12/11/14
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 March 2015 the Policy and Standards Division (PSD) will approve approximately 560 genre/form terms for musical works.
The terms appear on Tentative List 1514, to be approved on February 2, 2015. PSD is requesting comments from the library community; please email Janis Young at [email protected] through January 26, 2015.
TThe music genre/form project is a partnership undertaken by PSD and the Music Library Associations’ Bibliographic Control Committee, Form/Genre Task Force. PSD thanks the members of the Task Force for their time and effort. Special thanks are also due to MARCIVE, Inc., which created MARC records for the proposals from a Word document provided by the Task Force.
Musical form headings in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) were the starting point for the project, but the headings and reference structure were often adjusted for LCGFT, and scope notes were also added in some cases. The Tentative List also includes a number of genre/form terms that do not appear in LCSH. All of the genre/form terms for musical works are narrower terms (NTs) in the Music hierarchy.
The Task Force and PSD are continuing to discuss approximately 150 more terms that do not appear on Tentative List 1514. As the issues with those terms are resolved, proposals for them will be published and approved on future Tentative Lists according to the standard practice. LC catalogers and members of the Subject Authority Cooperative (SACO) program will also be able to propose new genre/form terms for music, 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 musical works from LC and SACO contributors.
LC genre/form terms for musical works should be assigned in conjunction with terms in the Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music (LCMPT) Example:
382 01 $a clarinet $n 1 $a violin $n 2 $a viola $n 1 $a cello $n 1 $s 4 $2 lcmpt
655 #7 $a Suites. $2 lcgft
[a suite for clarinet, viola, cello, and two violins]
LC subject headings that combine a genre or form with one or more mediums of performance (e.g., Suites (Clarinet, violins (2), viola, cello)) will be cancelled because they are assigned solely to works of music. PSD will announce the date on which the headings will be cancelled, which is not expected to occur before early 2016.
LC subject headings that are analogous to genre/form terms for musical works (e.g., Suites) will remain valid because the subject headings should continue to be assigned to works about the musical genres and forms.
