Subject headings are indexed terms that describe the overall essence of what a resource is about. Catalogers and metadata professionals use subject terms to classify resources and to group resources about similar topics together. This process entails analyzing resources and applying terms from a controlled vocabulary, as opposed to using tags that use natural language (or everyday language) and keywords, which are relatively inconsistent in their use and application. Applying subjects as indexes to catalog records enables us to group similar topics together and makes resources more accessible for library users.
The controlled vocabulary most commonly used by libraries in the United States and around the world is the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) list of subject authorities. LCSH is a robust vocabulary that provides unique and consistent terminology that we need to describe and classify even the most specific and obscure topics. However, the LCSH can be slow to change, and many of the vocabulary terms included in the LCSH are outdated, inaccurate, or offensive. While we advocate for changes to be made to the authorized controlled vocabulary, our library runs local replacements for unethical or problematic LCSHs. To learn more, browse our local LCSH replacements.
Watch the subject searching demonstration video below to get a sense of how subject searching can work.
The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSHs) vocabulary contains many terms that are considered problematic because they are offensive, unethical, outdated, or inaccurate. While we advocate for revisions to be proposed and accepted to the authorized vocabulary terms themselves, many libraries have elected to locally replace problematic LCSHs in our systems. The Western North Carolina Library Network (WNCLN) began implementing local replacements to problematic LCSHs in our integrated library system (ILS) in November 2021.
Browse lists of subjects that we have replaced and are planning to replace in the drop-down menus below. If you encounter problematic language in our catalog records, would like to suggest a local subject heading replacement, or have any other questions or feedback, please let us know using our Cataloging Suggestion Form.
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Asian flu | 1957 flu pandemic |
| Child pornography | Child sexual abuse material |
| Illegitimacy | Nonmarital births |
| Illegitimate children | Children of unmarried parents |
| Husband and wife | Spouses|xLegal status, laws, etc. |
| Unskilled labor | Low-wage labor |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| God (Islam) | Allah |
| Word of God (Islam) | Word of Allah |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Oriental literature | Asian literature |
| Cataloging of Oriental literature | Cataloging of Asian literature |
| Civilization, Oriental, in literature | Civilization, Asian, in literature |
| Oriental drama | Asian drama |
| Oriental fiction | Asian fiction |
| Oriental fiction (English) | Asian fiction (English) |
| Oriental literature (English) | Asian literature (English) |
| Oriental literature (French) | Asian literature (French) |
| Oriental poetry | Asian poetry |
| Oriental wit and humor | Asian wit and humor |
| Aesthetics, Oriental | Aesthetics, Asian |
| Civilization, Oriental | Civilization, Asian |
| Hand-to-hand fighting, Oriental | Hand-to-hand figting, Asian |
| Manuscripts, Oriental | Manuscripts, Asian |
| Maxims, Oriental | Maxims, Asian |
| Medicine, Oriental | Medicine, Asian |
| Oriental antiquities | Asian antiquities |
| Oriental languages | Asian languages |
| Oriental philology | Asian philology |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Problem children | Children with behavioral problems |
| Physical education for problem children | Physical education for children with behavioral problems |
| Teachers of problem children | Teachers of children with behavioral problems |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Leprosy | Hansen's disease |
| Leprosy in art | Hansen's disease in art |
| Missions to leprosy patients | Missions to Hansen's disease patients |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Hearing impaired | Hard of hearing people |
| Films for the hearing impaired | Films for hard of hearing people |
| Hearing impaired children | Hard of hearing children |
| Hearing impaired infants | Hard of hearing infants |
