PCC Resources for
December 15, 2014
PSD policy specialist responsible for this list: J. Young
CLASSIFICATION
HE6183.I83
A revised classification proposal may be resubmitted along with the revised subject proposal (see below, Italian literature on postage stamps).
LG169.C36
Before Canchipur can be used in a classification caption, it must be established in the name authority file. The proposal may be resubmitted.
PA8585.S27
Since the supposed author of Septem sidera is Nicolas Copernicus, the work being cataloged should be classified in Copernicus’ literary author number, PA8485.C75. The proposal was not necessary.
PH3053.B83
The work being cataloged appears to be a collection of Hungarian short stories about Budapest, not criticism of Hungarian literature about Budapest. A proposal in PH3189.A-Z may be resubmitted.
SUBJECT HEADINGS
Africa, English-speaking Central
Subject Headings Manual (SHM) H 710 sec. 3.a(1) states that when there is a jurisdictional split and the pre-split name is not reused by one of the new jurisdictions, the heading for the pre-split jurisdiction should continue to be assigned to works about the region that corresponds to the pre-split jurisdiction. The area corresponding to English-speaking Central Africa, as defined in the proposed scope note, is covered by the name heading Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The proposal was not approved.
Art, Anglo-Saxon; Art, Medieval—Ireland
The proposals were made to add several references to the existing heading Art, Anglo-Saxon and to propose a new heading, Art, Medieval—Ireland. Both proposals include UFs for insular art. Insular art is not synonymous with Anglo-Saxon art since insular art was based on the Irish artistic tradition, while Anglo-Saxon art was based on British Roman tradition. In addition, insular art cannot be conflated with medieval Irish art, since medieval art spans the period 500-1500 A.D., while insular art has a narrower time period (600-900 or 1200 A.D.).
A proposal for Insular art as a heading may be resubmitted.
Biltmore Forest (N.C. : Forest)
The Biltmore Forest was established in 1890 and was purchased by the U.S. Forest Service in 1916, whereupon the name of the forest was changed to the Pisgah National Forest. It is LCSH policy to establish the latest name of a park, reserve, etc. A proposal for the Pisgah National Forest may be resubmitted, with a UF for the Biltmore Forest if desired.
Boatwomen
The existing heading Boatmen has a UF Boat operators, which implies that the heading is gender-neutral. That view is supported by the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary, which defines boatman as “a person (especially a man) who works on, deals in, or operates boats.”
In the course of evaluating this proposal, the meeting also found that the distinction between Boatmen and Boaters (Persons) has not been understood or well-maintained. Tentative List 2 (2015) will include proposals to cancel Boatmen in favor of Boaters (Persons), add a scope note to Boaters (Persons), and adjust references on other headings.
The heading Boaters (Persons) should be assigned to the work being cataloged. The proposal for Boatwomen was not approved.
Broadcasting archives—Digitization
The UF on this proposal, Digitization of broadcasting archival materials, is not equivalent to the proposed heading. The former is about digitizing the materials, while the heading would refer to digitizing the “corporate” entity of an archive. The existing heading Archival materials—Digitization should be assigned with the heading Broadcasting archives. Also on this list is a proposal for Broadcasting archives—Digitization—Law and legislation. That proposal was revised to Archival materials—Digitization—Law and legislation. The proposal for Broadcasting archives—Digitization was not necessary.
Caribbean drama (Spanish)
According to the scope note on the heading Caribbean Area, the Caribbean is “the region that lies between continental North and South America and consists of the archipelago of the West Indies, the Caribbean Sea and the adjacent mainland regions, including Southern Mexico, the countries of Central America, Colombia and Venezuela.” In other words, it consists of almost two dozen countries. The work being cataloged consists of six plays, four from the Dominican Republic and one each from Cuba and Mexico. SHM H 180 sec. 4 states, “Assign headings that are as specific as the topics they cover. … find as close a match as possible between the topic of the work and the headings that exist to express that topic in the Library of Congress subject heading system.” Section 9 of that same instruction sheet says, “In certain circumstances it may be preferable to assign headings for four subtopics of a broad concept. If a heading covers a broad range and each subtopic forms only a small portion of that whole range, assign the four subtopics instead.” Given these instructions, the meeting suggests that the headings Dominican drama; Mexican drama; and Cuban drama be assigned to the work. Since the majority of the work consists of Dominican drama, it can be classed there. The proposal was not approved.
Cowlyd, Llyn (Wales)
Geonet is to be cited in proposals for foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) geographic features (see SHM H 690). In this case, Geonet includes a variant name that should be given as a UF. The proposal may be resubmitted with the appropriate citation and UF.
Greve de Fome de Presos Políticos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1979
SHM H 1592 indicates that “Some major events are of such significance that they become known by conventional proper names” and may be established as phrase headings in LCSH. There was no evidence provided to indicate that the hunger strike to which this proposal refers has acquired a conventional name. The meeting believes that the best course of action is to assign Hunger strikes—Brazil, as is done for all other hunger strikes but one (the Irish Hunger Strike of 1981). The proposal was not approved.
