The or SWD (translated as ''Subject Headings Authority File'') is a

controlled vocabulary Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Control ...

index term In information retrieval, an index term (also known as subject term, subject heading, descriptor, or keyword) is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a document. Index terms make up a controlled vocabulary for use in bibliographic reco ...

system used primarily for subject indexing in

library catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also ...

s. The SWD is managed by the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

(DNB) in cooperation with various

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

networks. The inclusion of keywords in the SWD is defined by (RSWK) (English: Rules for the keyword catalogue). Similar authority systems in other languages include the

Library of Congress Subject Headings The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) comprise a thesaurus (in the information science sense, a controlled vocabulary) of subject headings, maintained by the United States Library of Congress, for use in bibliographic records. LC Subj ...

(LCSH) and the (). Since April 2012 the SWD is part of the (GND) (English: Integrated Authority File).

Scope

The SWD has about 600,000 descriptors and 700,000 non-descriptors ( synonyms and quasi-synonyms) as well as synonymous descriptor chains with references to a descriptor. Its growth rate is about 5.5% per year. About three-quarters of the descriptors refer to individual concepts (language identifier, person, entity, title, ethnography etc.) and a quarter are abstract concepts. Linking using hierarchical (about 115,000) and associative (26,000) relations is not very dense, so the SWD cannot be viewed as a thesaurus (as of mid-2003). The terms in the SWD are also arranged in a separate classification with nearly 500 classes in 36 main groups.

Structure

The various terms are placed in a classification scheme and also contain references to sources, related terms, preferred term and to a lesser extent hierarchical links. But the SWD is probably not a complete thesaurus because of the low degree of linkage. The SWD is available online through the catalogue database ILTIS and is available for a fee as BIBLIODATA, together with the (PND) (English: Name Authority File) and the (GKD) (English: Corporate Bodies Authority File) on the standard data CD-ROM and the standard file TITAN. In both cases, the user interface of the SWD leaves much room for improvement. Instead of making SWD accessible as a user-friendly navigation tool, it assumes that users are familiar with SWD and its classification scheme and enter the appropriate descriptor in the correct form before running a search. Navigating the system or moving from one concept to another by means of hyperlinks is not possible. The strategy of the German Library to distribute authority records commercially makes the extended use of the SWD difficult, e.g. in other keyword systems. For the exchange of authority records, there is a separate machine exchange format for libraries called MAB-SWD. The head official of the Southwest German Library Network (SWB) offers online access (OSWD).

External links

Searching the OSWD

about the SWD * Rules for the Keyword Catalogue (RSWK) 3rd edition, Deutsches Bibliotheksinstitut, 1998

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlagwortnormdatei 2012 disestablishments in Germany Library cataloging and classification Identifiers Thesauri

Scope

Structure

See also

External links