Terminology-S

Terminology… S

SACO – Subject Authority Cooperative Program of the PCC

The Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO) was established to provide a means for libraries to submit subject headings and classification numbers to the Library of Congress via the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). Listed below are the basic requirements for libraries wishing to contribute subject heading proposals or changes for inclusion in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and classification number proposals or changes for inclusion in the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) schedules. (PCC site)

SAF

An Acronym for the Library of Congress, "Subject Authority File". The SAF file includes Topical headings (150) and Geographical headings (151). See Subject Heading (ac)

Scope notes

Authority records often contain scope notes or complex cross-references that may give users suggestions for additional search strategies and provide information on how to apply the heading or subdivision when constructing a complex string. Complex cross-references are tagged as follows: (google)

Use a 260 or 664 field to make a complex see reference.
Use a 360 or 663 field to make a complex see also reference.

See From Tracing

Fields 400-485 of the MARC Authority Record, the See From tracing fields, are used to identify unauthorized forms of headings and other variants not chosen as an authorized form. For more information about tracings and references, see the Tracings and References—General Information section. (m21)

See Reference

See, See From Tracing

Semantic

Related terms. Semantics is the study of meaning in communication. In linguistics, semantics is the subject that is devoted to the study of meaning, as inherent at the levels of words, phrases, sentences, and even larger units of discourse (referred to as texts). In computer science semantics reflects the meaning of programs or functions. (wp)

Series

Series is a collection of related works represented by a descriptive title for the collection of works. Fields 440 and 490 contain series statements. Field 440 also provides an added entry for the series. A series statement is recorded in field 490 when either it is given no added entry in the record (an untraced series) or is given an added entry in a form that differs from the series statement appearing on the item. One of fields 800-830 (Series added entries) is used in conjunction with field 490 when the series is to be traced differently. (m21)

Series Added Entry

Series added entries (8XX) are used in conjunction with field 490 when the series is to be traced differently. Fields 800-830 contain series added entries for series associated with a title. These fields are used to trace a series added entry when the form of series present in the 490 Series Statement field cannot serve additionally as a series added entry. An 8XX series added entry field is not used in conjunction with the 440 field, which functions both as a series statement and as a series added entry. (m21)

Series phrase

The 490 tag, also called, Series Statement represents the statement or phrase given from the book to describe the Series. This can be a free text descriptor of a phrase that describes a body or collection of works. (mpg)

Series Tracing practice field

The MARC series tracing practice can be found in the 645 $a and Byte 09 of the 008 Tag in the authority record. In the 645 tag $a the code specifies whether the series is used as a series added entry or as an untraced series note in bibliographic records. The MARS 2.0 software first looks at 008 byte 09 to determine if this authority record is an untraced (b) or a traced (c) reference. Depending on the options used in the software, if it the record meets one of these two criteria the process will create a traceable tab (8XX). (m21)

008 byte 09

b Untraced reference
c Traced reference

645 $a - Series tracing practice

t - Traced as a series added entry
n - Not traced as a series added entry

Significant Authority Records

The MARS 2.0 software allows the library to receive and report authority headings based on significance criteria. If the library is not really interested in seeing or receiving authority records that have only a fixed field change or LCCN change then the library can choose to limit the authorities they receive by a criteria determined by the library. The following are the tags a library can choose to have reported. (mpg)

010—LCCN changed (record merge, record has replaced another, etc.)

1XX—Established Heading changed
4XX—See From Heading added, deleted or changed
5XX—See Also From Heading added, deleted or changed
64X—Series Treatment Note added, deleted or changed
667—Nonpublic General Note added, deleted or changed
670—Source Data Found Note added, deleted or changed
68X—Note added, deleted or changed (680, 681, 682, 688)
781—Geographic Subdivision Linking Entry added, deleted or changed

Significant Heading Changes

With the MARS 2.0 software records with "significant" changes are made during the MARC update service processing. This option will return fewer changed records than the "All changed" option. Records are delivered with the following changes. (mpg)

Initial article deleted

Filing indicator changed

69X – Local subject headings tag flipped
8XX- Series added entry added
007 – Physical description fixed field added.

