MARCIVE Assists LC in Creation of LCGFT Authority Records
Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT), is replacing the former Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, Etc. (GSAFD). While many libraries still use GSAFD terms in their catalogs, this controlled vocabulary list is no longer updated by the American Library Association. LCGFT provides a live, developing international standard for genre and form access to individual works of fiction, drama, poetry, humor, and folklore, etc. in all formats. Subject headings describe what a work is about, while genre/from terms describe what a work is.
For example a subject heading of 650 _0 $a Western films is a work about Western films.
A genre heading of 655 _7 $a Western films $2 lcgft is a work that is a Western film.
In March 2015 the Policy and Standards Division (PSD) will approve approximately 390 genre/form terms for literary works. MARCIVE played an important role in this venture, as we created MARC authority records for the proposals from a Word document provided by the Working Group on LCGFT Literature Terms. We also created records for 175 “general” genre/form terms, which are schedule for approval in January 2015. Not stopping with only literature terms, MARCIVE went on to create 563 records for music genre terms, which PSD plans to approve in February 2015.
The generation of these authority records by MARCIVE saved the Library of Congress and the Working Groups hundreds of hours of manual labor. This will significantly decrease the time libraries must wait for their approval and distribution. The addition of over 1,000 genre terms to the LCGFT list in early 2015 will noticeably improve management and retrieval of materials in any library collection. MARCIVE customers with Notification or NewMatch Services will automatically receive any of these authority records if their history file reflects their use.
Written by Joan Chapa, with contributions from Mary Mastraccio and Carol Love.
