Why Do we Need Subject Access?

Subject access is vitally important. The children in my library come to the library on the whole to: *find a fiction book to read *find resources on a specific subject There are specific 'mechanisms' (Hider, 2010, p.99) that libraries use to help their users find information resources relevant to a specific subject. There are 3 steps to this process: 1.The cataloguer has to 'decide what the information resource is about' (Hider, 2010, p.99) 2. Transform that information into 'terms (words and phrases) or symbols which represent the subject'(Hider, 2010, p.99) 3. Provide 'access to these terms and symbols through the library information retrieval system'(Hider, 2010, p.99) Basically we need to provide subject access in order to meet our users' needs. This is achievable in two ways: The library information retrieval system needs to: ** 'provide access to the subject of the information resources in the system' (Hider, 2010, p.99) ** 'provide guidance on what has been published or made available about a particular subject' (Hider, 2010, p.99) Most catalogue searches are undertaken to find out: 1. if the library has access to a specific information resource (A KNOWN ITEM SEARCH) 2. if the library as access to information resources that 'deal with a particular subject' (A SUBJECT SEARCH) (Hider, 2010, p.99) So far so good! This makes sense.