosaurus term is more specific and provides visibility of LGBTQ+ materials in the catalog for users to discovery.

 

 

First Nations House of Learning 650#7 650_7 $$a First nations. $$2 fnhl (Unable to find the actual thesarus anywhere, only articles talking about it. Not listed/linked on their website or in any of the articles about it. May not actually be available for use beyond UBC Xwi7xwa library currently. Will reach out to LTS to see if this inclusion in Alma is really for OCLC master records with these headings and not for us to use them currently. See https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277022370_Indigenization_of_Knowledge_Organization_at_the_Xwi7xwa_Library for more details on the vocab. It is faceted)

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