Preface

The year 2003 marked the eightieth anniversary of the Sears List of Subject Headings. For eight decades the Sears List has served the needs of small and medium-sized libraries, suggesting headings appropriate for use in their catalogs and providing patterns and instructions for adding new headings as they are required. The successive editors of the List have faced the need to accommodate change while maintaining a sound continuity. The new and revised headings in each edition reflect developments in the literature and in the use of the English language, while the changes in the form of the headings and in the structure and display of the List reflect shifts in the prevailing philosophy of subject cataloging.

There are three major features of this new edition of the Sears List. The first is the inclusion of five hundred new subject headings. The second is the revision of the classification numbers to conform to the usage of the 14th edition of the Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification (2004). The third is a small but important addition to the Principles of the Sears List.

The Principles of the Sears List, which follows this Preface, is intended both as a statement of the theoretical foundations of the Sears List and as a concise introduction to subject cataloging in general. It has been expanded in this edition to provide guidance to libraries that choose to assign topical and geographic headings to individual works of fiction, drama, and poetry. This difficult area of cataloging has been much discussed in recent years in the library community and in the committees and subcommittees of the American Library Association.

The List of Commonly Used Subdivisions, which was omitted in the previous edition of the Sears in favor of a more exhaustive treatment of subdivisions within the body of the List, has been restored in this edition and renamed List of Subdivisions Provided for in the Sears List. It now lists, for the purpose of easy reference, every subdivision for which there is a provision in Sears, no matter how specialized. At the same time, for every subdivision there is an entry in the alphabetical List with full instructions for the use of that particular subdivision.

A History of the Sears List

Minnie Earl Sears prepared the first edition of this work in response to demands for a list of subject headings that was better suited to the needs of the small library than the existing American Library Association and Library of Congress lists. Published in 1923, the List of Subject Headings for Small Libraries was based on the headings used by nine small libraries that were known to be well cataloged. Minnie Sears used only See and "refer from" references in the first edition. In the second edition (1926) she added See also references at the request of teachers of cataloging who were using the List as a textbook. To make the List more useful for that purpose, she wrote a chapter on "Practical Suggestions for the Beginner in Subject Heading Work" for the third edition (1933).

Isabel Stevenson Monro edited the fourth (1939) and fifth (1944) editions. A new feature of the fourth edition was the inclusion of Dewey Decimal Classification numbers as applied in the Standard Catalog for Public Libraries. The new subjects added to the List were based on those used in the Standard Catalog Series and on the catalog cards issued by the H.W. Wilson Company. Consequently, the original subtitle "Compiled from Lists used in Nine Representative Small Libraries" was dropped.

The sixth (1950), seventh (1954), and eighth (1959) editions were prepared by Bertha M. Frick. In recognition of the pioneering and fundamental contribution made by Minnie Sears the title was changed to Sears List of Subject Headings with the sixth edition. Since the List was being used by medium-sized libraries as well as small ones, the phrase "for Small Libraries" was deleted from the title. The symbols x and xx were substituted for the "Refer from (see ref.)" and "Refer from (see also ref.)" phrases to conform to the format adopted by the Library of Congress.

The ninth edition (1965), the first of four to be prepared by Barbara M. Westby, continued the policies of the earlier editions. With the eleventh edition, the "Practical Suggestions for the Beginner in Subject Heading Work" was retitled "Principles of the Sears List of Subject Headings" to emphasize "principles," and a section dealing with nonbook materials was added.

The thirteenth edition (1986), prepared by Carmen Rovira and Caroline Reyes, was the first to take advantage of computer validation capabilities. It also responded to the changing theory in subject analysis occasioned by the development of online public access catalogs. This effort was taken further in the fourteenth edition (1991) under the editorship of Martha T. Mooney, who reduced the number of compound terms, simplified many subdivisions, and advanced the work of uninverting inverted headings.

In accord with a suggestion of the Cataloging of Children’s Materials Committee of the American Library Association, many of the headings from Subject Headings for Children’s Literature (Library of Congress) were incorporated into the Sears List with the thirteenth edition. Since the Sears List is intended for both adult and juvenile collections, wherever the Library of Congress has two different headings for adult and juvenile approaches to a single subject, a choice of a single term was made for Sears. In cases where the Sears List uses the adult form, the cataloger of children’s materials may prefer to use the juvenile form found in Subject Headings for Children’s Literature.

