Fictional works contain facts about real life. Some authors do a great deal of research and those facts are woven into the story. Imaginative literature may be the only way some users may come to understand concepts, history, ways of life, etc. Subject headings should be assigned to collocate fiction and non-fiction in the catalog. In the dial-in environment that many users and libraries work in today or where reference librarians are unavailable to help, we can no longer rely on someone's memory or reading habits.
Service is part of the responsibility of the bibliographic control provider.
From that basis of thought, the ALA Subject Analysis Committee began work in 1986 on determing how to assign subject headings to individual works of fiction. The goal is to provide subject access to individual works of fiction, drama, poetry, humor and folklore in all formats. OCLC developed a project to test ways to accomplish this goal. The first library to start was San Joaquin Public Library in Nov. 1991. All of the libraries participating in the project reported that they thought the project was worthwhile.