Metadata: OCLC Begins Enriching WorldCat Records with FAST Headings

From OCLC:

FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) is a fully enumerative faceted subject heading schema derived from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), a widely-used subject-access vocabulary published and maintained by the Library of Congress. The development of FAST has been a collaboration of OCLC and the Library of Congress with advice from members of the ALCTS/SAC/Subcommittee on FAST.

Beginning in September 2013, OCLC is systematically adding FAST headings to WorldCat bibliographic records.

The records affected will already have LCSH assigned, and the routines will be applied only to records that are attributed as being English-language-of-cataloging.

Learn More

Overview Document: Enriching WorldCat with FAST (6 pages; PDF)

Use FAST Yourself (Online Demos)

We’ve Pointed to Several FAST and mapFAST Online Demos in Previous infoDOCKET Posts. They include:

• assignFAST: A New Protoype From OCLC Research, Autosuggest FAST Subject Headings (October 24, 2012)

• OCLC Releases FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) as Linked Data (December 14, 2011)

• OCLC Research Releases New FAST Prototype User Interface and Invites Your Comments (November 18, 2011)

• A New Prototype from OCLC Research: A Web Interface for Converting LCSH Headings to FAST Headings (May 21, 2011)

Direct to searchFAST and Other Live Web-Based Demos

Presentation

FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology): A Vocabulary to Facilitate Faceted Browsing (PDF; 35 slides)
by Eric Childress, OCLC Research
Presentation at School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
March 11, 2010