In the fifteenth edition (1994), the first edited by Joseph Miller, the interval between publication of editions was shortened to provide a more timely updating of subject headings. In keeping with prevailing thinking in the field of library and information science, all remaining inverted headings were canceled in favor of the uninverted form. Likewise, the display of the List on the page was changed to conform to the NISO standards for thesauri approved in 1993. While Sears remains a list of subject headings and not a true thesaurus, it uses the labels BT, NT, RT, SA, and UF for broader terms, narrower terms, related terms, See Also, and Used for. A List of Canceled and Replacement Headings was added to facilitate the updating of catalogs, and the legend "[Former heading]" was introduced within the List to identify earlier forms of headings. Also in the fifteenth edition many headings were added to enhance access to individual works of fiction, poetry, drama, and other imaginative works, such as films and radio and television programs, based on the Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, etc. prepared by a subcommittee of the Subject Analysis Committee of the ALA.

In the sixteenth edition (1997) the suggested classification numbers were revised to conform to the 13th edition of the Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification, further instructions were added for the application of subdivisions, and the headings in the field of religion were extensively revised to reduce their exclusively Christian application and make them more useful for cataloging materials on other religions.

The major feature of the seventeenth edition (2000) was the revision of the headings for the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The headings Indians, Indians of North America, Indians of Mexico, etc., were cancelled in favor of Native Americans, which may be subdivided geographically by continent, region, country, state, or city. Subdivisions formerly used under Indians of North America for classes of persons, such as Women or Children, and for things distinctly ethnic, such as Medicine or Music, were canceled in favor of phrase headings, such as Native American women, Native American children, Native American medicine, and Native American music. Subdivisions for things not of an ethnic nature, such as Housing or Social conditions, remain subdivisions under Native Americans. The heading Native Americans is now the pattern heading for all ethnic groups

In further revisions in the seventeenth edition, many headings that formerly incorporated the word "modern" were simplified and clarified, such as Modern history and Modern art, and headings for government policy were revised and regularized, so that all headings for policies are either phrase headings, such as Economic policy and Environmental policy, or topics subdivided by Government policy, such as Homeless persons—Government policy and Genetic engineering—Government policy, all sub- divided geographically.

The Scope of the Sears List

No list can possibly provide a heading for every idea, object, process, or relationship, especially not within the scope of a single volume. What Sears hopes to offer instead is a basic list that includes many of the headings most likely to be needed in small libraries together with patterns and examples that will guide the cataloger in creating additional headings as needed. New topics appear every day, and books on those topics require new subject headings. Headings for new topics can be developed from the Sears List in two ways, by establishing new terms as needed and by subdividing the headings already in the List. Instructions for creating new headings based on the pattern in Sears and sources for establishing the wording of new headings are given in the Principles of the Sears List. The various kinds of subdivisions and the rules for their application are also discussed in the Principles of the Sears List.

It is only by being flexible and expandable that Sears has been able over the years to fill the needs of various kinds of libraries. The degree or level of specificity required for a collection depends entirely on the material being collected. While a small library is unlikely to need very narrow topics of a technical or scientific nature, it is not at all unlikely that a small library might have a children’s book on a single concept such as Triangle or a gardening book on Irises. Neither of these terms is in Sears, but the first would be added as a narrower term under Shape and the second as a narrower term under Flowers.

New Headings in this Edition

The abundance of new subject headings in the present edition represents a major enhancement to the List. The new terms reflect developments in many different areas, especially computers, personal relations, politics, and popular culture. Among the new headings in the field of technology are Bar coding, Digital cameras, Digital libraries, DVDs, Intranets, MP3 players, Nanotechnology, Optical scanners, V-chips, and Web databases. Among the new headings in other fields are Alien labor, Aromatherapy, Braids (Hairstyling), Cheating (Education), Fanzines, Fetal alcohol syndrome, Journaling, Pilates method, Racially mixed people, Test bias, Tree houses, and Word problems (Mathematics). In many cases the new headings in Sears conform to the usage of the Library of Congress Subject Headings, while in other cases, such as Tattling for Talebearing, or Mountain biking for All terrain cycling, the Sears form varies from the form found in LCSH. In other cases, such as Hearing in animals and Fractured fairy tales, the concept is not represented in LCSH.

Many of the headings new to this edition were suggested by librarians representing various sizes and types of libraries, by commercial vendors of bibliographic records, and by the catalogers, indexers, and subject specialists at the H.W. Wilson Company.

