1. ASIST 2012 Annual Meeting
Baltimore, MD, October 26-30, 2012
Descriptive metadata related to fiction:
similarities of different user groups
Dr. Alenka Šauperl
Department of Library and Information Science and
Book Studies
Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
Slovenia

2. 4 user groups share an interest in
novels
• Librarians
– Library catalogs: class numbers, subject headings,
notes
• Publishers
– Promotion summaries
• Journalists and literary theorists
– Reviews
• Readers
– Comments and tags in social networks

3. NOVEL LCC DDC UDC
Thomas Mann PT2625 .A44 B313 833.91 821.112.2-31
(1875-1955): 1992
Confessions of Felix PT German literature 83 German literature 82 Literature
Krull, confidence
man : the early PT 2625 Individual 833 German fiction 821 Literatures of
years. 1st ed. New authors – time perod individual languages
York : Vintage 1860/70 – 1960
Books, 1992 .A44 Mann, Thomas 833.91 German 821.112.2 German
fiction in the time literature
period 1900-1990
B313 Cutter number 821-311.2
for the uniform title Representational
of the work novels of customs
and characters.
Depiction of
everyday life.
Realistic, slice-of-life
novels

4. Guidelines on subject access to • Finnish (Saarti, 2000) and
individual works of fiction, Slovenian research findings
drama, etc.
• Topic
• Form and genre (e.g., mystery • Literary character
fiction, mystery plays) • Location of the story
• Literary characters • Time of the story
• Setting (time and location) • Experience
• Topic • Author
• Evaluation
• Structure
• Literary genre
• Award
• Background of work
• Similar work
• Place in literary history

5. Amazon Categorization

6. Publishers
Book Industry Study Group: BISAC Subject Promotion
Heading List summaries
• FIC028000 FICTION / Science Fiction / General • Evaluation
• FIC028010 FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure • Topic
• FICTION / Science Fiction / Alternative History see • Literary character/s
Alternative History • Author
• FIC028020 FICTION / Science Fiction / High Tech • Place
• FIC028050 FICTION / Science Fiction / Military • Experience
• FIC028040 FICTION / Science Fiction / Short Stories • Literary genre
• FIC028030 FICTION / Science Fiction / Space Opera • Other work or author
• FIC028060 FICTION / Science Fiction / Steampunk * • Time
• Excerpt
• Publishing year
• Award
• Structure
• Translation

7. Literary theorists
• Evaluation • Author
• Genre • Other work
• Topic • General information
• Literary characters • Similar authors and works
• Excerpt • Experience
• Structure • Language
• Place • Foreword
• Style • Award
• Time

8. Wikipedia entry for a novel
Chapters Infobox
• Introductory sentence • Title
• Summary • Translator
• Series • Image with caption
• Awards, evaluation • Author
• Editions, translations, adaptations • Illustrator
• Sources • Cover_artist
• See also references • Country
• Links to external sources • Language
• Categories • Series
– genre
– Year • Genre
– Country • Publisher
– Age group • Release_date
– Author • English_pub_date
– Award • Media_type
– Series
– Main character
• Pages
– Language • ISBN
– Media type (e.g., based on a film) • OCLC identification number
– Topic • Preceded and followed by
• Class number
• Subject headings

9. Readers’ tags and comments in
LibraryThing and Amazon
• Genre
• Topic
• Author
• Position in literary history
• Evaluation
• Place
• Style
• Other authors and their works
• Time
• Experience
• Title of the work
• Readers action or intention
• Total literary works

10. STORYLINE AUTHOR GENRE EVALUATION
Topic Name often Expected Award
repeated information
Events Other works Opinion
•Positive
•Negative
Setting Biographical Emotional
•Location information experience
•Time
Literary characters Awards
•Their profession
•Their role in the
novel
How detailed? Authority work? Multiple genres? Include in the
library catalog?
User enhanced Enhancing catalog
records? records at a later
date?