Genre Terms for Chemistry and Engineering: Not Just for Literature Anymore

We developed a project utilizing the local form/genre heading, “property data,” and specific subheadings to help chemists, engineers, and those librarians assisting them to more easily locate library resources containing chemical and physical properties of substances. This article describes the project and examines possibilities for improving access to physical sciences literature in relation to Library of Congress Subject Headings and ongoing developments in authority records for form/genre terms. It also introduces functionality of such headings in the new “next generation” catalogs.