Info Org: Subject Assignment

For my second assignment for my Organizing Information class, I was asked to do two parts. First, I was to look at the subject headings and explain the differences. For the second part, I decided which book had which subject heading. 

Subject Headings Assignment

Part I

Compare the following sets of subject headings, explaining the differences between them and why those differences exist. For example, a MeSH heading will often use specialized medical terms, while a Sears or LCSH heading for the same topic will usually use simpler language. (2 points each)

1. LCSH: Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc.

    Sears: Handbooks, manuals, etc.

The LCSH heading uses a Latin term to describe a “manual,” which the average person might not know. The Sears heading uses the simpler term of “manual.” As the LCSH is aimed at large, academic, research libraries, it makes sense that the LCSH heading would be the technical Latin term.

2. MeSH: Interview, Psychological -- child.

    LCSH: Mental illness -- Diagnosis.

In this case, the MeSH heading is more in-depth, as it talks about how one goes about diagnosing a mental illness is a person of a specific age range: a psychological interview of a child is who a psychologist would diagnose a mental illness. as MeSH is aimed at hospital libraries or medical school libraries, the MeSH heading would be more precise about how one would diagnose a child. The LCSH heading is only that one is diagnosing a mental illness, not how one would go about diagnosing it, or how old the client in question is. But, as the LCSH is aimed at large, academic, libraries, it would make sense for the MeSH heading to be more precise.

3. LCSH: Palestine -- History -- 1917-1948 -- Juvenile literature.

    Sears: Palestine.

The LCSH heading is for a book written for children, set at any time between WWI and the creation of the Nation of Israel, which looks at the history of Palestine. A very specific type of literature. The Sears heading is only the country in question, not what aspect of the country is being written about, or when the story is taking place, or what age range the story is aimed at. A story with a Sears heading “Palestine” could be a non-fiction account of the Gaza violence, a novel about love between an Israeli girl and a Palestinian boy, or a book about the Palestinian peoples during the creation of Israel. The LCSH heading is a much more precise and in-depth account of what the book is about, which makes sense, as the LCSH is aimed at large, academic, research libraries.

Part II

Match the following sets of subject headings with the correct book from the list provided. (1 point each)

__d__ 1. Goodnight Moon

__c__ 2. The South Beach Diet

__b__ 3. Fast Food Nation

__a__ 4. The DaVinci Code

a. Leonard, da Vinci, 1452-1519 -- Appreciation -- Fiction           

    Art museum curators -- Crimes against -- Fiction                                   

    Secret societies -- Fiction                                                                       

    Cryptographers -- Fiction                                                                       

    Paris (France) -- Fiction

    Grail – Fiction

The DaVinci Code

b. Fast food restaurants -- United States

    Food industry and trade -- United States

    Convenience foods -- United States

Fast Food Nation

c. Reducing diets

    Glycemic index

    Weight loss

    Nutrition

The South Beach Diet

d. Bedtime -- Juvenile fiction

    Rabbits -- Juvenile fiction

    Picture books -- Juvenile fiction – Specimens

Goodnight Moon

I received full marks for this. I found that I loved the idea of subject headings, and created the basis for my final project, which is to come.