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39-460: The Hub does not hold archives. Rather, it maintains finding aids , which help researchers to locate archives, by enabling them to search across descriptions. Each description provides a direct email link to the contact details for the repository that holds the archive. It enables researchers to search and filter by various criteria including keyword, title, creator, person, organisation, subject and date in order to bring together archives held all over

78-550: A thesaurus (in the information science sense, a controlled vocabulary ) of subject headings , maintained by the United States Library of Congress , for use in bibliographic records. LC Subject Headings are an integral part of bibliographic control , which is the function by which libraries collect, organize, and disseminate documents. It was first published in 1898, a year after the publication of Library of Congress Classification (1897). The last print edition

117-446: A basis. The Basic Description , Collection Overview , or Summary Information is usually the first section of a finding aid, containing information about the collection's creator, the physical space the collection occupies in the archive, and the date range and an abstract of its documents. A Biographical/Historical Note describes a collection from the perspective of the time period it was created, providing background information on

156-430: A central tool for user and archivist interaction with archival collections. Freund and Toms note that finding aids became the preferred means of user mediation with a collection, as a result of the print nature of most historical materials. They go on to explain that the finding aid within this print-based form is designed to describe a single collection or arrangement from a similar provenance . Clayton McGehee argues that

195-456: A consistent national standard in the US for finding aid terminology. Candida Fenton writes, "Encoded Archival Description Document Type Definition (EAD DTD) is a non proprietary encoding standard which specifies the structure of an electronic archival finding aid. The standard was developed in response to the growing role of networks in accessing information describing archival holdings, and to enable

234-525: A person or organization. It can also describe the history of the collection. The Scope and Content note briefly explains the collection's provenance, its arrangement and date range, and in general what kind of materials it contains—letters, reports, photographs, audio/video, etc. The Access and Use section that contains information about using the collection, such as terms of access and restrictions. Usage issues that may affect researchers could include donor agreements restricting access, copyright information,

273-411: Is located. But, because LCSH are not necessarily expressed in natural language, many users may choose to search OPACs by keywords. Moreover, users unfamiliar with OPAC searching and LCSH, may incorrectly assume their library has no items on their desired topic, if they chose to search by 'subject' field, and the terms they entered do not strictly conform to a LCSH. For example, 'body temperature regulation'

312-845: Is used in place of 'thermoregulation'. The easiest way to find and use LCSH is to start with a 'keyword' search and then look at the Subject Headings of a relevant item to locate other related material. Indigenous material classification under LCSH has been criticized by scholars in Indigenous studies and library science for its inaccurate representation of Indigenous identities and works. LCSH has also been faulted for not recognizing Indigenous sovereignty and segregating Indigenous materials in Class E . The majority of Indigenous material are confined to 'E 99---Indian tribes and cultures', strictly separating Indigenous historical material from

351-592: The Indian Act , or similar historical legislature. The ambiguous nature of the word also perpetuates a cycle of miscataloguing. On WorldCat , the search terms "Indians---Food" give results on South Asian Cuisine, while "Indian cooking" does not yield any results relating to Indigenous cooking. The compilation, Library of Congress Subject Headings in Jewish Studies, does not have a separate list of generally applicable subdivisions or geographic headings, but

390-535: The 19th and 20th centuries were paper documents, such as lists or index cards . In the 21st century, they can be created in electronic formats like spreadsheets or databases. The standard machine-readable format for manuscript collection finding aids, widely used in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Australia and elsewhere, is Encoded Archival Description . Finding aids exist as

429-526: The 20th century. Until the 1990s, the LCSH administrators had a strict policy of not changing terms for a subject category. This was enforced to tighten and eliminate the duplication or confusion that might arise if subject headings were changed. As a result, the term 'Afro-American' to describe African-American topics in LCSH was used long after it lost currency and acceptance in the population. In 1996 LCSH decided to allow some alteration of terms to better reflect

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468-855: The Judaica cataloger to identify the subdivisions of Israel that may be applied to Holocaust for example. LCSH representatives worked with staff of the National Library of Canada to create a complementary set of Canadian Subject Headings (CSH) to express the topic content of documents on Canada and Canadian topics. In addition, the Brian Deer Classification System , developed by librarian A. Brian Deer ( Mohawk ) for Aboriginal materials to express First Nations relationships, has been adapted for use in several First Nations libraries in Canada. It has been described as

507-452: The US. The process of creating a finding aid often begins with archival description. For example, Encoded Archival Description calls for a basic description of the collection, a list of controlled vocabulary terms, administrative information, biographical information, scope and content, arrangement, description of components, and other descriptive data. In the absence of a universal standard for finding aids, these elements are often used as

