User's Guide to Sears List of Subject Headings

The Sears List is used all over the world in small and medium sized libraries to provide subject access to library collections. It has constantly been revised and kept up to date, both in its methods and contents, by incorporating new subjects and updated organization. The Sears List is also a good choice for teaching subject headings work in library schools.

There is no entire book on current usage of this important library tool, and so, the present work is an endeavor to fill this gap in the literature. A companion to the 19th edition of the Sears List, this new publication explains the theoretical foundations, history, and application of the Sears List. It is a manual for beginners to understand the importance of vocabulary control, the process of subject analysis, the structure and organization of the Sears List, and the methods to locate, specify, and construct subject headings. In addition, the manual provides cross-references for the public catalog. Subject headings in the complex areas of languages and literatures, as well as biographical and geographical works are each given a separate chapter. This work will be very important to technical services librarians, subject catalogers, students, and teachers of library and information science.