OCLCFAST is a controlled vocabulary designed to make subject cataloging simpler, less costly, and more suitable for web-based and automated environments. Derived from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), it retains the rich terminology of LCSH while fundamentally restructuring its application from complex pre-coordinated strings into straightforward post-coordinated facets.
Background
OCLC Research began developing FAST in 1998, originally intending the system to describe web resources using simple metadata schemas, particularly Dublin Core. The key insight was that while LCSH's vocabulary is comprehensive and valuable, its complex syntax rules for constructing pre-coordinated heading strings require specialized training and are difficult to apply consistently, especially outside traditional library cataloging contexts.
The solution was to decompose LCSH's multi-part headings into independent facets. Where LCSH requires a cataloger to construct headings like "United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns" in a specific prescribed order, FAST allows individual terms to be assigned independently and combined at search time by the user. This post-coordinated approach means terms are singly assigned rather than linked together by the cataloger.
Purpose and Scope
FAST provides a simplified subject vocabulary that can be applied by non-specialist staff and automated systems while maintaining compatibility with the LCSH vocabulary from which it derives. Each FAST facet can be mapped to specific Dublin Core elements -- for example, the geographic facet maps to the coverage element in basic Dublin Core, and to the coverage.geographic element in qualified Dublin Core.
OCLC has developed the assignFAST tool, which uses autocomplete functionality to assist catalogers with selecting and applying FAST headings, further lowering the barrier to use.
Eight Facets
FAST separates headings into eight distinct facets:
| Facet | Description |
|---|---|
| Topical | Subject topics and concepts |
| Geographic | Place names and geographic areas |
| Personal name | Individual persons as subjects |
| Corporate name | Organizations and corporate bodies as subjects |
| Form | Document types and genre terms |
| Chronological | Time periods and dates |
| Title as subject | Titles of works treated as subjects |
| Meeting name | Conferences, congresses, and events as subjects |
Scale
The FAST authority file contains over 1.7 million authority records, reflecting the breadth of terminology inherited from LCSH.
Technical Details
FAST is published as linked data under an Open Data Commons Attribution (ODC-By) license. Authority records are available in multiple serializations including RDF/XML, N-Triples, JSON-LD, and Turtle. The base URI pattern is http://id.worldcat.org/fast/. The dataset is available for bulk download, and individual authorities are accessible as linked data.
Adoption
Organizations using FAST include:
- Analysis and Policy Observatory
- British Library
- Harvard University
- Informit (Australia)
- National Library of New Zealand
The FAST Policy and Outreach Committee (FPOC) was established in 2018 to coordinate adoption and development.
Reception
Studies have found that libraries adopting FAST appreciated its ease of use, simple syntax, and suitability for non-specialist staff. However, some libraries in the same studies reported being discouraged by a lack of communication with OCLC. FAST's chronological facet has been critiqued as making less sense outside the context of full LCSH, since the date subdivisions were originally designed for use within pre-coordinated heading strings.
Governance and Maintenance
FAST is developed and maintained by OCLC Research as part of the WorldCat ecosystem. Changes are tracked and published through the FAST Changes service. The FAST Funnel Project, coordinated through the Library of Congress's Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO), allows participants to submit proposals for new FAST headings. Proposals accepted by LC for LCSH then propagate into FAST automatically.
Related Standards
- Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) -- the parent vocabulary from which FAST derives its terminology