What does Subject Heading mean?

When searching the NC State University Libraries Catalog, one of the search options in the pulldown menu is Subject Heading. These are Library of Congress Subject Headings, which are assigned to library materials by catalogers. For example, books with title words like film, movies, or cinema would all be put together under the Subject Heading motion pictures.

If you don't know the correct Subject Heading, start with a keyword search, and select a relevant book. On the screen for that book, use the Browse Related Subjects on the right. If you see one you like, click on it, and you will be doing a search that takes advantage of the Library of Congress Subject Headings.