Creating Better Subject Access with Multiple Vocabularies: Upgrading the Subject Heading List for the Alzheimer’s Association

Abstract

Although the Alzheimer’s Association’s Green-Field Library’s catalog has been available to local chapters and interested people for some time through modem access, placing the catalog on the World Wide Web would make it available to casual browsers as well as determined searchers. When a review of the subject list revealed numerous inconsistencies and duplications, a new list was generated, giving preference to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) where possible. The result was a mix of MeSH and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), augmented by a few local- and reviewer-supplied terms. The new subject authority list gives the Green-Field Library an authoritative list of terms to use when performing original and copy cataloging. It can also be placed with the library’s catalog on the Web to aid users in performing searches.