6/19/15
Since early 2007, the Library of Congress has been developing Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT), whose terms describe what something is rather than what it is about, as subject headings do. In September 2015 the Policy and Standards Division (PSD) will approve approximately 40 genre/form terms for religious materials.
The terms appear on Tentative List 1518, to be approved on September 8, 2015. PSD is requesting comments on the terms from the library community; please email Janis Young at [email protected] through August 31, 2015.
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.
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.
LC subject headings that are analogous to genre/form terms for literary 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 Subject Headings Manual (SHM).
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.
