Subject Heading Review Panel

The National Library has appointed a Subject Headings Review Panel to provide advice on improving subject access to information on the National Bibliographic Database.

If you have any questions please contact us.


Terms of reference

The terms of reference are to provide advice and guidance on:


Membership

The Subject Headings Review Panel consists of five members:

Ms Bemal Rajapatirana National Library of Australia   brajapat@nla.gov.au
Ms Deirdre Kiorgaard National Library of Australia   dkiorgaa@nla.gov.au
Ms Joan Moncrieff Deakin University   joan@deakin.edu.au
Ms Judith Purser University of Melbourne   j.purser@lib.unimelb.edu.au
Ms Jennifer Kerry AIATSIS   jennifer.kerry@aiatsis.gov.au

Activities

The Libraries Australia Subject Headings Review Panel (SHRP) will focus on continuing the Australian Subject Access project during 2001 to 2002. In particular, implementing terms for names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their languages.

A key issue will be to identify the most authoritative source when reconciling the names for Australia's indigenous peoples and languages found in SLASH. The SHRP recognises the desirability of using the AIATSIS Thesaurus as the preferred tool but also acknowledges that Ethnologue (used by the Library of Congress) and the Library of Congress Subject Headings List (LCSH) will present inconsistencies and conflicts. A comparative analysis between the AIATSIS thesaurus, Ethnologue, LCSH and SLASH will be done to identify and quantify major conflicts and inconsistencies and determine the most efficient procedures for establishing headings on the ANBD.

The SHRP will commence work on the recommendations arising from the Expert Advisory Group on the Application of ABN Standards Committee Resolutions. The aim of these recommendations was to minimise variance with LCSH by adopting Australian terms as a reference to the LCSH term and reviewing established Australian extensions to LCSH.

The SHRP will also review Australian dates under Period Subdivisions. The panel will not routinely review new or changed headings submitted by Australian libraries for inclusion in LCSH. Libraries can submit new headings and changes to existing headings using the online forms at standards.html. Libraries Australia's subject cataloguing guidelines can also be found on the National Library's web site at: subjectcatstandards.html.

Progress reports on the work of the group will be provided on the Library's Internet discussion list librariesaustralia-l. The group's reports to the Libraries Australia Annual Users' Meetings will also contain more information.