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4. Subject Classification

Custom Categories

  • Anthropocene: the "end(s)" of humanity, climate emergency, human impact on the planet
  • Art+Aesthetics: books by/about artists
  • Autotheory: biographical approaches to the theoretical and theoretical approaches to biography
  • Biosphere: nature/ecology studies
  • Built Environments: architecture
  • Capital+Lucre: capitalism, economic theory, expenditure, surplus
  • Cultural Studies+Critical Theory: cultural studies and critical theory
  • Fabulations: fiction, poetry
  • History: history
  • Humanities+University: university studies, humanities
  • Languages+Translations: linguistics, translations, language philosophy
  • Literary Studies: literary studies
  • Manifesto!: manifestos, pamphlets, calls to action
  • Media+Technology: media studies, STS
  • Moving Image: film studies
  • Neurodiverse+Crip: neurodiverse and crip studies/authors
  • New Left Thought: political theory
  • Para-Academia: authors on academic margins, adjunctification, changing the university
  • Pedagogies: pedagogy
  • Philosophy: philosophy
  • Posthumanism: the post-, other-, and more-than-human. Books about the impact of humankind on the planet should go under Anthropocene.
  • Premodern: classical, medieval studies
  • Sex: sexuality, pornography
  • Sound+Noise: sound studies, music, noise
  • Thought Experiments: experimental writing, cross-genre publications
  • TransQueer: LGBTQIA+ studies, authors

Thema

Thema 1.6 is the currently most detailed open subject classification schema. Proper Thema classification is essential to book discoverability. 

Thema's Six Golden Rules

  • Ensure the first subject category is the primary or main subject of the book (with ONIX, use <MainSubject/>)
  • Select further categories that together best describe the subject and scope of the book: use broader codes for wide-ranging approaches; use more precise codes for works that focus on specific topics
    • Don’t assign both a detailed category and a broader ancestor of that category (eg both FJH and FJ)
    • In general, top level codes (eg F or V) are not suitable for use – choose more detailed codes beginning with F or V
  • Assign as many categories as are required to describe the overall content of the work (within reason)
    • It’s very unusual to require more than three or four subject categories (codes beginning A–Y), and often, just one or two categories are enough
  • Observe any scope notes and instructions (see the ✽ symbols above)
  • Add qualifiers (codes beginning 1–6) whenever appropriate, to refine the meaning of the subject categories
    • Qualifiers cannot be used alone, without at least one subject category
  • Always consider the context of the categories within the hierarchy

Furthermore

  • Select codes based on what the publication is about
    • Use one or multiple codes from category headings A–Y
  • If the publication concerns a specific place, choose a heading from category 1
  • If the publication concerns a language other than English, choose a heading from category 2
  • If the publication concerns a specific time period, choose a heading from category 3
  • If the publication concerns a specific interest group, choose a heading from category 5
    • 5P categories for LGBTQIA+, intersex, trans, disabled, indigenous, Black, etc.
    • 5T for literature of a specific country (used for translations)
  • If the publication concerns a specific artistic, literary, or musical style, choose a heading from category 6

BISAC

BISAC is a very rough ad outdated subject classification scheme that inexplicably is still widely used in the book industry. KDP and Asterism Books have this as their standard classification system.

Keywords

LOC


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