Riley

Donelson LIS 531 12/9/12 Subject Cataloging 1. Summary of The Harried Life of a Working Mother In a survey of Americans that examines data from 1948-2009, it appears that a

majority of Americans are rejecting traditional social views of women in the workplace, and believe that women should help support the family financially. While some men are beginning to have slightly more involvement in the home, women still spend the most time on housework and child-care, which can make them feel busier and more pressured. American women report feeling conflicted about their work-life balance, and the majority would prefer to only work part-time. A majority of men continue to prefer to work full- time, but women remain conflicted between work and family. 2. Concepts for LC Subject Headings The first concept that leapt out to me was that of working mothers. In addition to

actually being part of the title of the article itself, the term could be argued to be the main subject of the article. Everything else in the article was discussed in relation to working mothers, whether it was public opinion, breaking the glass ceiling, mens roles in the family, or the evolving social attitudes towards traditional roles in the United States. Clearly, this was a concept that needed to be explored and made more specific. I decided that this concept could be broken into two different concepts, which would be the publics opinion of working mothers, and the relationships working mothers have with their families. Another concept that stood out to me was the issue of balancing work and family.

While browsing terms on Classification Web I came across the term work-life balance, which I think nicely sums up the conflict of working mothers. The article complies data on how much work women would prefer to do outside the home to achieve a healthy balance between work and family life, and how this amount often differs from the work-life balance men prefer. The article also discussed the difference between what a majority of women 1

would prefer as a work-life balance, and what their work-life balance actually looks like. The evolution of the work-life balance of the average woman is also discussed. The third concept I was searching for was one that encompassed family and

employment. However, this wasnt a terribly specific term. With help from Classification web, I found the more specific term dual-career families, which states that the term describes families in which both husband and wife are pursuing careers and how this affects their relationship and family life. At first I was hesitant to use this term, as it leaves out single-mothers, but the role of the father in relation to working mothers was given a significant amount of analysis in the article, and I decided that it would be an appropriate term to use. 3. Four Subject Headings 650_0 $a Working mothers $x Family relationships $z United States 650_0 $a Working mothers $x Public opinion 650_0 $a Work-life balance $z United States 650_0 $a Dual-career families $z United States

4. The Decision Process Because I felt that working mothers was the most significant concept and the main focus of the article, I thought I should try to break down the concept in two different ways. First, I decided to explore the concept of family relationships. If this concept was added to working mothers, it would add a necessary layer of depth and specificity. According to the article, one of the reasons working mothers feel harried is that they struggle of balance their relationships with different members of the family. They need to find a way to share the financial burden with their spouse, and also spend time with and care for their children. Adding the topical subdivision family relationships reveals why the working mothers are the subject of the article. The article isnt just about mothers who work; it explores the way working affects a womans relationship to her family.

I felt that there were other aspects of the term working mothers to explore, and I

initially intended to add the term attitudes because the article discussed at length the evolving opinions of American society in regard to women working, and how Americans are moving away from a more traditional view. However, I then stumbled upon the free- floating subdivision public opinion, which came with this following description: Use under names of individual persons and corporate bodies, and under classes of persons, ethnic groups, individual wars, and topical headings for works on public opinion about those persons or topics. For works on attitudes or opinions held by members of a group, use the subdivision Attitudes under classes of persons and ethnic groups.

After reading this description, I realized that attitudes would not be appropriate, because, while the opinions of working mothers are expressed in the article, a main focus is on how the public views them. The article contained a great deal of data regarding the publics opinion towards womens roles in the workplace and the home, while I felt that much less than 20% of the article concerned the opinions working mothers held about their own status. While examining the concept of work-life balance, I was tempted to add the topical

subdivision family relationships to make the term more specific, as it would explain what part of the work-life balance complicates the lives of the subject of the article, but I realized that the term was only to be used as a topical subdivision under classes of persons according to Classification Web, so I left it out. I did include it to describe working mothers however, as that term was actually describing a class of persons in that instance. I continued to attempt to find a way to make the concept of work-life balance more

specific, but ultimately I decided to simply add the geographic term and leave it at that. Although the article focused mostly on mothers and work-life balance, the article actually included information on fathers, families in general, and the attitudes of the general public, which is very broad. Although I still feel misgivings about such a broad term, I couldnt find an effective way to narrow it, and so I am leaving it the way it is. The same goes for the concept of dual-career families. Although more specific than work-life balance, I feel that the subject is still too broad. However, I still feel the subject is much better than my first idea, 3

which was work and family, which is certainly far too broad. The issues the article discusses mostly center around the issues concerning households in which there are two working parents, so I felt that the term was apt. In almost every case, the terms I chose allowed geographic subdivisions, so I

decided to include them. The only case where I found some ambiguity was with the term public opinion. When I searched for this term in Classification Web under free-floating subdivisions it didnt say that I could subdivide geographically. However, if I searched for the term under subject headings, it noted that it would be acceptable to add one. I wasnt sure, so I decided to leave off the term United States for that specific heading. I was conflicted about using chronological subdivisions. A reading that was helpful

was in H 620 Chronological Headings and Subdivisions where it says Some headings are limited to a specific time period due to the nature of the subject expressed, such as historical movements, artistic styles, or technological developments. I felt that the concept of working mothers in the United States was specific enough to imply a time period. This would hardly be a topic that would be relevant in 1780. The subject implies a modern time. Also, as the time period of the data discussed spans several decades and two centuries, I felt that it would be difficult to pick a specific term. 5. The Best Subject Heading 650_0 $a Working mothers $x family relationships $z United States

I feel that this heading best describes the content of the article. The changing role of the working mother and how her work affects her relationship with her family is the meat of the article. Of the three concepts I chose, I feel that this one represents the most, without being too broad to be helpful, or two narrow as to leave out some of the issues raised by the article.