Welcome to Subject Headings of Current Interest

Subject Headings of Current Interest

Probably my favorite part of the Cataloging Service Bulletin, a publication of the Library of Congress which ceased with Issue number 128 (Fall 2010), was Subject Headings of Current Interest. As the title implied, it was a listing of recently approved Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) that were deemed interesting, for some unexplained reason. I found it informative, useful, and sometimes quite funny.

When CSB ceased publication, this quarterly list went away as well. I missed it and, so apparently did John DeSantis of the Dartmouth University Library, as he tried to stir some interest in reviving it in some form. As far as I can tell, no one else has, so I am launching this blog as its unofficial successor. According to my moles at the Library of Congress, there were no official guidelines for what was included in the list (which is a bit hard to believe, considering the wealth of documentation LC has issued on all kinds of cataloging topics). It seems that that would make the content of the list rather subjective and I will produce my list in the same spirit.

What I hope to include is headings for: emerging areas of interest and newsworthiness,  new technology, popular culture, odd and quirky headings, and topics one might think would have been established already some time ago. What I plan not to include (with certain unpredictable exceptions) is headings for: names (families, places, etc.), languages, and changes to cross-references.

The original lists were issued quarterly in CSB. The Library of Congress Monthly List of Subject Headings (the list of recently approved headings) is issued monthly, so my goal will be to post monthly. As of this writing, the most recent list posted is List 1508, Aug. 17, 2015. I will start with the previous list (1507, July 17, 2015). If I have time and there is interest, I might do a retrospective list later on to fill in some of the gap. Thanks to Adam Schiff, who shared his retrospective list, this is done!

Recent and past lists may be found at the Program for Cooperative Cataloging Subject Authority Cooperative web site:

SACO - Subject Authority Cooperative Program

I do hope you find this blog listing to be informative, useful, and sometimes funny.