| Hearing impaired students | Hard of hearing students |
| Hearing impaired, Writings of the, American | Hard of hearing people, Writings of, American |
| Libraries and the hearing impaired | Libraries and hard of hearing people |
| Video recordings for the hearing impaired | Video recordings for hard of hearing people |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| East Indians | Indians (India) |
| East Indian American businesspeople | Indian (India) American businesspeople |
| East Indian American lesbians | Indian (India) American lesbians |
| East Indian American physicians | Indian (India) American physicians |
| East Indian American teenagers | Indian (India) American teenagers |
| East Indian American women | Indian (India) American women |
| East Indian Americans | Indian (India) Americans |
| East Indian diaspora | Indian (India) diaspora |
| East Indian diaspora in literature | Indian (India) diaspora in literature |
| East Indian students | Indian (India) students |
| Economic assistance, East Indian | Economic assistance, Indian (India) |
| Foreign workers, East Indian | Foreign workers, Indian (India) |
| Investments, East Indian | Investments, Indian (India) |
| Jews, East Indian | Jewish people, Indian (India) |
| National characteristics, East Indian | National characteristics, Indian (India) |
| National characteristics, East Indian, in literature |
National characteristics, Indian (India), in literature |
| Women, East Indian | Women, Indian (India) |
| Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) | Local Replacement |
| Children's poetry, Indian | Children's poetry, Indigenous American |
| Church work with Indians | Church work with Indigenous Americans |
| Enslaved Indians | Enslaved Indigenous Americans |
| Federal aid to Indians | Federal aid to Indigenous Americans |
| Indian activists | Indigenous American activists |
| Indian aesthetics | Indigenous American aesthetics |
| Indian anthropologists | Indigenous American anthropologists |
| Indian architecture | Indigenous American architecture |
| Indian armor | Indigenous American armor |
| Indian art | Indigenous American art |
| Indian artisans | Indigenous American artisans |
| Indian arts | Indigenous American arts |
| Indian astrology | Indigenous American astrology |
| Indian astronomy | Indigenous American astronomy |
| Indian athletes | Indigenous American athletes |
| Indian authors | Indigenous Americans authors |
| Indian ballerinas | Indigenous American ballerinas |
| Indian baseball players | Indigenous American baseball players |
| Indian basket makers | Indigenous American basket makers |
| Indian basketball players | Indigenous American basketball players |
| Indian baskets | Indigenous American baskets |
| Indian beadwork | Indigenous American beadwork |
| Indian blankets | Indigenous American blankets |
| Indian boys | Indigenous American boys |
| Indian business enterprises | Indigenous American business enterprises |
| Indian businesspeople | Indigenous American businesspeople |
| Indian calendar | Indigenous American calendar |
| Indian captivities | Indigenous American captivity narratives |
| Indian cartography | Indigenous American cartography |
| Indian Catholics | Indigenous American Catholics |
| Indian ceramic sculpture | Indigenous American ceramic sculpture |
| Indian children | Indigenous American children |
| Indian children with disabilities | Indigenous American children with disabilities |
| Indian children's writings | Indigenous American children's writings |
| Indian civic leaders | Indigenous American civic leaders |
| Indian code talkers | Indigenous American code talkers |
| Indian college graduates | Indigenous American college graduates |
| Indian college students | Indigenous American college students |
| Indian college teachers | Indigenous American college teachers |
| Indian comedians | Indigenous American comedians |
| Indian cooking | Indigenous American cooking |
| Indian cooks | Indigenous American cooks |
| Indian copperwork | Indigenous American copperwork |
| Indian cordage | Indigenous American cordage |
| Indian cosmology | Indigenous American cosmology |
| Indian councils | Indigenous American councils |
| Indian courts | Indigenous American courts |
| Indian cowboys | Indigenous American cowboys |
| Indian craft | Indigenous American craft |
| Indian criminals | Indigenous American criminals |
| Indian dance | Indigenous American dance |
