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 August 2023 and September 2023:
- New chapter: Disability in the Library and Librarianship by Stephanie S. Rosen, from the book Crip Authorship, edited by: Mara Mills and Rebecca Sanchez. (Full book available through open access.)
- New blog post: Making GW’s Library Catalog Express and Reflect Our Community’s Values, featuring George Washington University librarians Jen Froetschel and Matthew Bright
- New blog post: Re-discovering and mapping the British Library of Development Studies Legacy Collection through global metadata space and time by Alice Corble as part of the Decolonial Maps of Library Learning research project
- New news article: Hispanic Heritage Month documentary screening shines light on harmful terminology by Jayronan Vanthy, published in the California State University Fresno student newspaper
- New slides available: How to use the Cataloguing Code of Ethics at your day job : a hands-on workshop, presented by Jane Daniels (Cardiff Metropolitan University) and Diane Rasmussen McAdie (Edinburgh Napier University)
- New newsletter article: Building a K–12 Archives with Critical and Reparative Description at the Forefront, by Cali Vance (Bush School, Seattle)
- News for Alma users: Homosaurus will be added to Alma Authority Vocabularies by December 2023
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 2305 were approved in May 2023).
New LC headings of note on list 2305:
- Revised LCSH: from Red River Rebellion, 1869-1870 to Red River Resistance, Man., 1869-1870
- New LCSH: Russian diaspora
- New LCSH: Script switching (Linguistics)
- New LCSH: Sovereign citizens movement
- New LCSH: Street-food industry
New LCSH headings of note on list 2306:
- New LCSH: Allyship
- Revised LCSH: from Feminine hygiene products to Menstrual products
- New LCSH: Jewish feminists
- New LCSH: Low-wage workers
- New LCSH: Women, Black–Identity
New LCGFT (LC Genre/Form Terms) of note on list 2309:
- Several new LCGFT relating to gender and sexuality in comics, including Bisexual comics, Genderqueer comics, Queer comics, etc.
New LCDGT (LC Demographic Group Terms) of note on list 2308:
- Revised LCDGT: Bisexuals to Bisexual people
- Revised LCDGT: Gays to Gay people
Upcoming:
- Wednesday October 11: Sustainable Reparative Description and You, ALA webinar presented by Marian Matyn (Central Michigan University), Melissa James (Burns and McDonnell Engineering Co.), and Laura Thompson (Michigan State University)
- Wednesday October 11: Less Talk, More Action: Adventures in Inclusive Metadata, webinar hosted by Atla, panel discussion with Jill Annitto (Atla), Cynthia M. Whitacre (OCLC), Heidy Berthoud (LC)
- Wednesday October 11: Reimagine Descriptive Workflows Project webinar, presented by Merrilee Proffitt and Jay Holloway (OCLC)
- Find recordings of previous talks from the Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries series, hosted by Research Libraries UK
- Friday October 13: The 99th Annual Meeting of PTPL (Potomac Technical Processing Librarians) with the theme “Connect and Reflect: How Library Technical Services Can Engage and Represent the Communities We Serve.” In person in Leonardtown, Maryland. Presentations include:
- “Creating a reparative cataloging community of practice in the WRLC” presented by Jen Froetschel & Jackie Saavedra
- “Piloting Reparative Description via the IndigenizeSNAC Project” presented by Diana Marsh & Ia Bull
- Tuesday October 17: Words Matter for the CSU: Inclusive Description Task Force, hosted by the CSU (California State University) Libraries Network. Featuring speakers Luiz Mendes (CSU Northridge), Allison Bailund (San Diego State), and Julie Renee Moore (Fresno State.) “Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of the inclusive/critical cataloging movement. This panel of cataloging experts will leave participants with a solid idea of what inclusive cataloging is and why it is important. The panelists will provide real-life examples, best practices and approaches to identify projects that we are using in the CSU Libraries Network.”
- Thursday October 19: the next Medical Subject Funnel meeting. Anyone with an interest in improving MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) or LCSH relating to medical/health topics is welcome!
- Sunday October 22: On the Subject of Headings sponsored by ALIA (the Australian Library and Information Association and hosted by the PMI Victorian History Library (in person and streamed online). “We will be looking at how [subject headings] are managed, how they change over time, and how biases form, are identified, and are addressed.”
- Wednesday November 1: Dropping the Other I-Word: Local Library of Congress Subject Heading Replacements, ALA webinar presented by Rebecca Saunders (Western Carolina University)
- multiple dates: keep an eye on the UK Collections Trust website, which has upcoming events such as:
- Rethinking cataloguing discussion with Kathleen Lawther
- Creating catalogue advisory notices for racist materials with Carissa Chew