subject description lis 571 the organization and control of recorded information
DESCRIPTION
WHAT IS A SUBJECT? A subject is... a representation of the intellectual content of an information object, or its aboutness, topic, theme, expressed concepts or ideas, area of interest or knowledge.TRANSCRIPT
Subject Subject DescriptionDescription
LIS 571 LIS 571 The Organization and The Organization and Control of Recorded Control of Recorded
InformationInformation
OVERVIEW
What is a subject?
Why distinguish subject from physical description?
What are LIS processes for subject description?
What is subject analysis?
WHAT IS A SUBJECT?
A subject is . . .
a representation of the intellectual content of an information object,
or its aboutness, topic, theme, expressed concepts or ideas, area of interest or knowledge.
Understanding Subjects The traditional view of a subject . . .
is based on bibliographic conventions for representing textual objects.
distinguishes between what an object is about and what an object is (i.e., subject description of intellectual content vs. physical description of container or package).
Understanding Subjects The traditional view of a subject . . .
assumes an object has identifiable intellectual content.
Yet subjects are difficult or impossible to identify for a few textual objects and most nontextual objects.
Problems in Subject Description
Subjective interpretation based on ambiguous, emotional content
Domain expertise of person doing subject representation
Materials that don’t lend themselves to simple subject representation: "How can nonbook materials, such as visual and musical works, be subject-indexed using the medium of language" --Svenonius 1994, 600
Why Distinguish Subject from Physical Description?
To distinguish between work and text
To clarify representations of various kinds of subjects
To provide more access points for searching
To provide intellectual access versus bibliographic access
Representing Intellectual Content Topic (content within document) Name
Person (as in a biography) Corporate body (as in a prospectus) Geographic area (as in a travel guide) Named entity (about buildings, etc.)
Time period (about Renaissance, etc.) Form (literary: poetry, essays)
--A. Taylor 1999, 137
Representing Physical Object Title (name of object) Name
Person (in role such as creator) Corporate body (in role such as creator) Geographic area (as place of origin)
Time period (as period made) Form or format (as physical description)
Representing FormUsually considered subject description:
Literary forms: poetry, essays
Popular genre: romance (fiction), jazz (music)
Type of info.: correspondence, bibliography, statistics
Representing FormUsually considered subject description:
Organization of info: calendar, outline, dictionary
Style or technique related to purpose or audience: comedy, drama, persuasion
Style or technique related to time period: Baroque (music), Impressionism (painting)
Representing FormatUsually considered physical description:
Physical media format: book, video, photo, map
Artifact format: sculpture, figurine, vase, shirt
Communication mode: text, image, video, audio
Technical digital format: ASCII/text, HTML, .pdf, .gif
Version/part of work: edition, translation, chapter
Functions of Subject DescriptionsSubject descriptions serve to . . .
Organize document shelving for physical browsing and retrieval
Inform searchers about intellectual contents of documents
Provide consistency of representations Assist in collection development and acquisitions Assist in collection maintenance
Processes and ProductsProcess Access Descrip. Product Lang. Source
Classifi-cation
physical & intellectual
subject (1) of whole doc
notation (1)
class code LCC
Subject cataloging
intellectualas alt. to physical
subject (>1) of whole doc
subject heading (>1)
controlled vocabulary
LCSH
Indexing intellectual as alt. to physical
subjects (many)
Descriptor(many)
control. vocab. or nat. lang.
ERIC Thesaurus
Abstract-ing
intellectual only
subjects (many)
Synopsis (1)
natural lang.
Doc text
WHAT IS SUBJECT ANALYSIS?Definition Determining intellectual content or subject content or
aboutness
Types Document analysis: information professional
(cataloger, indexer) studies document to determine document surrogate for system
Query analysis: information professional (intermediary) or end-user studies user request to determine search terms
The Purposes of Subject Analysis
Clarify and organize subjects of docs and queries
Express subjects precisely
Achieve consistency between document and search terms
The When of Subject Analysis
During production of primary documentAuthor’s abstract and/or indexIndexing commissioned by publisherCataloging in publication (CIP)
Prior to storage for retrievalCataloging or indexing by bibliographic utilityCataloging or indexing by individual library
During information retrievalProblem statement or question from userQuery formulation by intermediary or user
The How of Subject Analysis
1. FamiliarizationAcquainting oneself with general content of document and query
2. ExtractionIdentifying, pulling out significant concepts and natural-language terms
3. TranslationConverting extracted terms into controlled vocabulary of system
4. FormalizationApplying rules for exact format, spelling, punctuation, codes, etc. for input to system
The How of Subject Analysis
Subject analysis is a balancing act . . .
based on literary warrant (information objects) and on user warrant (user needs)
requiring evaluation and verification at every stage in a continuous, iterative process
The Who of Subject Analysis
Authors, publishers, catalogers, indexers, abstracters, reviewers
Intellectual characteristics: Precise, orderly and systematic mind Flair for analysis and intellectual rigor Critical skills and good judgment Expert language skills
References
Svenonius, Elaine. 1994. Access to nonbook materials: The limits of subject indexing for visual and aural languages. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 45, no. 8 (September): 600-606.
Taylor, Arlene, G. 1999, 2005. The organization of information. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.