Using Subject Headings
What Library of Congress Subject Headings are appropriate for your research topic? Library
of Congress Subject Headings (a controlled vocabulary) help you focus your search by using
predetermined words and phrases. Once you identify the appropriate headings, you will be able to
retrieve material that focuses on your research; books on similar topics are assigned
the same subject headings. If you find the right heading, you should find lots of pertinent
material.
Since you probably do not have your own set of LC Subject Headings, use the Innopac database to
identify them. One way to do this is to find a great book on your topic in Innopac,
and look at the terms in the "subject" field. One of the
advantages of a web-based catalog is that you can link to other items with the same subject
heading.
For example, if you do a keyword search using the term free* slave*,
you will find the following title,
Beyond slavery : explorations of race, labor, and citizenship in postemancipation societies .
Look at the terms in the subject heading field.
Notice the highlighted subject headings above. If you want other books on
African Americans -- Social Conditions, select this heading. However, if you
wanted Slaves -- Emancipation you click on Emancipation.
The graphic image below illustrates some of the titles you retrieve by selecting
African Americans -- Social Conditions and then selecting
it again on the following screen.
Note that these brief entries indicate the authors, titles, format, and publication
date. You need to click on a title to determine location, call number, and status.
To see and evaluate all the fields of the record, you
simply click on full record hitlist and scan the results.
