Specificity, Syndetic Structure, and Subject Access to Works about Individual Corporate Bodies

Abstract

The evolution of subject access to works about individual corporate bodies in Anglo-American subject cataloging practice is presented. Comparison is made to the similar problems of works of individual biography. The lack of comparable levels of subject access for the two classes of works is explored. Automation may have been part of the problem, but through automated maintenance routines, it offers the best hope for a viable solution. Recommendations are made that would restore parity in level of subject access by using syndetic reference structure and preserving the principle of specific entry upon which most subject access systems in Anglo-American libraries are based.