1. SUBJECT
HEADINGS
LIKE TAGGING.
ONLY BETTER.

2. WHEN ITEMS ARE
ADDED TO DATABASES
AND LIBRARY CATALOGS,
THEY ARE INDEXED.

3. H IS OFTE N INC LUDES:
T
BASIC CITATION INFORMATION
ABSTRACT/SUMMARY
CALL NUMBER
SUBJECT HEADINGS

4. SUBJECT HEADINGS
ARE ESSENTIALLY TAGS.
sub
jec
t

5. THESE TAGS TELL YOU
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT
WHAT THE ITEM IS ABOUT
on
rs ing Psyc
holog cati
Nu y Edu

6. BUT THEY DON’T USE
JUST ANY OLD WORDS

7. THEY HAVE A
LI ST
OF SPECIFIC WORDS

8. BECAUSE I MIGHT TAG
AN ITEM WITH
-b om b
A

9. SOMEONE ELSE
MIGHT TAG IT WITH
Atom
ic
Bomb

10. AND WE WOULD
HAVE CHAOS.

11. BY USING A
LIST
OF WORDS,

12. WE CAN EASILY
GROUP ITEMS ABOUT
SIMILAR TOPICS.
mic
B om
Atomic
om ic
to Atom
A
A b
b
t
Bom
Bom
ic Bomb
b

13. THE LIBRARY
CATALOG USES
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SUBJECT HEADINGS

14. DATABASES USUALLY
HAVE THEIR OWN
SUBJECT HEADINGS.

15. LOOK FOR WORDS LIKE:
H eadings Subjects
Desc
ripto he sau rus
rs T

16. YOU CAN COMBINE
SUBJ ECT HE ADINGS
WITH
KEYWORDS
TO CREATE MORE COMPLEX
SEARCH STRATEGIES

17. DON’T FORGET THOSE
OOLEAN
BOOLEAN OPERATORS!
B

18. A N D
OR
NOT

19. QUESTIONS
?
ASK YOUR
LIBRARIAN
gvsu.edu/library

20. CREDITS
Slide One http://www.flickr.com/photos/devnull/175720109/sizes/o/