Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on critcat efforts with a monthly-ish roundup of news. Critcat is short for critical cataloging, focusing on the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification practice, standards, and infrastructure.
#critcat in January 2024:
- Call for action: After a Telegraph article criticized the Collections Trust, a London-based organization providing services to libraries, archives, and museums, for providing a link to the Inclusive Terminology Glossary, the Collections Trust cowardly took the link down. Telegraph article: Taxpayer-funded charity shares guidance that calls Hamas ‘freedom fighters’; the Collection Trust’s Statement on the Inclusive Terminology Glossary; Collections Trust reviews weblinks policy after Hamas reference. Please consider writing an email to the Collections Trust to ask them to reinstate the link; here’s what I wrote:
- I’m writing today to express my dismay about your January 20 statement about the Inclusive Terminology Glossary. As a metadata librarian who has been active in the inclusive cataloging movement, I’ve been very impressed by the Cultural Heritage Terminology Network (CHTNUK) that Carissa Chew has built, especially the glossary, which is the result of many hours of careful research. Your decision to respond to The Guardian’s article by immediately removing the link to CHTNUK resources is essentially throwing Carissa under the bus. Instead of taking the time to investigate the article’s claims, your hasty decision to drop a valuable relationship at the first sign of trouble leaves your commitment to DEI principles in serious doubt. I encourage you to investigate the decision-making process that led to this rash decision and to reinstate the link as soon as possible, for the sake of GLAM institutions across the world who are doing the important work of making description more inclusive. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
- Call for new members: The RBMS (Rare Books & Manuscripts Section) Bibliographic Standards Committee Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Group (BSC DEI SG) seeks interested members to join their group. Anyone interested in joining should fill out the volunteer form before February 20. The BSC DEI SG charge includes:
- Develop DEI guiding principles for metadata creation in relation to special collections
- Develop guidelines for creating institutional statements on harmful language and bias in cataloging
- Provide guidance and critical feedback to all aspects of BSC activities in regards to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts
- New blog post: Rejecting Neutrality: Reparative Description at the Johnson Publishing Company Archive by Jehoiada Zechariah Calvin
- New blog post: Translation of the Inclusive Terminology Glossary into Welsh: An Interview with Catalena Angele, from the Cultural Heritage Terminology Network in the UK
- New blog post: What do you think of the 200s optional arrangement? asking for feedback on the Dewey 200s option which reduces the amount of notational space provided for Christianity
- New revision of Homosaurus is now available (version 3.5), featuring new terms relating to kink and fetish communities.
- Documentation that may be helpful: Yale University Reparative Archival Description Working Group’s Standardized Descriptive Notes. “Outlines standardized descriptive notes for finding aids and MARC records to be adapted for use whenever reparative redescription is completed, in instances when adequate historical context is missing, or to contextualize harmful language when it is deemed appropriate to leave in place.”
- Missed this the first time around: A History of Classifying Trans Subjects at the Library of Congress before 1963 presentation slides and notes from a 2021 presentation by Beck Schaefer
- Really enjoyed this video from the Video Game History Foundation Welcome to the VGHF Library – First Look Demo, which describes some of the complexity around cataloging issues of game-related magazines
I’m doing a brief review of the new LCSH lists for headings that might be of interest to readers of Critcatenate. LCSH list numbers consist of a two-digit number for the year and a two-digit number for the month the headings were approved (for example, headings on list 2310 were approved in October 2023).
New LC headings of note on list 2310:
- Revised LCSH scope note: for Conversion therapy: the new scope note reads: Here are entered works on behavior modification techniques that attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual norms or gender identity to cisgender norms.
- new LCSH: Pullman National Historical Park (Ill.)
- new LCSH: Transmisogyny
The work on revisions to Ukraine-related LCSH continues on list 2310a.
The work to add new queer-related LCDGT (such as Bisexual drama, Genderqueer fiction, and Aromantic poetry) continues on list 2310g. [Insert editorial joke about “bisexual drama” here.]
Looks like there some work being done on the Children’s Subject Headings to remove headings that don’t have literary warrant in the CYAC catalog (Children’s and Young Adults’ Cataloging); see list 2312y. Maybe there should be books in the CYAC catalog about, say, Blind children, though??
