Subject access to fiction

1. Subject access to fiction Why bother?

2. Fiction’s place in the library collection • Libraries’ historic tendency to hold works of imagination in much contempt • Fiction as a blight on the collection, a prurient black art that entices and seduces

3. History • Libraries attempted to control and reduce the amount of fiction reading by several methods: • 2 [or 4] book system • Ribbon arrangement

4. Evolution • From a frivolous, dangerous and troubling component of library collections to a part of our culture; literary texts as manmade, historically produced objects • 20th century change in literary studies

5. The Canon • Used to be a collection of books read and studied by English lit majors, a collection that constituted the intellectual heritage of educated Americans, a.k.a. “masterpieces” • Fixed and closed, with rare exceptions

6. Recent changes • Started in 1960s and 70s • Ethnic profile of both students and faculty have changed dramatically • Multiculturalism has increased demand for a literature that reflects a group’s experience, a literature of their own

7. Impact of feminism* • The “canon” did not reflect the true history of women • Proponents disinterred the history of women by finding evidence where they could, including fiction • Much of the feminist studies in the 1970s helped explode the boundaries of acceptable, studied literature *used as a pattern heading

8. Discussion • Do works of the imagination have value? • Are they content carriers? • What information do we obtain from them?

9. Changes • Library of Congress now assigns subject headings to fiction • Guidelines for subject access to fiction, 2nd edition • How has this changed access to fiction?

10. Subject access to children’s materials • Fiction and nonfiction • What is the purpose of children’s collection?

11. To summarize • Subject searching is an art, not a science • Is technology the answer? • Subject access to all materials