| Indian dance in art | Indigenous American dance in art |
| Indian dentists | Indigenous American dentists |
| Indian dolls | Indigenous American dolls |
| Indian drama | Indigenous American drama |
| Indian educators | Indigenous American educators |
| Indian embroidery | Indigenous American embroidery |
| Indian ethics | Indigenous American ethics |
| Indian families | Indigenous American families |
| Indian featherwork | Indigenous American featherwork |
| Indian foster children | Indigenous American foster children |
| Indian gangs | Indigenous American gangs |
| Indian gays | Indigenous American gay persons |
| Indian girls | Indigenous American girls |
| Indian goldwork | Indigenous American goldwork |
| Indian grandmothers | Indigenous American grandmothers |
| Indian handicraft industries | Indigenous American handicraft industries |
| Indian healers | Indigenous American healers |
| Indian hockey players | Indigenous American hockey players |
| Indian homeless persons | Indigenous American homeless persons |
| Indian incantations | Indigenous American incantations |
| Indian infants | Indigenous American infants |
| Indian intellectuals | Indigenous American intellectuals |
| Indian interpreters | Indigenous American interpreters |
| Indian jewelers | Indigenous American jewelers |
| Indian journalists | Indigenous American journalists |
| Indian judges | Indigenous American judges |
| Indian land transfers | Indigenous American land transfers |
| Indian leadership | Indigenous American leadership |
| Indian leatherwork | Indigenous American leatherwork |
| Indian ledger drawings | Indigenous American ledger drawings |
| Indian legislators | Indigenous American legislators |
| Indian lesbians | Indigenous American lesbians |
| Indian literature | Indigenous American literature |
| Indian magic | Indigenous American magic |
| Indian masks | Indigenous American masks |
| Indian mass media | Indigenous American mass media |
| Indian men | Indigenous American men |
| Indian metal-work | Indigenous American metal-work |
| Indian Mormons | Indigenous American Mormons |
| Indian mothers | Indigenous American mothers |
| Indian motion picture actors and actresses | Indigenous American motion picture actors and actresses |
| Indian motion picture producers and directors | Indigenous American motion picture producers and directors |
| Indian motion pictures | Indigenous American motion pictures |
| Indian mural painting and decoration | Indigenous American mural painting and decoration |
| Indian museum curators | Indigenous American museum curators |
| Indian musicians | Indigenous American musicians |
| Indian mythology | Indigenous American mythology |
| Indian mythology in literature | Indigenous American mythology in literature |
| Indian newspapers | Indigenous American newspapers |
| Indian numeration | Indigenous American numeration |
| Indian nurses | Indigenous American nurses |
| Indian orphanages | Indigenous American orphanages |
| Indian painters | Indigenous American painters |
| Indian painting | Indigenous American painting |
| Indian periodicals | Indigenous American periodicals |
| Indian philosophy | Indigenous American philosophy |
| Indian photographers | Indigenous American photographers |
| Indian physicians | Indigenous American physicians |
| Indian poetry | Indigenous American poetry |
| Indian poets | Indigenous American poets |
| Indian potters | Indigenous American potters |
| Indian pottery | Indigenous American pottery |
| Indian Presbyterians | Indigenous American Presbyterians |
| Indian press | Indigenous American press |
| Indian prints | Indigenous American prints |
| Indian prisoners | Indigenous American prisoners |
| Indian quiltmakers | Indigenous American quiltmakers |
| Indian quilts | Indigenous American quilts |
| Indian radio stations | Indigenous American radio stations |
| Indian religious leaders | Indigenous American religious leaders |
| Indian reservation police | Indigenous American reservation police |
| Indian reservations | Indigenous American reservations |
| Indian riddles | Indigenous American riddles |
| Indian roads | Indigenous American roads |
| Indian rock musicians | Indigenous American rock musicians |
| Indian scholars | Indigenous American scholars |
| Indian school children | Indigenous American school children |
| Indian scouts | Indigenous American scouts |
| Indian sculpture | Indigenous American sculpture |
| Indian sexual minorities | LGBTQIA2S+ Indigenous Americans |
