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Johnson
MeSH, LCSH, and Lupus Foundation of America: Subject Headings and Usability
Jayme Johnson
LI804XA
Johnson, 1
MeSH, LCSH, and Lupus Foundation of America: Subject Headings and Usability
Lupus is an autoimmune disease with references in history dating back to the
classical era. Known for its variations in symptoms, including skin, joint, and organ
involvement, it has recently been separated into 4 main groups used for diagnosing
individuals; cutaneous (or discoid), systemic, neonatal, and drug-induced. For this
paper, I will be focusing on the LCSH, MeSH and online references to Systemic
Lupus Erythematosus or SLE. The identification of a type of Lupus that affects the
entire body, or systemic Lupus, was first categorized in the Neoclassical era around
the early 1870’s by Moriz Kaposi who realized that there could be two different
variations, cutaneous and systemic (Hochberg, 2003). By the mid-1900’s there was
a surge of research on the topic and many new discoveries, including treatment and
testing procedures. So far there is no known cure for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
The goal of this paper will be to analyze the subject heading systems of both
the National Library of Medicine and the Library of Congress. The MeSH system is a
“comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and
books in the life sciences; it can also serve as a thesaurus that facilitates searching”
(Medical Subject Headings). Created in 1960, I will examine the history of MeSH and
look at how this system manages the category of Lupus. LCSH is much broader
subject heading system and created in the late 19th/ early 20th century, from here I will
try to map the introduction of Lupus into the LCSH system and look at its evolution. In
addition to the subject heading systems, the Lupus Foundation of American runs a
Johnson, 2
site to help educate patients and their families. The site, Lupus.org, has an extensive
collection of research and information on the disorders known as Lupus. By looking at
the website I will introduce the idea of “folksonomies” or user-created tags and data
and examine the possibility of such data to make subject heading easier to navigate
and more useful.
Created in 1898, Library of Congress Subject Headings are one of the most
widely used subject heading systems used in the United States. Although popular
today in all sizes of libraries, whether they are public, special, or academic, the LCSH
was originally thought to be the most useful for the university and only the largest of
public libraries with small public libraries using ALA List and Sears List of Subject
Headings to sort their collections (Stone, 3). This all changed in the 1930’s, many
libraries began the conversion from their own subject headings lists and converted to
LCSH, for several factors, all of which remain selling points for LCSH today. The
Library of Congress maintains their list of subject headings and is continually revised
to include new subjects and topics and it would be economically improbable for small
libraries to constantly be updating their subject catalogs at the same rate as the
Library of Congress (Stone, 4).
But with the ease of convenience of the LCSH system came disadvantages.
Although it became easier and easier for smaller libraries to update their catalogs
with the most up-to-date subject headings, many eventually complained that the
wording of some terms was biased or used language that was discriminatory. As the
times changed and accepted terminology did as well, by the 60’s and 70’s, there was
Johnson, 3
the first of many attempts to remove some of this biased language (Stone, 5).
Another obvious disadvantage is lack of control from the librarians and the
subsequent reliance of the Library of Congress to create the proper subject headings
for the materials being cataloged. But overall the ease of use and the ability to
standardize the searching of headings throughout the majority of the United States
has been a huge selling point in the adoption of the Library of Congress subject
headings.
Another very important subject heading system is MeSH, created in 1960 by
the National Library of Medicine. Originally based off of a 1954 Armed Forces
Medical Library Subject Heading Authority list, the NLM created a list of 3,800
descriptors and 67 topical subheadings to be used in indexing and cataloging. Unlike
the LCSH system, MeSH focuses on only medical or health related sciences. The
MeSH system is one of the most popular subject heading systems in use today in
medical or health related libraries. Early in its history, the MeSH system underwent a
major change (eventually recognized to be a misstep), in the 1963-65 editions of
MeSH the subheadings were completely removed in an effort to streamline the
system. After an uproar about their disappearance, the subheadings returned and are
still available to this day (Schulman, 2010).
Similar to the Library of Congress subject heading system, the MeSH system
has had its share of detractions and setbacks. As mentioned above, in an attempt to
streamline the cataloging process by limiting subheadings to 10 major areas they
were removed. But they were quickly returned and today there are over 80 difference
Johnson, 4
subheadings available. Another additional problem can be the specific subject matter
of the system. The majority of medical and health related libraries currently use
MeSH as their system of subject headings approximately 76% of libraries in
responded to a study in 1975 that they use MeSH with only 22% using LCSH. More
recent studies have concluded there is a mix of difference strategies for types of
subject headings systems and cataloging systems used in special subject libraries,
such as health sciences libraries (Womack, 105). The basic problem in limiting a
library to one subject heading system is simple, patrons of a health sciences library
may need information outside of the health sciences field. In an attempt to remedy
this problem some medical libraries are currently supplementing MeSH with LCSH
(Womack, 108).
