Objectivity in Evaluating Subject Heading Assignment

Recent papers have called attention to discrepancies in the assignment of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). While philosoohical arguments can be made that subject analysis, if not a logical impossibility, at least is point-of-view dependent subject headings continue to be assigned and continue to be useful. The hypothesis advanced in the present project is that to a considerable degree there is a clearcut right and wrong to LCSH subject heading assignment. To test the hypothesis, it was postulated that the assignment of a subject heading is correct if it is supported by textual warrant (at least 20 percent of the book being calaloged is on the topic) and is constructed in accordance with the Library of Congress Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings. A sample of 100 books on scientific subjects was used to test the hypothesis.