September 8, 2015
PSD policy specialist responsible for this list: J. Young
GENRE/FORM TERMS
This list comprises 45 genre/form terms for religious works. The religion genre/form project is a collaboration of PSD and the American Theological Library Association, which coordinated with the Association of Jewish Libraries, the Catholic Library Association, and the Council on East Asian Libraries. PSD thanks all those who worked to develop the list of terms, which includes terms pertinent to several religious traditions.
Proposals
Following standard policy, LC catalogers and members of the Subject Authority Cooperative (SACO) program will be able to propose additional genre/form terms for religious materials as well as revisions to existing terms. PSD will separately announce the date on which it will begin to accept proposals for new and revised genre/form terms for religious materials.
Application of terms and effect on LCSH
LC subject headings that are analogous to genre/form terms for religious works will remain valid because the subject headings should continue to be assigned to works about the materials. Catalogers should continue to assign subject headings to religious materials according to the principles and guidelines contained in the SHM. Genre/form terms may be assigned in addition to the subject headings. Example:
100 1# $a Asma, Stephen T.
245 10 $a Why I am a Buddhist / $c Stephen T. Asma.
650 #0 $a Buddhism $v Apologetic works.
655 #7 $a Apologetic writings. $2 lcgft
The Library of Congress’ Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access directorate, which catalogs most of the religious materials acquired for the Library’s general collections, has not yet determined its schedule for implementing the genre/form terms for religious works. The date will be announced when it is available.