Subject cataloguing New Zealand fiction : public librarians' perceptions of its value

Abstract

The National Library of New Zealand provides only minimal subject access to New Zealand adult fiction through catalogue records. The Library is considering a review of this practice. However the value of the provision of greater subject access to New Zealand fiction is unknown. A review of the Library and Information Science literature revealed little research performed on this topic. The following study used a qualitative approach to explore some public librarians' perceptions of the value of subject access to New Zealand fiction through the catalogue. Four cataloguers and five reference librarians were interviewed to discover how the provision of greater subject access to New Zealand fiction could benefit their daily work. Provision was seen to be valuable for reasons of cataloguing efficiency, consistency with international standards, and improving customer service by having more information on records. Participants supported Clare Beghtol's (1994) theory that subject access to fiction should be denotative (objective) rather than connotative (interpretative).