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.