| Indian shell engraving | Indigenous American shell engraving |
| Indian sign language | Indigenous American sign language |
| Indian silversmiths | Indigenous American silversmiths |
| Indian silverwork | Indigenous American silverwork |
| Indian slaveholders | Indigenous American slaveholders |
| Indian soldiers | Indigenous American soldiers |
| Indian teachers | Indigenous American teachers |
| Indian teenagers | Indigenous American teenagers |
| Indian textile fabrics | Indigenous American textile fabrics |
| Indian theater | Indigenous American theater |
| Indian title | Indigenous American title |
| Indian tourism | Indigenous American tourism |
| Indian traders | Traders with Indigenous Americans |
| Indian trails | Indigenous American trails |
| Indian tribal prisons | Indigenous American tribal prisons |
| Indian universities and colleges | Indigenous American universities and colleges |
| Indian veterans | Indigenous American veterans |
| Indian weapons | Indigenous American weapons |
| Indian weavers | Indigenous American weavers |
| Indian weights and measures | Indigenous American weights and measures |
| Indian whalers | Indigenous American whalers |
| Indian wit and humor | Indigenous American wit and humor |
| Indian women | Indigenous American women |
| Indian women activists | Indigenous American women activists |
| Indian women air pilots | Indigenous American women air pilots |
| Indian women artisans | Indigenous American women artisans |
| Indian women artists | Indigenous American women artists |
| Indian women authors | Indigenous American women authors |
| Indian women basket makers | Indigenous American women basket makers |
| Indian women civic leaders | Indigenous American women civic leaders |
| Indian women healers | Indigenous American women healers |
| Indian women in art | Indigenous American women in art |
| Indian women in literature | Indigenous American women in literature |
| Indian women in motion pictures | Indigenous American women in motion pictures |
| Indian women physicians | Indigenous American women physicians |
| Indian women poets | Indigenous American women poets |
| Indian women politicians | Indigenous American women politicians |
| Indian women potters | Indigenous American women potters |
| Indian women singers | Indigenous American women singers |
| Indian women veterans | Indigenous American women veterans |
| Indian wood-carving | Indigenous American wood-carving |
| Indian youth | Indigenous American youth |
| Indians | Indigenous Americans |
| Indians as mascots | Indigenous Americans as mascots |
| Indians in art | Indigenous Americans in art |
| Indians in literature | Indigenous Americans in literature |
| Indians in mass media | Indigenous Americans in mass media |
| Indians in medicine | Indigenous Americans in medicine |
| Indians in music | Indigenous Americans in music |
| Indians of Central America | Indigenous peoples of Central America |
| Indians of Mexico | Indigenous peoples of Mexico |
| Indians of North America | Indigenous peoples of North America |
| Indians of North America in textbooks | Indigenous peoples of North America in textbooks |
| Indians of South America | Indigenous peoples of South America |
| Indians of the West Indies | Indigenous peoples of the West Indies |
| Indians with disabilities | Indigenous Americans with disabilities |
| Indians, Treatment of | Indigenous Americans, Treatment of |
| Libraries and Indians | Libraries and Indigenous Americans |
| Museums and Indians | Museums and Indigenous Americans |
| Names, Indian | Names, Indigenous American |
| Older Indians | Older Indigenous Americans |
| Paleo-Indians | Paleo-Indigenous Americans |
| Picture-writing, Indian | Picture-writing, Indigenous American |
| Social work with Indians | Social work with Indigenous Americans |
| Speeches, addresses, etc., Indian | Speeches, addresses, etc., Indigenous American |
| Treaty Indian reservations | Treaty Indigenous American reservations |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Eskimos | Inuit or Yupik people |
| Eskimo art | Inuit or Yupik art |
| Eskimo baskets | Inuit or Yupik baskets |
| Eskimo business enterprises | Inuit or Yupik business enterprises |
| Eskimo children | Inuit or Yupik children |
| Eskimo dolls | Inuit or Yupik dolls |
| Eskimo languages | Inuit or Yupik languages |
| Eskimo masks | Inuit or Yupik masks |
| Eskimo philosophy | Inuit or Yupik philosophy |
