Geographic Subject Headings

A third type of subject heading is the Geographic heading. This can be seen in two different ways. The first style is to have a heading that consists of a geographic name, such as BELARUS, or CANADA. This geographic name may be further subdivided to indicate the focus of the library item, such as BELARUS—HISTORY, or CANADA—ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. 

Another way of forming a geographic subject heading is to use the geographic place name after the topical heading, to indicate treatment of that topic related to a specific geographic area. Examples of this type of use would be CATACOMBS—ITALY, or BARS (DRINKING ESTABLISHMENTS)—NEW YORK. In the listing of subject terms in LCSH look for the phrase "(May Subd Geog)" as part of the notes and information following any given subject term. This phrase indicates that the geographic place name may be used after the topical heading, as in BOLL WEEVIL—GEORGIA. The phrase "(Not Subd Geog)" or the absence of either of these phrases means that the geographic place name should come first, as in UNITED STATES—HISTORY.

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