I worked for a brilliant electronic engineer who understood the frail human condition and insisted that documents
supporting or confirming authenticated findings of fact were to be referenced and duplicated under applicable,
multiple titles or "coding". So "Southampton Insurrection, 1831" would also appear as "Nat Turner's Rebellion" and
vise versa. So too would "Southampton", "Insurrection", "1831", "Nat", "Turner's", and "Rebellion" and any other
distinguishing "word of enabling recall". Cumbersome, initially, but quick, accurate retrieval of "the finding of
fact" ensued. And this was in "pre-digital" days. I do believe the construction of the "World Wide Web" is
confirmation of his "practical" genius.
I would be surprised if the folks at the LCSH would support such a concept -- understanding the
"frail human condition" as I am "conditioned" to do.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Holly Mills" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 3:56 PM
Subject: Re: accurate subject headings helpful Interested in remarks on LCSH
In a message dated 2008/05/06 2:20:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> Using accurate -- and updated -- subject headings helps people
> identify what they want to read, too.
Mary,
Definitely! I've been deleting all the messages from the usual respondents,
because I've been on this list long enough to know who's going to say
what--over and over again. And I'm not interested in reading it over and over again.
I've also learned which ones have intelligent discussions to contribute and
who backs it up with qualified research, instead of personal opinion.
But going back to the subject headings--as a librarian I'm conditioned to
think in terms of Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH). And as one who has
catalogued hundreds (thousands?) of manuscript collections into MAchine
Readable Cataloguing (MARC), I've found that there are always some things that
puzzle me--they are not as intuitive as some people may think.
Classic example:
I'm one of the few people I know who routinely refer to the Tidewater
incident in 1831 as "Southampton Insurrection, 1831" because that was the accepted
LCSH. Everyone else called it Nat Turner's Rebellion. I always used the phrase
in the scope note so researchers would find it. Most wouldn't think to look
under "Southampton Insurrection, 1831."
I'm curious as to how many other such oddities researchers out in VA-HISTland
have encountered, and what they are.
Just wondering,
Holly Wilhelm/Hodges/Mills
currently in Amherst, VA
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