The determination of subject in fictional literary works: a viewpoint of Portuguese readers

It is difficult to determine the subject of fictional works, due to the specific characteristics of the literary text. However, as several studies point out, this is necessary and possible through an approach to the subject, by subdividing it into categories and considering the context and the users of information services. Thus, the objective of this paper is to investigate the possible categories which form part of the subject in fiction, from the viewpoint of the library users, and to compare them with those described in the international scientific literature. To this end, an exploratory and qualitative case study was carried out in a Portuguese public library. The results show that the subdivision of the subject into categories fits the viewpoint of the readers participating in this research, but not all the categories pointed out in the international studies are relevant. However, the development of another (sub)category for the subject description of fiction seems plausible.