1. Guide to Using Validator
For CPLI Indexers
D. Winarski
March 2009
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2. Keep both tagged and thesaurus images visible
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Recommended
Settings
Turn all search
filters on (they
should be bold)
Search both Headings
and References

3. You’ll normally be using
either
Browse
or
Keyword AND
(don’t use Keyword OR)
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Subject Searches

4. Do I Search Names or Subjects?
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Category Example
Personal Names Bernardin, Joseph, 1928-1996
Conferences (Meeting Names) Vatican Council (1st : 1869-1870)
Titles of Works Guys and dolls (Motion picture)
60 minutes (Television program)
Bible—OT—Genesis
Universities University of Notre Dame
Ships African Queen (Ship)
Jurisdictional Names Illinois
Chicago (Ill)
Pilsen (Chicago, Ill)
Diocese of Raleigh
Laws, Treaties Holy Alliance (Treaty : 1815)
United States--1996 Farm Act
Biblical Figures Abimelech (Biblical figure)
You may not think of
all of these things as
“names,” but in
Validator , you must
have the names
database selected to
find them.

5. Do I Search Names or Subjects?
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Category Example
Fictitious characters Sawyer, Tom (Fictitious character)
Deities Zeus (Greek deity)
Persons with “and” or “in” (in
various contexts)
Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint, and Christian union
Jesus Christ in the Koran
Jesus Christ--In motion pictures
Abraham (Biblical patriarch) in the New Testament
These
categories
require the
subjects
database
Churches appear in BOTH databases.
HEADING VALIDATOR DB IES LIST
Anglican Communion Subjects Topical
Episcopal Church Both Corporate
Orthodox Eastern Church Both Corporate
Pentecostal Churches Subjects Topical

6. Tagged View
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Other tags to know for CLA work:
100 Heading = Personal Name
111 Heading = Meeting Name
130 Heading = Uniform Title
The Tagged View of Validator will tell you (among other things) whether a heading is
Topical or Corporate.
150 Heading = Topical Term
110 Heading = Corporate Name

7. List of Hits Window
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The list of hits entries are displayed in alphabetic
order. To the left of each entry is a two-
column code.
The first column is the Kind of Record lowercased
value (a,b,c,d,e,f or g as derived from the 008
tag/position 9 in the MARC Authority Record).
The second column contains an uppercase
character describing whether or not the entry has
references

8. List of Hits Window: Column 1
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The kinds of records you are likely to encounter in CLA work are for
Authoritative headings – lowercase a in the first column
Subdivisions – lowercase d in the first column
You will rarely see b,c,e,f, or g in the first column and don’t really need to know what they are,
but for the curious, you can find the whole list here:
http://www.loc.gov/marc/uma/pt8-11.html#pt11

9. List of Hits Window: Column 2
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The second column contains an uppercase character describing whether or not the
entry is authorized, and whether or not it has References
R Indicates an Established Heading with References
A Indicates an Established Heading with no References
U Indicates an Unauthorized Heading

10. Putting these together, the two-column display definitions are as follows. The
ones seen most commonly in CLA work are in red.
aR Established Heading with References
aA Established Heading only
bU Untraced Reference
cU Traced Reference
dR Subdivision Heading with References
dA Subdivision Heading only
eU Node label Heading
fR Established Heading and Subdivision record with References
fA Established Heading and Subdivision record only
gU Unauthorized, untraced Reference Heading
U Unauthorized heading (4xx)
Two column codes common in CLA work
Use these for main headings only
Use these for subheadings only
Do not use these!
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11. So, using “Religion” (KW browse)
as an example….
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You can see from the left column alone that religion is
An authorized main heading (with references) – aR
An authorized subheading (with references) – dR
You can also see that many “religion and…” headings are
authorized as main headings
•Religion and civil society
•Religion and civilization
•Religion and culture
But many are NOT authorized
•Religion and alcoholism
•Religion and architecture
•Religion and art

12. The Thesaurus Image Pane
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Clicking on the entry for religion as a subheading in the list of hits, you can see
the thesaurus entry describing exactly when “religion” can be used a
subheading
Religion can only be used under names of names of individual persons,
corporate bodies, ethnic groups, educational institutions, and countries, cities,
etc.

13. The Thesaurus Image Pane
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When you click on an unauthorized heading in the hits list, the thesaurus pane on the
right will give you information on choices for authorized headings.
Terms appearing on the top row of the thesaurus entry are always authorized
terms.
Terms appearing in the indented list beneath it are not always authorized (some
are, some aren’t. More on that coming up….)
In this case, you would use the authorized “Art and religion” instead of the
unauthorized “Religion and art.”

14. Thesaurus Abbreviations
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UF = Used For
BT = Broader Term
NT = Narrower Term
RT= Related Term
Terms appearing under UF are always unauthorized.
BT, NT, and RT indicate authorized terms which you can consider using
in place of your chosen term

15. Thesaurus Abbreviations
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SA = “See Also”
SA notes will give you further heading possibilities to consider (usually involving
subheading). When you come across an SA reference, consider using Validator to
do a separate search for the term to which you have been referred. It will often
lead you to further NT/ BT possibilities
Entry for Philosophy as a Main
Heading (aR)
Entry for Philosophy as a
Subdivision (dR)

16. “Keyword AND” Searches
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Note that a “Keyword AND” search will give you results that you do not get when browsing
for a particular subject heading
BROWSE using Philosophy and Religion. You’ll see that is an authorized heading
Keyword AND using Philosophy and Religion. You’ll see that Religion—Philosophy is also an
authorized heading (which doesn’t show up in the hit list if you only use Browse)

17. “Keyword AND” Searches
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“Keyword AND” is particularly useful when trying to learn when a particular subheading is
allowable
BROWSE using Theology. You’ll see that it can be used as a topical subheading “under names of
individual religions and monastic orders and under uniform titles of sacred works.”
Keyword AND using Theology : you’ll see that there are other authorized uses of it as a subheading
outside of the scope described above
Note that these are listed as separate headings because they are
exceptions to the use described above. Other exceptions are
generally not allowed, even if they seem to be similar. So, you can’t
use “Prayer—Theology”, even though it might seem a lot like
“Liturgy—Theology”; you can’t use “Dominicans—Theology” even
though “Jesuits—Theology” is okay (neither is a monastic order and
Validator shows only the latter as an established heading).

18. Form/ Topical Subdivisions
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Note that Validator shows multiple results for the same term in the hit list if it can be used as either
a FORM subdivision or a TOPICAL subdivision. Both will have the code for an authorized
subdivision (dR). View the thesaurus pane for each to see details.
BROWSE using Biography.
Biography is one of the rare terms that can be used
as a main heading, topical subheading, or form
subheading. This is also true of bibliography,
sermons, statistics, and chronology

19. Tagged Image
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In subject searches, the tagged image generally contains the same information as the thesaurus (for an indexer’s
purposes). In name searches, however, it can contain additional information about the person’s previous work which is
helpful in distinguishing between those with similar names.

20. Please Check Validator
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When adding any new main heading to any of the IES lists
Before adding a geographic subdivision to any heading that doesn’t already contain
other geographic subdivisions
To see whether an appropriate FORM subheading might exist for the type of record
you are indexing
When adding any new subheading for which you are not completely sure of the LC
rules
Before using any new author or reviewer’s name in an IES record
To double check any heading in the IES list that looks incorrect to you (please send
an e-mail to Debbie so that it can be corrected!)