Revised Headings in this Edition

Revisions to existing headings have been kept to a minimum in this edition. The most significant is the replacement of the subdivision Description by Description and travel. In the 17th edition of the Sears List the subdivision Travel was established, to be used under names of individuals and categories of persons. The subdivision Description and travel under names of places, replacing the subdivision Description in all cases, should now be an unambiguous descriptor for both geographic descriptive material and various forms of travel writings about countries, regions, cities, etc.. It also conforms to the usage of the Library of Congress Subject Headings and other thesauri.

As in previous editions, certain headings of decreasing interest and some unnecessary examples, such as Margarine, Van life, and Iran-Contra Affair, 1985-1990, have been deleted from the List. Such headings are not invalid and may be maintained in the catalog. Other headings that have been deleted are no longer valid and are now used as cross-references to other headings. Earlier forms of headings revised in this edition appear in the alphabetical List after the UF [Used for] label under the established headings with the label "[Former heading]" and also in the List of Canceled and Replacement Headings

Form of Headings

It was the policy of Minnie Sears to use the Library of Congress form of subject headings with some modification, chiefly the simplification of phrasing. The Sears List still reflects the usage of the Library of Congress unless there is some compelling reason to vary, but those instances of variation have become numerous over the years. A major difference between the two lists is that in Sears the direct form of entry has replaced the inverted form, on the theory that most library users search for multiple-word terms in the order in which they occur naturally in the language. In most cases cross-references have been made from the inverted form and from the Library of Congress form where it otherwise varies.

Scope Notes

As in previous editions, all the new and revised headings in this edition have been provided with scope notes where such notes are required. Scope notes are intended to clarify the specialized use of a term or to distinguish between terms that might be confused. If there is any question of what a term means, the cataloger should simply consult a dictionary. There are times, however, when subject headings require a stricter limitation of a term than the common usage given in a dictionary would allow, as in the case of Marketing, a term in business and economics, not to be confused with Grocery shopping. Here a scope note is required. Some scope notes distinguish between topics and forms, such as Encyclopedias and dictionaries for critical and historical materials and the subdivisions –Encyclopedias and –Dictionaries under topics for items that are themselves encyclopedias or dictionaries. There are also scope notes in Sears that identify any headings in the area of literature that may be assigned to individual works of drama, fiction, poetry, etc.

Classification

The classification numbers in this edition of Sears are taken from the 14th edition of the Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification (2004). The numbers are intended only to direct the cataloger to a place in the DDC schedules where material on that subject is often found. They are not intended as a substitute for consulting the schedules, notes, and manual of the DDC itself when classifying a particular item. The relationship between subject headings and classification is further discussed in the Principles of the Sears List.

Usually only one number is assigned to a subject heading. In some cases, however, when a subject can be treated in more than one discipline, the subject is then given more than one number in the List. The heading Chemical industry, for example, is given two numbers, 338.4 and 660, which represent possible classification numbers for materials dealing with the chemical industry from the viewpoints of economics and technology respectively. Classification numbers are not assigned to a few very general subject headings, such as Charters, Exhibitions, Hallmarks, and Identification, which cannot be classified unless a specific application is identified. The alphabetic notation of B for individual biographies is occasionally provided in addition to Dewey classification numbers for such materials. Numbers in the 810s and 840s prefixed by a C are given as optional numbers for topics in Canadian literature.

The Dewey numbers given in Sears are extended as far as is authorized by the Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification, which is seldom more than four places beyond the decimal point. When an item being classified has a particular form or geographic specificity, the number may be extended by adding form and geographic subdivisions from the Dewey tables. Only a few examples of built numbers are given in Sears, such as 940.53022 for World War, 1939-1945—Pictorial Works. No library should feel the need to extend classification numbers beyond what is practical for the size of the library’s collection. For a discussion of close and broad classification and for instructions on building numbers from the Dewey tables, the cataloger should consult the introduction to the most recent edition of the Abridged Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index.

Style, Filing, Etc.

For spelling and definitions the editor has relied upon Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1961) and the Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd ed., revised and updated (1997). Capitalization and the forms of corporate and geographic names used as examples are based on the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed., 2002 revision. The filing of entries follows the ALA Filing Rules (1980).

Every term in the List that may be used as a subject heading is printed in boldface type whether it is a main term; a term in a USE reference; a broader, narrower, or related term; or an example in a scope note or general reference. If a term is not printed in boldface type, it is not used as a heading.