Reminder that anyone interested in attending the monthly editorial meetings where LCSH decisions are made is now welcome to do so; all you have to do is email LC to ask for the link to the meeting. Here’s instructions on attending LC editorial meetings for 2024.
Upcoming:
- Friday Feb 2: African American Studies Librarians Interest Group (AASLIG) webinar. “Members of the African American Subject Funnel Committee will talk about their work on trying to improve LC subject headings about the Black experience in the United States and will provide a forum to discuss suggested changes.”
- Friday Feb 2: OCLC cataloging community meeting, including a DEI panel discussion featuring these topics:
- Harmful Language in Transcribed Titles: A Case Study by Treshani Perera (University of Kentucky Libraries)
- Prejudicial Materials Working Group of RBMS’s Controlled Vocabularies Editorial Group by Sarah Hoover (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- Tuesday Feb 6: Best of Core Forum: Creating an Inclusive Metadata Policy. ALA eLearning webinar presented by Nicole Lewis and Jeremy Myntti:
- The Brigham Young University Library is creating an Inclusive Metadata Policy for metadata creators to use when creating and remediating descriptions to be more inclusive. Accompanying the policy is a companion document with recommendations and examples, including links to many external resources. In addition to working with stakeholders in the library to develop the policy, we consulted with the University’s Office of Belonging. This presentation will describe the process we used to undertake the creation of the library policy and recommendations document.
- Thursday Feb 15: Creative Solutions in Cataloging, Acquisitions, and Resources Management, hosted by Amigos Library Services, which will have a panel discussion on Classification Alternatives in Public Libraries and possibly other critcat-related content. The keynote by Jennifer Baxmeyer, “Where Do We Go From Here?,” will be terrific.
- Wednesday Feb 21: Unseen Labor Panel Discussion, online panel discussion about the Fresno State cross-stitching and embroidery exhibition as a creative expression of cataloging and metadata, featuring Ann Kardos (University of Massachusetts-Amherst), Bobby Bothmann (Mankato State), Tina Marie Maes (Madison Public Library), and Julie Moore (Fresno State).
- Thursday April 18: Inclusive Cataloging webinar from Tim Keller at Oberlin College, hosted by OhioNet
Please let me know if there’s anything else coming up!
![Efforts to Decolonize the Catalog 1930s - Dorothy Porter, Catherine Latimer, and Francis Lydia Yocom developed local “unauthorized” subject headings for their respective institutions due to lack of inclusivity from LCSH. 1970s - Sanford (Sandy) Berman began the contemporary movement to modernize LCSH. He created an independent subject headings system at the Hennepin County Library in Minnesota improving upon LCSH with a responsive approach. His work moved to not only reform LCSH but also assert libraries' autonomy to move beyond its limitations. 1980s - Some problematic subject headings were eliminated or changed, including “Yellow peril". 1999 - The African American Subject Funnel Project was initially conceived as part of SACO (Subject Authority Cooperative Program) and works to create and update subject headings related to African American culture and history. The Funnel promotes the aims of the African American Studies Librarians Interest Group (AASLIG) which are to support research and services associated with identifying, preserving and spreading information on the study of African American life. They work with the Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) to provide input and guidance on terminology that accurately reflects the African American experience. 2020s - Long-criticized subject headings changed (removed "riots" to make “Tulsa Race Massacre"), glossaries and thesauri of inclusive language created and libraries started publishing statements on potentially harmful language. Terms such as Black Wall Streets and sundown towns are not new to those familiar with African-America, history and culture. These terms, however, did not exist in LCSH until funnel project members worked to develop these headings with help from insider perspectives and scholarly references. While we strive to acquire and make findable materials that are representative of our diverse community and the world. We recognize that materials with harmful, offensive and non-inclusive content may be included in our Library Catalog. If you encounter any harmful, offensive, or non-inclusive language in the library catalog, we welcome your feedback at [unreadable email address]](https://cataloginglab.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/UCincinnati-efforts-to-decolonize-library-catalog.jpg)
(Editor’s note: sorry about putting his face here!!)