Now that we’ve examined the history of both MeSH and the LCSH systems,
we need to look at how the term Lupus and more specifically Systemic Lupus
Erythematosus is cataloged within each system and explore if there are any
differences between the two. While MeSH is a system for organizing subject
headings for medical and health related libraries there are several difference ways to
access their system. One of the easiest ways is through the National Library of
Medicine’s website. Another popular access point is MEDLINE’s searchable
thesaurus.
The results for a basic search of “Lupus” in the National Library of Medicine’s
online subject heading search system yields many different terms that would be
applicable (see Figure 1). To further narrow the search down to the specific Systemic
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Lupus Erythematosus, a search of Systemic Lupus yields the result. Systemic Lupus
Erythematosus is references in MeSH as “Erythematosus, Systemic Lupus” and by
examining the expanded concept view of the subject any researcher can conclude
that there is several other variations that are acceptable including, Systemic Lupus
Erythematosus and Lupus Erythematosus Disseminatus. Also noted is several
concepts that are related to the systemic lupus, which include Antiphospholipid
Syndrome and Libman-Sacks Disease (see Figure 2).
MEDLINE is an online database that accesses several difference medical
journals and articles, including Index Medicus and International Nursing Index. As a
way of examining this database, the articles can be searched by the Library of
Congress Subject Headings. While some areas are not as detailed, one benefit is the
ability to see a list of qualifiers spelled out instead of just a list of abbreviations (see
Figure 3).
As expected the Library of Congress Subject Headings also has several
locations were one can look up the needed information on their topic. And although
many libraries may own the official publication set of the Library of Congress Subject
Headings (also commonly known as the “Red Books”), one of the easiest ways to find
the correct subject headings is to search on-line. Two of the most common search
sites are the Library of Congress Authorities Listing and FirstSearch OCLC also
known as WorldCat (see Figure 4). While WorldCat provides the basic information,
understandably it is the Library of Congress Authorities listing that is the most
complete (see Figure 5).
Johnson, 6
As mentioned in the beginning of this paper, the lupus disorder has been
recognized for hundreds of years. As a subset Systemic Lupus was first described in
the late 1800’s most likely making it a recognized disorder by the time the Library of
Congress publish its first list of Subject Headings. In an attempt to map the
permutations in the Subject Headings of this disorder, I examined the Library of
Congress’s authority on Systemic Lupus. After speaking with a gentleman from the
Library of Congress, we were able to possibly determine this records date by looking
at the LC Control Number (b85078942) which would make the record’s creation date
1985), sometime after the discovery of the disorder (personal communication, April
28, 2012). Even more interesting was the information that the Library of Congress
does not regularly track that information, meaning even though 1985 seems to be an
incorrect establishment date for this record the only way to confirm any changes
would be to go through past Library of Congress Subject Heading books individually
to record any changes.
The MeSH system is similar in its overall layout, similar keywords are used
and the alternate names by which it is known is also the same. The differences
between MeSH and the LCSH come from the amount of information that is given in
the expanded version of the record. The MeSH system indicates the creation date
and the dates of when additional information or terms were added. For example in
Figure 2, the original subject heading, “Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic” is marked
that it was created in 1999. After speaking with Stuart Nelson, the head of the MeSH
department at the National Library of Medicine, he responded that the 1999 date is a
default for the system to indicate that the record has been in the system since the
Johnson, 7
creation of MeSH in 1960 (personal communication, April 3, 2012). More information
comes from the list of secondary terms and concepts; here you are able to see the
evolution of the disorder and the research on it. On March 30th, 1974 Libman-Sacks
Disorder (an inflammatory process of the heart) was linked to the System Lupus
record and on December 31st, 1986, “Systemic Lupus Erythematosus” was
recognized as an alternate term. This mapping gives MeSH users a nice view of the
progression of the disorder via Subject Heading records.
But library searches and subject heading lists are not the only places people
can gather information about medical disorders, as the world becomes more and
more internet dependent, people are also becoming more likely to search for
information (medical or not) via the web. One of the most reliable sources for Lupus
information via the web is the Lupus Foundation of America (www.lupus.org) and one
of the most common ways to research is via keyword search on an internet search
engine like Google.com. But are you able to get enough information from these
searches and is it all correct? How does Lupus.org organize their information area
and could MeSH and LCSH learn from its accessibility?
