Shared notes for this session:
https://goo.gl/TbG8wV In the library catalog, one area where ideas of diversity and inclusion manifest themselves is the area traditionally known as subject access. Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) have long been assigned to music resources by catalogers and utilized in retrieval by music reference and instruction librarians, but LCSH’s coverage historically has been uneven, with Western classical music genres and instruments receiving more robust treatment than other realms. In recent years, the Library of Congress and cataloging partners, including MLA, have developed new controlled vocabularies for genres/forms (LCGFT), medium of performance (LCMPT), and demographic terms (LCDGT), with an eye to avoiding some of the biases and other problems present in LCSH. This session, co-sponsored by the Cataloging and Metadata Committee and the Public Services Committee, will feature talks by music catalogers who have been actively involved in the initial development and continued improvement of these newer vocabularies as well as a librarian who performs both cataloging and instruction at an ethnographic sound archive known for its collection of field recordings and commercial recordings of music from cultures and geographic areas all over the world.
