[SAC-FAST] Re: SAC Subcommittee on FAST

[qiangjin at uiuc.edu]

Sorry. See Arlene's methodology below.

Qiang

>From Arlene:

Here are some questions that might get us started thinking
about how to evaluate:

1. Do the FAST headings as a group seem to cover the
"aboutness" of the item?  (This will be difficult because
we'll have only the bib record.  We can't count on the title
to be explicit enough to give us the "aboutness."  If there's
a contents note or a summary, that
will help.)

2. If the topical headings have topical subdivisions, do they
appear to be properly constructed?

3. If there are geographic headings, 
 a. Does each one cover the whole of the item being described,
or doesone or more geographics cover only a part of the
"aboutness"?
 b. Do the geographic headings make sense as constructed in
indirect order?

4. If there are personal and/or corporate names, 
a. Do they seem to represent the "aboutness" of the item?  
b. Is the entire item about the person or corporate body, or
just a part of the item?  
c. Do topical subjects associated with the person or corporate
body (that would have been subdivisions following the name)
make sense by themselves?

5. If there are form or genre headings, 
a. Does each one represent the whole of the item being
described, or does one or more form/genre heading apply to
only a portion of the item?  
b. Is the term that is coded as form/genre truly
representative of the form of the item, or is the item "about"
that form/genre concept?

6.If there are chronological headings, do the time periods
make sense for the item being described?  (Given the way these
examples will be created,
i.e., deconstructing LCSH, the chronological headings will
represent LCSH time periods, not the exact period covered by
the item as FAST is intended to do; so I'm not sure what we
can evaluate here.)