Subject headings for OCLC rare book records: a case study

This study presents an overview of the quality of 232 OCLC rare book cataloging records. Of the 232 records, 31 that needed subject headings were not provided with any. A total of 791 headings, including main headings (428) and subdivision headings (363), were examined and 69 discrepancies were found. The discrepancies were mainly obsolete headings. The error rate was 9 per cent. Only one typographical error was found. Moreover, 95 per cent (191) of the 201 records had been replaced at least once but the discrepancy rate remained very high at 8 per cent. Since the records examined were not randomly selected and the sample size was small, the result of this study cannot be generalized. However, the overall results indicate that the quality of OCLC rare book records need attention as much as, if not more than, other records.