Lupus Foundation of America is the premier institution for Lupus advocacy and
research information. Unlike Library of Congress and the National Library of
Medicine, the Lupus Foundation of America is not a library based organization and
they do not categorize their information with subject headings. Instead, the lupus.org
site is more user-oriented and contains only a search bar that allows for keywords
searches. If the user is unsure of what they may be looking for the website also has a
Johnson, 8
section dedicated solely to education. Here, the information is separated into topics
including; Understanding Lupus, Diagnosing Lupus, Treating Lupus. But what does
this have to do with the LCSH and MeSH? Although Lupus.org is not a library
system, users may find its style of searching and organization much more familiar
and may be more likely to use a system that relies one keywords searches versus
subject headings. Recent evidence shows that keyword searching alone does not
gather all the data that could be useful or brings back results that do not quite fit. For
example, searching for “Systemic Lupus” keyword in the Emporia University Library
catalog brings back a total of 12 hits but several of the results seem unrelated to the
Lupus disorder. On the other hand if I search the Subject Headings for it limits the
results to just 8, all of which seem highly relevant.
So how do we bridge this gap between the decades old traditions of subject
heading searches and the more modern art of keyword searching? Subject headings
are efficient but clunky and keywords are easy and quick but unreliable. The answer
may be an emerging in the form of a new technique originating from blogs and types
of websites that have users creating large amounts of data or photos.
Folksonomies are “user-generated categorization and labeling” primarily found
on websites such as LibraryThing.com, blogs, and bookmarking services like
del.icio.us (West, 58). Users have access to content on the website and are allowed
to “tag” the information with keywords and phrases that describe that work and help
categorize it (West, 58). As a user reads or creates content on these types of
websites, they are allowed to post descriptors about it. These tags are not limited
Johnson, 9
only to content but could express ideas or themes that are relatable only to that
specific user, such as the terms “read” or “to read” indicating to that person details
about that article. User created tags are also links, so if one user tags an item with a
specific title it links to all items tagged the same way. Although currently headings
and subject assigning are done exclusively by professional catalogers, the popularity
of tagging system on the internet have had professionals questioning the usefulness
of these types of tagging systems.
Current research is being done to look at how these user-generated tags could
be useful in a library setting. One website, LibraryThing.com, currently uses the
system to tag books added to personal libraries. The tags are used by members of
the site to organize their collections and to aide in finding new books tagged with the
same information. Some researchers believe that user-generated tags in library
catalogs would create a sense of ownership and pride in the local libraries and
because of the ease of use, help patrons navigate the cataloging system without
having to learn complicated subject headings (Rolla, 175).
On the other hand, drawbacks to the system are complicated as well. Since
the system is user-generated there are some areas of weakness that could
undermine its usefulness. Since the terms are generated by a large group of
untrained people, tags and labels created for the content would be uncontrolled. For
example, one individual may tag an article about Systemic Lupus with “Systemic
Lupus Erythematosus” while another may only put “Systemic Lupus.” Also, since tags
are un-moderated there is the possibility of user-abuse and purposeful mis-tagging of
Johnson, 10
articles. But even with these drawbacks, many librarians and catalogers are
beginning to see possibilities in introducing Folksonomies into the cataloging process.
Indeed, user-generated tags would by no means replace the current subject headings
system but instead it would be added to the system in an attempt to make searching
easier for the patrons while engaging users to create tags.
Users are becoming more and more accustomed to keyword searching and
less familiar with subject headings. As shown from the two different types of subject
headings systems, finding the correct wording for a topic can be confusing and if the
incorrect heading is used your results could be significantly less or off topic. The
Lupus.org website does not currently take advantage of user tagging systems,
instead choosing to base its searching around keyword searches. By introducing
tagging into their system, topic searching could be more streamlined. Looking at the
past changes to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus subject headings and the other
topics and concepts associated with it, it is easy to see how information could get lost
in the search process. If I am a user who doesn’t take advantage of, or doesn’t
understand subject headings much of the information available could missed by just
using keyword searching. The future of library searching will most likely come from a
combination of subject headings searches and user-generated tags. User-generated
tagging will provide the patrons with more of a say on terms used to describe
subjects and help bridge the gap between library professionals and library patrons.
Johnson, 11
Johnson, 12
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Figure 1. Search of the term Lupus using the National Library of Medicine MeSH. Available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html
Johnson, 17
Figure 2. National Library of Medicine Expanded Concept View for Erythematosus, Systemic Lupus. Available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/mesh/2012/MB_cgi?
mode=&index=7831&view=expanded
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Figure 3. MEDLINE’s Medical Subject Heading Listing for Systemic Lupus.
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Figure 4. OCLC or WorldCat subject headings.
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Figure 5. Library of Congress Subject Heading for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Available at http://authorities.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?
AuthRecID=4729565&v2=1&HC=2&SEQ=20120503102632&PID=MxylOrJcIO-4AgW7Bn2W_7FkHI5-A