Promoting Research and Best Practices in Subject Reference Structures

Abstract

In 2004, the ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section Subject Analysis Committee (SAC) produced the report “Recommendations for Providing Access to, Display of, Navigation within and among, and Modifications of Existing Practice Regarding Subject Reference Structures in Automated Systems.” This document is one important outcome of nearly ten years’ work by three SAC subcommittees investigating the theoretical, pragmatic, and political dimensions of improving subject access through better use of reference structure data. The work of those subcommittees is reviewed and their recommendations are described and summarized. Potential future effects of the report are discussed, as is a snapshot view of several major automation systems’ current compliance with the recommendations.