b'Specific and Direct EntryThe principle of specific and direct entry is fundamental in modern subject cataloging. According tothat rule a work is entered in the catalog directly under the most specific subject heading thataccurately represents its content. This term should be neither broader nor narrower but co-extensivein scope with the subject of the work cataloged. The principle was definitively formulated byCharles A. Cutter (1837-1903) in his Rules for a Dictionary Catalog. Cutter wrote: Enter a workunder its subject-heading, not under the heading of a class which includes that subject. Hisexample is: Put Lady Custs book on The Catunder Cat, not under Zoology or Mammals, orDomestic animals; and put Garniers Le Ferunder Iron, not under Metals or Metallurgy. Thereason this principle has become sacred to modern cataloging is simply that there is no other way toinsure uniformity. In subject cataloging uniformity means simply that all materials on a single topicare assigned the same subject heading. If the headings Cats, Zoology, Mammals, and Domesticanimals were all equally correct for a book on cats, as they would be without Cutters rule, therewould be no single heading for that topic and consequently no assurance of uniformity. Onecataloger could assign the heading Cats to Lady Custs book, another cataloger could assign theheading Mammals to another book on cats, and a third cataloguer could assign the headingDomestic animals or Pets to yet another book on cats. There would then be no simple way toretrieve all the materials on cats in the librarys collection.The principle of specific entry holds that a work is always entered under a specific term rather thanunder a broader heading that includes the specific concept. This principle is of particular importanceto the cataloguer using the Sears List, since the heading of appropriate specificity must be added if itis not already there. If, for example, a work being catalogued is about penguins, it should be enteredonly under the most specific term that is not narrower than the scope of the book itself, that is,Penguins. It should not be assigned the heading Birds or Water birds. This is true even though theheading Penguins does not appear in the List. When a specific subject is not found in the List, theheading for the larger group or category to which it belongs should be consulted, in this case Birds.There the cataloger finds a general reference that reads: SA [See also] types of birds, e.g. Birds ofprey; Canaries; etc. [to be added as needed]. The cataloger must establish the heading Penguinsas a narrower term under the heading Birds and then assign it to the book on penguins. In manycases the most specific entry will be a general subject. A book entitled Birds of the World wouldhave the subject heading Birds. Even though Birds is a very broad term, it is the narrowest termthat comprehends the subject content of that work.Having assigned a work the most specific subject heading that is applicable, the cataloger shouldnot then make an additional entry under a broader heading. A work with the title Birds of the Oceanshould not be entered under both Birds and Water birds but only under Water birds. To eliminatethis duplication, the See also references in the public catalog direct the user from the broader subjectheadings to the more specific ones. At Birds, for example, the reference would read: See alsoBirds of prey; Canaries; Pelicans; Penguins; Water birds, etc.A-21'