Related Links
Subject Cataloguing Standards
- Subject cataloguing standards
- Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Standard for Australian subject headings
- Development policy for Australian subject headings
- Australian Subject Access Project
Subject cataloguing standards
Library of Congress subject headings
The Library of Congress Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings is the standard for application of Library of Congress subject headings in Libraries Australia. Libraries Australia may provide additional guidance to Australian libraries where this would be helpful, but will generally not diverge from LC policy except for specifically Australian requirements.
Standard for Australian subject headings
The Australian extension to LCSH web page comprises of proposed Australian subject headings authorised on LCSH and additional subject headings and references adopted for use in ABN, should continue to be used in Libraries Australia
Australian subject headings which are not included in the Library of Congress subject headings, will be coded using the Australian National Union Catalogue code in Libraries Australia authority records
Development policy for Australian subject headings
The future development of the Australian extension to LCSH should take account of the changing environment of Australian cataloguing. Australian libraries are obtaining their cataloguing data from a variety of sources (Libraries Australia, overseas databases, library supplier databases) and they need to contain the cost of maintaining the authority files in their local systems. Accordingly, the development of the Australian extension to LCSH should follow these guidelines:
(a) Where a term already exists in LCSH, an equivalent Australian term may be adopted as a reference to the LCSH term. Australian terminology should not be substituted for synonymous LCSH terms.
(b) Australian subject headings which have previously been substituted for existing LCSH terms, should be reviewed in order to reduce the variations from LCSH. The review should take into account the cost of converting back to standard LCSH, which may outweigh the savings of being consistent with LCSH.
(c) The Australian subject headings which have already been adopted, should be continuously monitored for opportunities to reduce the variation from LCSH.

