"Variety is the spice of life!" was the favorite proverb of my high school Latin teacher, judging by how often she used to cite the phrase to us. Well, if you want variety, it was not lacking in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) additions and changes in the last year. Since this column is being written in January, it seems fitting to stand back and take a look at what was "new" in 1996.

In one of the last LC Weekly Lists of the year, major changes were made to subject headings dealing with constitutional topics. The revisions are basically consistent with recommendations made last May by a task force of the AALL TS-SIS Cataloging & Classification Committee, and approved by the whole Committee at the Indianapolis meeting in July. Headings of the type

651   0  $a [Place] $x Constitution
651   0  $a [Place] $x Constitutional law
651   0  $a [Place] $x Constitutional law $x Amendments
651   0  $a [Place] $x Constitutional history

have been canceled. Those subdivisions are no longer valid under names of jurisdictions. Instead, the pre-existing main headings CONSTITUTIONS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, and CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY have been changed to allow for geographic subdivision by the jurisdiction in question. And, a new heading has been established in the form, CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS. This means that the corrected headings will have these structures:

650   0  $a Constitutions $z [Place]
650   0  $a Constitutional law $z [Place]
650   0  $a Constitutional amendments $z [Place]
650   0  $a Constitutional history $z [Place]

For complete information and instructions, catalogers ought to consult the scope notes contained in the revised authority records for these terms.

Two major revisions which affect all types of libraries concern the treatment of New York City in geographic subdivisions and the traditional use of the term "man" to represent all humankind. In the first instance, the exceptional practice of direct subdivision for --NEW YORK (N.Y.) is now discontinued in favor of the indirect order of subdivision --NEW YORK (STATE)--NEW YORK.

For many years the Library of Congress has tried, with much success, to eliminate gender bias in the LCSH terminology. In "Are We on Equal Terms Yet?," an article in Library Resources & Technical Services (April 1993), Margaret N. Rogers documents 20 years of progress in this area, while pointing out some of the more subtle forms of gender discrimination which continue on in our subject headings. One of these has been the "Man/Woman generic problem," i.e., the use of "man" to refer to all humanity and "woman" to refer only to women. Well, in 1996 LC decided to cancel the subject heading MAN. Most of the entries which formerly had the heading "MAN" will be changed to HUMAN BEINGS. The scope note for HUMAN BEINGS says: "Here are entered works, primarily of an anthropological nature, on humanity in the collective sense. General works on human beings as individuals are entered under PERSONS." By the way, another man-specific subject heading was altered in 1996, when "Bail bondsmen" became "Bail bond agents."

No review of subject headings, at least in this column, would be complete without mention of the establishment of the --LAW AND LEGISLATION subdivisions. The heading RAPE--LAW AND LEGISLATION, which had been established just in 1992, was canceled and changed into a 450 (used for) reference on the authority record for RAPE. It is a crime. Names of crimes are "inherently legal" terms; hence, they are not allowed to have the --LAW AND LEGISLATION subdivision. Conversely, TRADEMARKS has been judged to be not inherently legal, because it has always been used also for works that list or depict trademarks as well as for works dealing with the legal aspects of trademarking. In 1996 the more specific TRADEMARKS--LAW AND LEGISLATION was established by LC. (For catalog maintenance purposes, we will give this instruction to staff: If the work is classified in a "K" class or subclass, then go ahead and add $x Law and legislation directly after the "Trademarks" subfield in fields tagged as 650.)

Prior to 1989 the heading CONSOLIDATION AND MERGER OF CORPORATIONS carried a "general see-also reference" to the subdivision --CONSOLIDATION under types of industries. This was changed to the subdivision --MERGERS, but it was not until last year that corresponding revisions were made to the authority records for the following:

150   0  Producer cooperatives $x Mergers
(changed from "$x Consolidation")
150   0  Railroads $x Mergers
(changed from "$x Consolidation")
150   0  Shipping $x Mergers 
(changed from "$x Consolidation")
150   0  Trade-unions $x Mergers
(changed from "$x Consolidation")	
150   0  Transportation $x Mergers
(changed from "$x Consolidation")    

Some other industries for which subject authority records were created in 1996 containing the subdivision --MERGERS include: NURSING HOMES; PHYSICIAN MANAGEMENT COMPANIES; and, RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES. (The subdivision --MERGERS is free-floating under types of industries and under types of schools.)

Current events also had their influence on LCSH additions and changes. New headings TRIALS (POLICE MISCONDUCT), POLICE BRUTALITY, and POLICE MISCONDUCT were all established last year. Works on the last two topics formerly had been assigned the less-specific subject heading, POLICE--COMPLAINTS AGAINST" (still a valid heading). The fashionable term "Elder law" and its variant, "Elderlaw," have been added as 450 (UF) references under AGED--LEGAL STATUS, LAWS, ETC. And the scope notes under AGEISM and under AGE DISCRIMINATION have been modified to include young people, who are sometimes the victims of prejudicial beliefs and actions.