The importance of good subject headings in a library catalogue

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In any library it's important to have subject headings that are very specific for books and other resources so that patrons can more easily find what they are looking for.  For example, books on RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) are very popular in the library where I work.  Often students will come in and ask for books on RIE and at first I didn't know what they meant.  Then once I knew I decided it would be a good idea to add RIE as a subject term for all the books that cover this teaching approach  (the other terms being used were very generic Library of Congress subject headings, e.g. Child care).  Now when you type in RIE as a keyword into the catalogue search box, all the books on RIE come up.  If RIE wasn't a subject term, then these books would only appear in the search results if RIE was mentioned somewhere in the catalogue record of the book, e.g. the abstract.

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