Undocumented immigrants [and five related proposals]
This proposal was made to change the wording of the existing heading Illegal aliens to Undocumented immigrants. Illegal aliens is an inherently legal heading, and as such the preference is to use the legal terminology. The U.S. Code, Title 8, Aliens and Nationality, uses the terminology “illegal aliens.” In addition, the 9th edition of Black's Law Dictionary includes the headword “illegal alien” with a cross-reference from “undocumented alien.” The Legislative Indexing Vocabulary used by the Congressional Research Service follows suit by authorizing the heading “Illegal aliens,” with a reference from “Undocumented aliens.” The meeting also notes that in some legal systems, a person may be an undocumented alien without being in a jurisdiction illegally; general works on undocumented legal aliens are covered by the heading Aliens. Finally, Immigrants – the proposed broader term for the revised heading – is not an inherently legal heading. Mixing an inherently legal concept with one that is not inherently legal leads to problems with the structure and maintenance of LCSH, and makes assignment of headings difficult.
All of the above argue against revising the heading. A UF Undocumented aliens was added to the record in 1993 to provide additional access, and reflects the fact that the common terminology is fluid.
The proposals were not approved.
Italian literature on postage stamps
The work being cataloged is chiefly about the depiction of Italian authors on postage stamps. A proposal for Authors, Italian, on postage stamps may be resubmitted.
Kaka Valley (Ariz.)
The geographic coordinates of Kaka Wash and Kaka Valley as provided in GNIS seem to indicate that the valley contains/was created by the wash. More research should be done to determine whether this is the case, and if so, a proposal for the wash should be submitted along with a resubmitted proposal for the valley, per SHM H 800 sec. 8.
Microsoft Azure SQL Database (Cloud computing service)
This database should be established as a title in the name authority file. The proposal was not approved.
Rhondda Valley (Wales)
The River Rhondda has not yet been established, and should be proposed when proposing a heading for the valley, per SHM H 800 sec. 8. The proposal may be resubmitted.
Russo-Lithuanian War, 1486-1494
The form of the heading and several of the UFs in this proposal are not supported by the citations. The proposal may be resubmitted.
San Francisco Estate Massacre, Nentón, Guatemala, 1982
SHM H 1592 indicates that “Some major events are of such significance that they become known by conventional proper names” and may be established as phrase headings in LCSH. The citations describe a massacre at the San Francisco Estate, but do not provide a conventional name. In addition, there is no evidence provided in the citations that this event was part of the Guatemalan Civil War, which is given as a BT.
If the massacre is referred to with a conventional name in the work being cataloged or elsewhere, that information should be provided in the source citations, as should information about its relationship to the civil war. If this information can be found, the proposal may be resubmitted. If not, the heading Massacres—[place] should be assigned instead.
San Francisco Estate (Nentón, Guatemala)
Estates are established in the vernacular of the country in which they are located, following the general principles for parks in H 1925. Per H 1572, Manors is not used as a BT for new headings. The proposal also did not include any information about the location of the estate, but the proposal for the massacre (see above) indicates that the estate is “nearby Nentón.” If that is the case, then the qualifier should be Guatemala, not Nentón, Guatemala. The meeting notes, however, that the proposed heading was not assigned to the work being cataloged and as such the proposal was not necessary.
Shirima (African people)
The 053 provided in the subject proposal has not been proposed for inclusion in the classification schedules. The meeting also asks that the form of heading be reconsidered. General LCSH practice is to match the heading for the ethnic group to the heading for their language, unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise. Shirima language is a UF to Makhuwa-Shirima language, and the sources cited in the proposal for the ethnic group are inconsistent in their preference. The proposal may be resubmitted.
Tsotsitaal languages
This proposal was made to add several UFs to the existing heading. Tsotsitaal languages was approved in 2010, after it was marked as a resubmit on Tentative List 44 (2009). The information from that Summary of Decisions is instructive:
“The word tsotsitaal has two meanings. It can refer to a particular variety of the Afrikaans language. However, the word has also taken on a more general meaning, and refers to South African language agglomerations, in which an argot is built over the grammar of one or several languages. One of the other major tsotsitaals is Iscamtho, a mixture of Zulu and Sotho. It is unclear which of the meanings of tsotsitaal the proposal is intended to represent. … If the general concept of tsotsitaal is needed, the cataloger should consider a proposal in the form ‘Tsotsitaal languages,’ with the BTs Languages, Mixed and South Africa--Languages. If on the other hand a heading for a particular tsotsitaal language is needed, that should be proposed, with UFs and BTs appropriate to that language…”
Proposals for Tsotsitaal languages and Camtho language (one of the Tsotsitaal languages) were later approved.
The citations provided on the current proposal make it clear that the proposed UFs are for an individual Tsotsitaal language, analogous to Camtho, and therefore should be represented with a separate heading. The proposal may be resubmitted.
Venus d’Arles (Statue)
This statue is an individual work of art and should be established in the name authority file. The proposal was not approved.
Victims of school shootings
The heading being proposed was not assigned to the work being cataloged, which seems to be adequately described with the headings Columbine High School Massacre, Littleton, Colo., 1999—Psychological aspects and Victims of violent crimes—Psychology.
As a further note, a proposal for Police brutality victims was not approved on Tentative List 10 (2014). The Summary of Decisions stated, “The meeting does not wish to establish a separate heading for the victims of every crime. The work is adequately cataloged with the headings Victims of violent crimes—Biography and Police brutality.” Consistent with that decision, the current proposal was not approved.
Wages—Minors
Wages may be subdivided by an industry or a class of persons, and Minors is neither; it is a legal concept. The meeting suggests that Wages—Children and/or Wages—Youth be assigned to the work being cataloged. The proposal was not approved.