546-446: The United States since the late 20th century, the LCSH has been criticized for biased organization and description of materials on sexuality. For instance, works about heterosexuality are scarcely labeled as such in LCSH; this suggests that heterosexuality is the norm and only queer sexuality needs a separate classification. The Subject Headings were formerly published in large red volumes (currently ten), which are typically displayed in

585-406: The United States use the National Library of Medicine 's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Historically, given the complicated nature of the United States, its various ethnic groups, and changing society, numerous classification issues have been related to the terms used to identify racial or ethnic groups. The terms used to describe African Americans have changed over time, especially during

624-458: The archival science equivalent of a library catalog or a museum collection catalog . The finding aid serves the purpose of locating specific information within the collection. The finding aid can also help the archival repository manage their materials and resources. The history of finding aids mirrors the history of information. Ancient Sumerians had their own systems of indexes to locate bureaucratic and administrative records. Finding aids in

663-424: The collection's history of ownership, any additional formats the collection may have, and if the collection is accepting additions. Additional Information contains details of related materials, language, citation instructions, any sponsors, and the date of processing. Search Terms are generally a list of subject headings, any personal, corporate, or family names, geographical headings, and genre terms that relate to

702-427: The collection. Paper based collections with finding aids ensured that patrons would have to rely upon the archivist to find and utilize materials. The contents of finding aids may differ depending on the types of material being described. Usually, a finding aid includes a description of the scope of the collection, biographical and historical information related to the collection, and restrictions on use of or access to

741-454: The contents of the collection. Arrangement is the manner in which the collection has been ordered (generally in accordance, as far as practicable, with its original order ). Hierarchical levels of arrangement are typically composed of record groups containing series , which in turn contain boxes, folders, and items. The Content List is a list of the collection's materials down to the box and folder level. Series descriptions containing

780-520: The context of archival science and archival research , is an organization tool, a document containing detailed and processed metadata and other information about a specific collection of records within an archive . Finding aids often consist of a documentary inventory and description of the materials, their source, and their structure. The finding aid for a fonds is usually compiled by the collection's entity of origin, provenance , or by an archivist during archival processing , and may be considered

819-639: The country that relate to a topic. It includes images and links to digital content, and enables filtering by digital or non-digital content. Descriptions can be navigated via a table of contents and a "search within" function. Contributors provide new and updated descriptions regularly, so the service is constantly updated with descriptions of archives that have been newly catalogued and made available for research. The Archives Hub has supporting information for researchers, including an introductory guide. It publishes monthly features, created by contributors, on all manner of subjects, people and organisations, to showcase

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858-452: The exchange of records between repositories." However, the hierarchical format of EAD finding aids has caused some controversy among users, as archivists have noted that it perpetuates the same confusions regarding finding aids for users. Freund and Toms asserted that collections become digitally accessible in greater frequency, archivists can no longer be expected to assist users at their every need. Clayton McGehee expressed concern about

897-535: The extant finding aid. She concludes that Online participatory finding aids with user annotations are feasible for a repository of any size and budget, and will result in more complete resources for users and archivists...To be successful in reaching users, archivists must open themselves to new collaborations with diverse communities beyond the academic world, relinquishing the role of record gatekeepers and inviting in open communication with users. LCSH The Library of Congress Subject Headings ( LCSH ) comprise

936-411: The finding aid became preferred by archivists and repositories as a means of organizing their collections because it allowed for them to intellectually and physically control the items they held. Archivists could acquire, deaccession, redact, and reorganize materials. The finding aids could reflect these changes to the collection, but also reflected that only the archivists would know about these changes to

975-454: The ineffective and inefficient search capability. Subject heading is a human and intellectual endeavor, by which trained professionals apply topic descriptions to items in their collections. Without a uniform standard, each library might choose to categorize the subject matter of their items differently. The widespread use and acceptance of the Library of Congress Subject Headings facilitates

1014-458: The international archival standard, and other standards for data such as languages, dates and index terms standards. It takes in and provides EAD ( Encoded Archival Description ), which is XML for archives. The site provides information for archivists and other cataloguers on online discovery, data creation, the use of standards, metadata and protocols for interoperability and to facilitate cross-searching. Finding aids A finding aid , in

1053-409: The introduction notes that it does include "the generally applicable subdivisions for Jews, Judaism, Hebrew language, and Israel ' The compiler goes on to explain that "some of these subdivisions are based on the pattern headings for ethnic groups, religions, languages , and places " Subdivisions based on pattern headings are interfiled with generally applicable ones (e g Encyclopedias), so it is hard for

