Music Subject Headings:
Compiled from Library of Congress Subject
Headings
2nd Edition
Compiled by Harriette Hemmasi with
technical
assistance of Fred Rowley
A Review
Harriette Hemmasi used the work she was doing on her Music
Thesaurus Project to find music subject headings that were missed in the
first edition of this book, which was compiled by Perry Bratcher and
Jennifer Smith. She was able to increase the number of entries from 10,000
in the first edition to 15,000 in this edition. This includes headings
that were new or updated since the first edition was published in 1988. In
this new edition, subject authority numbers have also been added for each
main heading, Library of Congress class numbers are now labeled LCC and
scope notes are labeled SN. Instead of having subdivisions indented under
a main heading the way they appear in lists of subject headings published
by the Library of Congress and the way they appeared in the first edition,
each heading with a subdivision has its own alphabetical entry. For
example,
Military music (May Subd Geog)(M1270)
UF Armies-Music
Music, Military
BT Instrumental music
...
--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
is the way this heading appeared in the first edition. In the new
edition, it would appear as:
Military music (May Subd Geog)
Military music-Handbooks, manuals, etc.
New introductory material has also been added with information
from various scope notes and from the Subject Cataloging Manual:
Subjects in order to form a complete text on how to create and apply
LC subject headings. Some of the sections that have been added are the
History of Library of Congress Subject Headings for Music, Formulating
Music Subject Headings, Creating Main Headings, and appendices on Subject
Cataloging Manual Memoranda Related to Music, Proposed Memorandum on
Electronic and Computer Music Headings and David Judson Haykin's
Introduction to Music Subject headings Used on Printed Catalog Cards of
the Library of Congress (1952), and an index. Other sections such as the
sections on Assigning Headings for Music, Application of Subdivisions to
Music Headings, and Policies for Jazz, Popular, Folk and Non-Western Music
have been greatly expanded. The introductory section has gone from a total
of 29 pages in the first edition to 78 pages in the second edition. The
introductory material is very clear even for those who are not experts in
music and provides enough information for any cataloger to be able to
apply and formulate music subject headings.
Even though it is now possible to search music headings
electronically on CD-ROMs such as Classification Plus and
Cataloger's Desktop, it is sometimes useful to be able to browse
through a printed list of subject headings, and the introductory material
is very useful. However, the binding is not very sturdy, especially
considering the fact that the book costs $90.00, and my library's copy of
the first edition, which had the same type of binding, has fallen apart. I
definitely would recommend this book to catalogers who catalog music in
any format.
Published in 1998 by: Soldier Creek Press, Lake Crystal, Minnesota
(x, 600 p.) Soldier Creek Music Series, number 4. ISBN
0-936996-76-5. $90.00.
Reviewed by Katherine L. Rankin
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Last updated: April 8, 2003
http://www.olacinc.org/reviews/hemmasi.html
neumeist@buffalo.edu