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This paper recognizes the limitations of the existing file of Library of Congress (LC) subject authority records for subject heading assignment and validation. It makes recommendations for a new file of machine-readable authority records for period subdivisions and for enhancements to the existing file of subject authority records. Recommended changes would enable online systems to assist in subject heading formulation and verify, with limited assistance by human intermediaries, the individual components of subdivided headings. The recommendations are timely in view of changes to the forms of period subdivisions that the Library of Congress is studying to facilitate the display of period subdivisions in chronological order. The availability of machine-readable authority records for most period subdivisions would enable online systems to automatically make changes to the forms of period subdivisions in bibliographic records using cross references for previously-used forms in the authority records for the new forms. The paper also discusses issues arising from an enhancement of the existing controlled system of period suubdivision. A study of subdivided subject heading in a large bibliographic database forms the basis of the recommendations.
Karen Markey Drabenstott (Fri,) studied this question.