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The College
of St. Scholastica Library Lab
Worksheet
One: Database Searching |
The subject field is nothing more
than the area of the MARC record where what the book is "about" is listed.
However, since uniformity of description is an important aspect to well
organized information, only the Library of Congress determines the terms
that will be used to describe the people, places, events and ideas that
make up what a book is about.
The following is the record
from PALS for the book Birth Chairs, Midwives, and Medicine.
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Library:
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St. Scholastica
College |
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Location:
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RG652
.B36 1999 |
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Availability:
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Available -- Click
here for Location details |
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Author:
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Banks, Amanda Carson,
1965- |
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Title:
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Birth chairs, midwives,
and medicine / Amanda Carson Banks. |
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Publisher:
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Jackson : University
Press of Mississippi, c1999. |
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Description:
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xxiii, 154 p. : ill.
; 24 cm. |
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Bibliography:
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Includes bibliographical
references and index. |
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Subject:
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Childbirth--Social
aspects--History. |
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Subject:
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Midwifery--History. |
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Subject:
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Birth
customs--History. |
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Subject:
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Maternal
health services--History. |
In the above example, Library
of Congress subject headings appear in the field labeled Subject: |
The book is about the history of
birthing customs and the roles of midwifes in birth. The LC subject headings
are stylized – Childbirth--Social aspects—History [and] Midwifery—History
[and] Birth customs—History - All of them relate to the topic of the book,
but all of them, in this case, are needed to convey the impression of what
the books is about.
Subheadings can be added. There
are separated from the subject headings by dashes. In this case “history”
is the common subheading, but under the subject “Childbirth” the subheading
“social aspects” is added to make it differentiate the book from one about,
say, the clinical aspects of childbirth.
| Expanding
your search with hot links |
On PALS, the subject headings also
serve as hotlinks to other books in the collection about the same topic.
Just click on the subject heading for a list of additional books
on the topic.
You will learn more about subject
headings when you begin Worksheet Three: Finding
books through subject searching.
On PALS,
locate the record for the book Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin.
At the bottom of the record are three subject headings assigned by the
Library of Congress that describe what the book is about.
| 7a. Which subject heading
describes stories of birth without medical intervention? |
| 7b. Which subject heading
describes the medical science of birth and mother/fetal health? |
| 7c. On PALS subject headings
are hot links to other books owned by a library on the same subject. Click
on the subject heading you listed for question b. How many items does the
CSS Library own on the topic of the medical science of birth and mother/fetal
health? |
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