A " Network " of subject headings : the " Répertoire de l'université Laval " adopted by the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris.

The " Bibliothèque nationale " has adopted since April 1980 the Répertoire de vedettes matières of the Laval university as a subject authority list, just as the " Bibliothèque publique d'information " at the end of 1974 ; the common source of these lists is Library of Congress Subject Headings. The article studies the structure of the subject authority list of the " Bibliothèque nationale " as well as the indexing process according to this new system. The translation from English to French raises some difficulties, essentially related to the language and the culture. As regards the creations of subject headings, they must be strictly controlled. A more fruitful collaboration with Laval and the " Bibliothèque publique d'information " is highly desirable to maintain the compatibility betwen the lists. The subject index in the Bibliographie de la France and the national bibliographic database will be, in the future, the best means of diffusion of the subject cataloguing derived from this authority list.
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