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 May 2023:
- New guide: Creating subject headings for Indigenous topics : a culturally respectful guide by Richard Sapon-White, Pamela Louderback, & Sara Levinson. Free 40-page manual with guidance on creating subject heading proposals in LCSH for Indigenous topics.
- New best practices document: Best Practices in Authority Work Relating to Indigenous Nations in the U.S. (May 2023 version) by the Latin American and Indigenous Peoples of the Americas (LAIPA) Funnel. 8-page document providing considerations for reflection before and during Indigenous-related metadata work in libraries, how to ensure information is useful for other institutions, resources for starting research, and email templates.
- New list of resources: Land Acknowledgement and Indigenous Metadata Resources compiled by the Program for Cooperative Cataloging Diversity Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee (PCC ACDEI)
- New article: A Case Study in Reducing the Presence of “Indians of North America” and Similar Subject Headings by Karl Pettitt and Erin Elzi, published in Library Resources & Technical Services
- New article: Shīʿīsm, Sects, and Subject Headings by Nawazali A. Jiwa in MELA Notes, the Journal of Middle Eastern Librarianship (number 95, 2022)
- New article: From the Catalog Cards to the Cloud: Transforming the Near East Collections for Discovery and Access by Joan Weeks, Muhannad Salhi, Hirad Dinavari, Khatchig Mouradian, and Huda Dayton in MELA Notes, the Journal of Middle Eastern Librarianship (number 95, 2022)
- New podcast episode: episode 13 of Archives & Things features Melissa Nelson interviewing Olivia Wong, Special Collections Curatorial Specialist at Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries, about Wong’s anti-racist description work. (17 minutes). Highlights 2022 presentation titled Canadian Blackface Culture: Confronting Racist Materials in Canadian Archives. Toronto Metropolitan University by Alison Skyrme, Cheryl Thompson, Emilie Jabouin, and Olivia Wong.
- New podcast: episode 91 of the Library Punk podcast is about the Homosaurus vocabulary
- Macro for OCLC Connexion: Macro for the OCLC Connexion client written by Wendy Isicson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for adding MARC formatted 650_7 Homosaurus terms to bibliographic records
- New presentation slides: Cultivating a Culture for Inclusive Metadata by Shay Beezley and Anna Nicole Sump-Crethar
- New zine: Letters from Sanford: Mail, Library of Congress, and Subject Headings, featuring some of Sandy Berman’s letters over the years, compiled by Aiden M. Bettine
- New to me: Diverse BookFinder (DBF) Metadata Community of Practice. Requesting applications for participants to code books for children and youth featuring BIPOC characters for the Diverse BookFinder, an online, searchable database and associated physical collection designed to facilitate the discoverability and exploration of multicultural picture books
I’m doing a brief review of the new LCSH lists for headings that might be of interest to readers of Critcatenate. FYI, 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 2302 were approved in February 2023).
New LC headings of note on list 2302:
- New LCSH: Discrimination against dwarfs
- New LCSH: Discrimination in the music trade
- New LCSH: Drill (Music)
- New LCSH: Lynching victims
- New LCSH: Sexual minorities in comics
- New LCSH: Sexual minorities in the theater
- New LCSH: Sexual minority activists
- New LCSH: Spatial trauma
- New LCGFT: Gay musicals
Upcoming:
- Friday June 9: OCLC Cataloging Community Meeting, including multiple DEI sessions:
- Reparative Geographic Name Changes: Case Studies in Cataloging by Kate James
- Queering the Catalog: SACO Gender and Sexuality Funnel by Margaret Breidenbaugh and Maya Espersen
- Rapid Harm Reduction Through Locally Defined Subjects in WorldCat Discovery by Grace McGann
- Sunday June 23-26: the American Library Association annual conference. Critcat-related presentations include:
- Changing the Representation of Disabilities in Description & Classification by Violet Fox, Mackenzie Johnson, Trina Soderquist, and Carlie Forsythe
- Less talk, more action: adventures in inclusive metadata by Jill Annitto, Cynthia M. Whitacre, and Heidy Berthoud
- Small Team, Big Job: A Model for Sustainable Critical Cataloging and Reparative Description by Melissa James, Marian Matyn, and Laura Thompson
Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!