Character headings

The rules on this page have been approved in concept by the SCRAP committee, but the exact wording is still being adjusted. Please use these rules. Please send any feedback to SCRAP.

Subject headings for fictitious characters, imaginary places, fictious organizations, etc. follow the Library of Congress guidelines. CCS policy varies from the LC policy of waiting for the third appearance of a character, by tracing the character sooner if it looks likely to recur.

Construct the fictitious character heading like a personal name entry:

650 0 Surname, forename (Fictitious character)--Fiction

For juvenile fiction, when the character is encountered within the title, series title, or summary note it is not necessary to create a character heading. There are exceptions under certain circumstances.

1. If there is no other access.
2. If the character appears in both adult and juvenile books, e.g., Fox Mulder & Dana Scully of X-Files. If books are in both collections and character headings are already in use in the adult collection, then the headings can be used in juvenile collection with ‡x Juvenile fiction.

Follow normal Subject Authority file procedure for proposing headings. Search the work being cataloged for mention of other works in which the character appears, or search the CCS database for other fiction works by the same author; look for the character’s name in subtitles or notes. Add the character subject heading to other records already in the CCS database

External links

PCC guidelines for Subject Headings for Fictitious Characters, Places, etc.