Specificity

(1) The closeness of match between a term or heading and the document to which it is assigned; (2) where a given term lies within a hierarchy of related terms – whether it is near the top and thus fairly general, or fairly far down and thus quite specific. (lschpa)

Split headings

A split headings is when a heading splits and becomes 2 or more headings, MARS 2.0 programs can either replace the obsolete heading in the bibliographic record with all of the new headings, or leave the old heading in the record. (mpg)

Square brackets

Also called Box brackets enclose explanatory or missing material. In the MARC record, square brackets are used to surround the general materials designation (GMD) of the MARC Bibliographic record. The GMD is subfield "h" of tag 245. The GMD appears in lowercase letters and is enclosed within brackets. (mpg)

Stamps

See MARS Stamp

String

A term used to refer to the combination of a subject heading and one or more subdivisions. In the context of the MARC21 format, a string is a 6XX field that has at least one $v, $x, $y, or $z subfield in addition to the $a subfield. (lcshpa)

Subfield $w in Cross-References

Control Subfield - $w

The $w is a control subfield with up to four character positions. One-character alphabetic codes are used to describe special instructions that apply to the display of 4xx and 5xx fields. The definitions of the codes in subfield $w are dependent on the character position in which they occur, the coding of any character position mandates that each preceding character position contains a code or a fill character (|); succeeding character positions need not be used. For example, if $w/0 and $w/1 are not applicable but $w/2 is applicable, then $w/0 and $w/1 each contain code n (Not applicable) or a fill character (|). The n is used more often than the fill character.
The positions available with the subfield $w are as follows:

Position /0 = Special relationship

Position /1 = Tracing use restriction

Position /2 = Earlier form of heading

Position /3 = Reference display

Each position has a set of codes that further determine the meaning of that position. As described above if the position is not used an "n" meaning not applicable is used.

Subfield Code

Two characters that distinguish the data elements within a field which require separate manipulation. A subfield code consists of a delimiter (ASCII 1F hex), represented in this document as a $, followed by a data element identifier. Data element identifiers may be a lowercase alphabetic or a numeric character. Subfield codes are defined independently for each field; however, parallel meanings are preserved whenever possible (e.g., in the 100, 400, and 600 Personal Name fields). Subfield codes are defined for purposes of identification, not arrangement. The order of subfields is generally specified by standards for the data content, such as cataloging rules. (m21)

Subdivision Headings

A heading consisting of a general (topical or language) form, geographic, or chronological subject subdivision term. An extended subdivision heading contains more than one subject subdivision term (subfields $v, $x, $y, and $z). (m21)

Subfield Delimiter

A subfield code consists of a delimiter (ASCII 1F hex), represented in most documents as a $ character. (m21)

Subject Analysis

The process of identifying the intellectual content of a work. The results may be displayed in a catalog or bibliography by means of notational symbols as in a classification system, or verbal terms such as subject headings or descriptors. (lcshpa)

Subject Indexing

Subject indexing is the act of describing a document by index terms to indicate what the document is about or to summarize its content. Indices are constructed, separately, on three distinct levels: terms in a document such as a book; objects in a collection such as a library; and documents (such as books and articles) within a field of knowledge. (wp)

Subject Heading

Subject heading classification is a human and intellectual endeavor, where trained professionals apply topic descriptions to items in their collections. Naturally, every library may choose to categorize the subject matter of their items differently, without a uniform agreed upon standard. The widespread use and acceptance of the Library of Congress Subject Headings facilitates the uniform access and retrieval of items in any library in the world using the same search strategy and LCSH thesaurus, if the correct headings have been applied to the item by the library. Thusly, LCSH decisions involve a great amount of debate and even controversy in the library community. (wp)

Subject Validation String Records

The subject validation string record is the main heading plus free floating subdivisions. Library of Congress is creating these to allow you to validate full strings. To date, 29,000 records have been distributed by the Library of Congress. Validation records are delivered with your Backstage Library Works MARS 2.0 ongoing services. (mpg)

Summarization

The practice of assigning indexing terms or subject headings to represent the overall content of a document rather than individual parts of it. (lcshpa)

Suspicious Filing Indicators

The initial word in a title (24X) headings that by itself is an article, but within the context of the book title may be treated differently. The result is the filing indicator will not represent where the indexing is to begin on this title. The MARS 2.0 process retains the article in the field unchanged with the title being displayed on report, R13 Suspicious Filing indicators. Because the filing indicator affects retrieval in many automated systems, you may wish to examine these headings to determine if the filing indicator requires correction in the bibliographic record on your local system. (mpg)

Syndetic Structure

Identifies associative relationships among concepts. The adjective "syndetic" means "serving to connect" or "to be connected by a conjunction". (A conjunction being a word used to connect words, phrases and clauses, for example: and, but, if). The antonym is "asyndetic" (connections made without conjoins). In a catalog or index, the syndetic structure comprises the system of "see" and "see also" cross references to other indexing terms. A syndetic device is a device used to connect related headings by means of cross-references. (google)

Syntax

The order in which individual vocabulary elements of the language are concatenated to form larger expressions. (lcshpa)

System Migration

See ILS System Migration