1092-511: The lack of interaction between finding aids of different libraries and repositories. He argued that in order to remain in touch with the rapid share and spread of information, finding aids must interact with digital libraries. Laura Farley argued that both of these concerns about the speed of changing information and the need to adapt, could be supplemented by adding user annotations to online finding aids. Farley also noted that user submissions can help archivists highlight useful items not indicated in

1131-711: The materials. Finding aids may be detailed inventories that list contents. They may also include subject headings drawn from LCSH , AAT , or other controlled vocabulary , and may cross-refer to related collections in other repositories. The data elements essential to finding aids are defined by the International Council on Archives in the General International Standard Archival Description ( ISAD(G) ). Various national implementations of ISAD(G) exist, such as Describing Archives: A Content Standard , used in

1170-462: The needs and access of library users. But, many common terms, or 'natural language' terms, are not used in LCSH. This may limit the ability of users to locate items. Research has increased in Library and Information Science faculties related to identifying and understanding the cultural and gender biases that affect the terms used in LCSH; these may limit or deprive library users access to information stored and disseminated in collections. In 2016 LCSH

1209-460: The reference sections of research libraries. They also may be accessed online in the Library of Congress Classification Web , a subscription service, or free of charge (as individual records) at Library of Congress Authorities . The Library of Congress adds new headings and revisions to LCSH each month. A web service, lcsh.info , was set up by Ed Summers, a Library of Congress employee, circa April 2008, using SKOS to allow for simple browsing of

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1248-402: The rest of U.S History. Most materials on Indigenous art are placed under Class E instead of Class N , leading to the implications that Indigenous art is not serious art. LCSH also fail to represent how Indigenous ways of learning focus heavily on spatial, social and cultural relationships. LCSH use the term " Indian " which is considered inappropriate for scholarly use outside of referencing

1287-453: The standardized language of LCSH to find material. These include systems that allow patrons to informally tag materials in the catalog, book creators and publishers who do their own cataloging, and the incorrect application of LCSH to controversial material. Increasingly, the use of hyperlinked , web-based Online Public Access Catalogues, or OPACs , allow users to hyperlink to a list of similar items displayed by LCSH once one item of interest

1326-627: The subject headings. lcsh.info was shut down by the Library of Congress's order on December 18, 2008. The library science and semantic web communities were dismayed, as expressed by Tim Berners-Lee and Tim Spalding of LibraryThing . After some delay, the Library set up its own web service for LCSH browsing at id.loc.gov in April 2009. Timothy Binga, director of libraries at the Center for Inquiry , notes issues that make it more difficult to use

1365-466: The title, dates of coverage, and a brief description of the contents of each series. Series descriptions may also include the range of containers, a statement of the type of arrangement, and a note on any restrictions for each series (for example, an embargo on public access for a set period for reasons of confidentiality). Encoded Archival Description (EAD) was created in 1998 for the use of finding aids in an online environment. Its creation allowed for

1404-566: The uniform access to and retrieval of items in libraries across the world; users can use the same search strategy and LCSH thesaurus , if the correct headings have been applied to the item by the library. Some LCSH decisions are achieved by extensive debate and even controversy in the library community. LCSH is the world's most widely used subject vocabulary. Despite LCSH's wide-ranging and comprehensive scope, libraries that deal with more specific types of collections or user communities may use other vocabularies; for example, many medical libraries in

1443-568: The variety of archival content described. The Archives Hub has an ethos based on open access and "making the data work harder". The Hub has recently developed "micro sites", which are repository interfaces available to higher education institutions wanting their own search application for descriptions stored on the Hub. It also provides data to the Archives Portal Europe. Descriptions on the Hub are standards-based, using ISAD(G) ,

1482-534: Was published in 2016. Access to the continuously revised vocabulary is now available via subscription and free services. Subject headings are normally applied to every item within a library's collection and facilitate a user's access to items in the catalog that pertain to similar subject matter, in order to save time finding items of related subject matter. Only searching for items by 'title' or other descriptive fields, such as 'author' or 'publisher', would take more time and potentially miss locating many items because of

1521-528: Was subject to national news coverage when the Library of Congress decided to revise the heading ' Illegal aliens ', an action opposed by congressional Republicans. Sanford Berman , a notable American science scholar on this subject, has noted the difficulty in finding material on certain topics, such as various denialisms , because the Library of Congress has not yet incorporated the natural language terms for them, for example, climate change denialism , into LCSH. As ideas about human sexuality have changed in

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