Richard, I think what you say here is true for what in MARC are subfields v, y, z, but possibly not for x. Also, you may need to make different decisions based on the type of subject heading (topic v. geographic, for example). Unfortunately, LCSH didn't retain subfield coding, so I don't know how you do this when starting with LC's LCSH.
OCLC took apart LCSH and called it FAST, although I believe they used the actual headings in bibliographic records, not the entries in LCSH (which are patterns for creating headings). [1] OL also took part the subject headings, but also switched the comma delimited ones to natural order (Cookery, French to French Cookery). There were also other changes but I don't know off hand what they were. The reason I say that subfield x is an except is that subfield x is an exception is because it often makes little sense outside of the context of the main heading: Cooking, American -- Southern style The subfield x's tend to be adjectives associated with the main heading. Sorry that it's so confusing. I expect that many people will do as you suggest, and that for the most part it will be usable. It is a shame that LC's version lost the meaning of the facets (a = main topic, x = subtopic, v = genre, y = chronological subdivision, z = geographical subdivision). OL used MARC subject headings for its subject input, and therefore was able to retain some of the meaning of the different facts. kc [1] http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/fast/default.htm Quoting Richard Light <[email protected]>: > > Hi, > > Having loaded the latest LCSH dump into my home-made "triple store", I > was wondering about deconstructing the headings into their component > parts, and making something like a SKOS ontology or Topic Map from them. > Thus, for example, "Arts--Awards--United States" might become: > > <lcshConcept> > <id>sh2002000283</id> > <lang>en</lang> > <heading> > <value>Arts</value> > </heading> > <heading> > <value>Awards</value> > </heading> > <heading> > <value>United States</value> > </heading> > </lcshConcept> > > and "Compromise (Islamic law)": > > <lcshConcept> > <id>sh85029458</id> > <lang>en</lang> > <heading> > <value>Compromise</value> > <scope>Islamic law</scope> > </heading> > </lcshConcept> > > Is this a reasonable interpretation of the semantics of "--" and "(...)" > in LCSH? And hasn't someone else already done this sort of exercise - > surely they must have? (My thinking is that LCSH headings are sort of a > post-coordinate system, and the pre-coordinated components of headings > might prove to be interesting and useful on their own account - not > least for indexing Open Library materials.) > > Richard > -- > Richard Light > _______________________________________________ > Ol-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to > [email protected] > -- Karen Coyle [email protected] http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet _______________________________________________ Ol-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to [email protected]
