Can you guess which of these is the real subject heading?

• child cartographers – Montana – fiction
• girls – girls who like pop music – fiction
• gifted boys – Montana -fiction

Almost every book is assigned Library of Congress subject headings when published. As the LoC explains “Authority records enable librarians to provide uniform access to materials in library catalogs and to provide clear identification of authors and subject headings. For example, works about ‘movies’,'motion pictures,’ ‘cinema,’ and ‘films’ are all entered under the established subject heading ‘Motion pictures.’”  You can find the Library of Congress subject headings for a book on the back of the title page (the verso) or in the library catalog.

Very few authors add their own subject headings to their books. The image below shows the verso page for new book The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. Scroll down for the catalog record and “real” subject headings. Who’s to say which makes more sense?  Is it time for the LoC to add “The Oregon Trail video game for the Apple IIGS – fiction” to the authority records?

And for all of you who are caught up on coursework, perhaps you’ll enjoy the new addition to Coe Library: Our popular reading collection.

Mysteries, romances, popular non-fiction, all available for check out on the first floor of Coe.

Stuck in town over spring break? If you are looking for good and/or trashy books to read, check out the new Popular Reading collection at Coe Library. Here’s the official scoop:

Current, popular books are coming to University Libraries! Beginning March 12, selections from the New York Time’s bestseller list will be available for your literary enjoyment– and just in time for your Spring Break festivities. Enjoy some of your favorite fiction and non-fiction authors with titles including: Mother Daughter Wisdom by Christiane Northhrup, M.D.; Mr. Murder, by Laura Van Wormer; and You Suck: A Love Story, by Christopher Moore. On or after March 12, drop by William Robertson Coe Library and check out the new Popular Reading selection located on the first floor.

The addition of current and popular reading material to the University Libraries’ collection was made possible through a book lease with McNaughton’s Popular Reading program. 400 books will be leased from McNaughton in the coming year and over 200 of these titles will be available for check-out starting as early as next week. Additional titles will be added to the collection monthly. After a few months, books with little or no circulation will be returned to McNaughton and will be replaced with new books. Popular Reading titles can be searched in the University Libraries catalog and books are available to all patrons for a three week check-out period.

Don’t wait! University Libraries anticipates that this program will be vastly popular amongst UW students, faculty and staff members. And don’t forget that you can request University Libraries to hold a title for you if it has already been checked out by another patron.

The UW Libraries started 2007 with a bang, receiving over 900 new books already this year! The mountain of monographs was purchased with money from the Wyoming State Legislature and the books were selected to fill gaps in the library’s collection from lean budget years. Our diligent staff is working around the clock to get these books in the library catalog and on the shelf for you to check out.

The book budget is not empty yet, so request a book today!

Already being hailed as one of the best books of 2006, Arthur & George offers an imaginative version of a true story: the complicated friendship of Victorian figures Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji. Michael Dirda, reviewing the book for The Washington Post, wrote:

“Barnes’s writing is, as usual, masterly throughout Arthur & George, not only as the pages shift from one man’s consciousness to the other’s but also in the way their author keeps the reader on edge. Facts are interpreted, then reinterpreted; the bigoted speak convincingly; nothing turns out quite as expected; and even the book’s coda delivers a final shock.”

If you are looking for a new book that evokes the richness of the Wyoming landscape, try Augusta Locke by William Haywood Henderson. Heroine Gussie Locke begins the story in 1903 rural Minnesota, and her wanderlust takes her to Greeley, CO and the mountains of Wyoming. Booklist gave it a starred review, noting that

“Henderson’s novel is an extraordinarily beautiful creation, brought to the reader on the wings of the ravens that serve as its protagonist’s familiars. Told in languorous prose virtually encrusted with the details of nature–very reminiscent of Annie Dillard–this story follows Gussie Locke through a lifetime of wandering.”

Already being hailed as one of the best books of 2006, Arthur & George offers an imaginative version of a true story: the complicated friendship of Victorian figures Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji. Michael Dirda, reviewing the book for The Washington Post, wrote:

“Barnes’s writing is, as usual, masterly throughout Arthur & George, not only as the pages shift from one man’s consciousness to the other’s but also in the way their author keeps the reader on edge. Facts are interpreted, then reinterpreted; the bigoted speak convincingly; nothing turns out quite as expected; and even the book’s coda delivers a final shock.”

If you are looking for a new book that evokes the richness of the Wyoming landscape, try Augusta Locke by William Haywood Henderson. Heroine Gussie Locke begins the story in 1903 rural Minnesota, and her wanderlust takes her to Greeley, CO and the mountains of Wyoming. Booklist gave it a starred review, noting that

“Henderson’s novel is an extraordinarily beautiful creation, brought to the reader on the wings of the ravens that serve as its protagonist’s familiars. Told in languorous prose virtually encrusted with the details of nature–very reminiscent of Annie Dillard–this story follows Gussie Locke through a lifetime of wandering.”

Promising first novels are always a treat, and Memoirs of a Muse by Lara Vapnyar doesn’t disappoint. Her tale of Tanya, a Russian emigre in New York who becomes a novelist’s muse, has been called “Atwoodesque” by Booklist and “a wonderfully fresh portrait of the romantic imagination and its inevitable collision with reality” by Publishers Weekly.

Promising first novels are always a treat, and Memoirs of a Muse by Lara Vapnyar doesn’t disappoint. Her tale of Tanya, a Russian emigre in New York who becomes a novelist’s muse, has been called “Atwoodesque” by Booklist and “a wonderfully fresh portrait of the romantic imagination and its inevitable collision with reality” by Publishers Weekly.