| Eskimo sculpture | Inuit or Yupik sculpture |
| Eskimo women | Inuit or Yupik women |
| Eskimo youth | Inuit or Yupik youth |
| Eskimos in motion pictures | Inuit or Yupik people in motion pictures |
| Older Yupik Eskimos | Older Yupik people |
| Pacific Gulf Yupik Eskimos | Pacific Gulf Yupik people |
| Polar Eskimos | Polar Inuit or Yupik people |
| Yuit Eskimos | Yuit people |
| Yupik Eskimos | Yupik people |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Poor | Lower-income people |
| African American poor families | African American lower-income families |
| Arts and the poor | Arts and lower-income people |
| Church work with the poor | Church work with lower-income people |
| Internet and the poor | Internet and lower-income people |
| Legal assistance to the poor | Legal assistance to lower-income people |
| Legal assistance to the rural poor | Legal assistance to rural lower-income people |
| Libraries and the poor | Libraries and lower-income people |
| Poor African Americans | Lower-income African Americans |
| Poor children | Lower-income children |
| Poor families | Lower-income families |
| Poor girls | Lower-income girls |
| Poor in art | Lower-income people in art |
| Poor in literature | Lower-income people in literature |
| Poor men | Lower-income men |
| Poor older people | Lower-income older people |
| Poor teenagers | Lower-income teenagers |
| Poor white people | Lower-income White people |
| Poor white people in literature | Lower-income White people in literature |
| Poor women | Lower-income women |
| Poor youth | Lower-income youth |
| Rural poor | Rural lower-income people |
| Rural poor in art | Rural lower-income people in art |
| Rural poor in literature | Rural lower-income people in literature |
| Telephone assistance programs for the poor |
Telephone assistance programs for lower-income people |
| Urban poor | Urban lower-income people |
| Urban poor in literature | Urban lower-income people in literature |
| Working poor | Working lower-income people |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Schizophrenics | People with schizophrenia |
| Children of schizophrenics | Children of people with schizophrenia |
| Paranoid schizophrenics | People with schizophrenia and paranoia |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Pregnant women | Pregnant people |
| Exercise for pregnant women | Exercise for pregnant people |
| Physical fitness for pregnant women | Physical fitness for pregnant people |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Substance abuse | Substance use disorders |
| Children of prenatal substance abuse | Children of prenatal substance use disorders |
| Church and substance abuse | Church and substance use disorders |
| Detoxification (Substance abuse treatment) | Detoxification (Substance use disorder treatment) |
| Substance abuse in pregnancy | Substance use disorders in pregnancy |
| Substance abuse on television | Substance use disorders on television |
| Substance abuse treatment facilities | Substance use disorder treatment facilities |
| Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) | Local Replacement |
| Illegal immigration | Undocumented immigration |
| Illegal immigration in literature | Undocumented immigration in literature |
| Problematic LCSH | Local Replacement |
| Juvenile delinquents | Youth in custody |
| African American juvenile delinquents | African American youth in custody |
| Church work with juvenile delinquents | Church work with youth in custody |
| Female juvenile delinquents | Female youth in custody |
| Juvenile delinquents in literature | Youth in custody in literature |
| Juvenile delinquents with disabilities | Youth in custody with disabilities |
| Juvenile delinquents' writings | Youth in custody's writings |
| Juvenile delinquents' writings, American | Youth in custody's writings, American |
| Legal assistance to juvenile delinquents | Legal assistance to youth in custody |
| Libraries and juvenile delinquents | Libraries and youth in custody |
| Male juvenile delinquents | Male youth in custody |
| Social work with juvenile delinquents | Social work with youth in custody |
| Juvenile delinquency films | Youth in custody films |
Practice searching by subject! Click the links below to find subject searches in the catalog and begin exploring resources by topic.
176 Central Drive
Cullowhee, NC 28723
Administration: 828-227-7485
Reference: 828-227-7465
Circulation: 828-227-7485
