About the SACO Program

The Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO) enables member institutions to submit subject heading proposals for inclusion in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and classification number proposals for inclusion in Library of Congress Classification (LCC) schedules.
The SACO Program has a defined mission with goals to achieve this mission:

• Timely creation and maintenance of authoritative, cost-effective authority records by knowledgeable catalogers at institutions around the world
• Working in a manner that fosters and reflects cooperation, collaboration, and partnerships, collegiality, professional judgment, and service to the user
• Providing leadership in the authority community in the form of continuing education, development of standards, authoritative and up-to-date documentation, and enabling more effective use of automation

Program Requirements

In order to prevent duplication of effort participants should have access to the online Library of Congress authority files, both for name authorities and subject authorities, for searching purposes. In support of their contributions, participants are also expected to use the most current edition (including updates where applicable) of the following publications which are available from the Cataloging Distribution Service of the Library of Congress:

For subject headings

• Library of Congress Subject Headings
• SUBJECT HEADINGS MANUAL
• FREE-FLOATING SUBDIVISIONS: An Alphabetical Index

For classification numbers

• CLASSIFICATION AND SHELFLISTING MANUAL
• Library of Congress Classification Schedules (including the full run of Additions and Changes; or, one of the commercially available versions of the schedules)

In order to maintain familiarity with the provisions of the Subject Headings Manual and the practice of submitting heading and classification proposals, it is assumed that SACO-only participants will submit proposals on a regular basis. Each SACO-only institution is reminded that it has agreed/committed to an annual numerical contribution goal of 10-12 proposals. This numerical goal includes a combination of new or changed LCSH headings and/or new or changed LC classification numbers.

Submission of Proposals

Participants may submit proposals using the SACO Proposal System, a Classification Web product. Proposals should follow appropriate and current rules and policies stated in the Subject Headings Manual. Proposals are reviewed for editorial consistency by staff at the Library of Congress and, once reviewed, become part of LCSH or LCC.