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 December 2023:
- New podcast episode: Treshani Perera on Critical Cataloging, Creativity, and Teaching, episode 40 of the podcast LibVoices, which highlights librarians of color. Find the episode on multiple platforms.
- New article: Beyond a Caption by Shukri Sultan, uncovering the complex histories of a building hidden in the catalogue entry of a photograph of a mosque in Beijing. Part of the Critical Cataloguing project of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA).
- New webinar available: Dropping the Other I-Word: Local Library of Congress Subject Heading Replacements presented by Rebecca Saunders and hosted by ALA eLearning
- New blog post: When the Past Becomes Present: Reparative Description in NYU’s Web Collections by Lizzy Zarate on the blog of the Web Archiving Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists
- New blog post: Acknowledging and Repairing Harmful Description in PHS Collections on the Presbyterian Historical Society blog, describing their work redescribing works in their collections relating to Japanese American concentration camps of World War II
- New slides available: A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Toolkit for Resource Description, the keynote by Treshani Perera from the DEI DIY: Tools for Enhancing Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Your Library virtual event on December 1 hosted by NOTSL (Northern Ohio Technical Services Librarians). Other presentations included:
- DEI analysis: repurposing Baker & Taylor’s collectionHQ for academic libraries by Alicia Pearson
- Assessing subject analysis with MarcEdit and spreadsheets by Sasha Frizzell
- Library of Congress Classification monthly approved changes lists: implementing an ongoing reclassification workflow by Katherine Manifold
- Replacing obsolete cutter numbers using batch processes by Tyler Cunningham
- Getting to know SQL: or, 20 minutes of SQL fun! by Rich Wisneski
- A tale of two workflows: streamlining and automating acquisitions, by Carissa Thatcher and Cara Calabrese
- New blog post: Finding Palestine in the Library by Jamie Carlstone, explaining how Palestine is erased by cataloging policies and sharing search strategies for discovering books published in Palestine
- New resource for inclusive language relating to Palestine: the Inclusive Terminology Glossary (maintained by Carissa Chew through the Cultural Heritage Terminology Network) now has a section relating to Palestine (section 1.9)
- New infographics available: the Infographics for the Anti-racist Library Collection from CILIP features two infographics about Anti-Racist Cataloguing and Classification Practices in Welsh and English, like this one:
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 2309 were approved in September 2023).
New LC headings of note on list 2309:
- Revised LCSH: split from Anime to Anime (Motion pictures) and Anime (Television programs)
- Revised LCSH: from Bisexuals to Bisexual people [and related headings]
- New LCSH: Handkerchief codes
- Revised LCSH: from Héta Indians to Xetá Indians
- Deleted LCSH: Japanimation [in favor of Anime (Motion pictures) and Anime (Television programs)]
- Revised scope note: for Mestizaje: new scope note: Here are entered works on the racial and cultural blending that occurred in Latin America between Europeans and Indigenous peoples. Works on Latin Americans of mixed European and Indigenous descent are entered under Mestizos.
- Revised scope note: for Mestizos: new scope note: Here are entered works on Latin Americans of mixed European and Indigenous descent. Works on the racial and cultural blending that occurred in Latin America between Europeans and Indigenous peoples are entered under Mestizaje.
- New LCSH: Pansexual people
- New LCSH: Pride flags
- New LCSH: Shōjo manga
- New LCSH: Shōnen manga
New LCGFT of note on list 2309g:
- New LCGFT: Anime (Motion pictures)
- New LCGFT: Anime (Television programs)
- New LCGFT: Shōjo manga
- New LCGFT: Shōnen manga
LC decisions of note from Summary of Decisions 2309 (click on the link to read LC’s rationales):
- Rejected LCC revision: a proposal to reclassify Holocaust denial literature from D804.8 to to the end of the Holocaust numerical range.
- Rejected LCSH proposal: Hip-hop based education
Upcoming:
- Friday Feb 2: OCLC cataloging community meeting, including a DEI panel discussion with Treshani Perera (University of Kentucky Libraries) and Sarah Hoover (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- 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
Please let me know if there’s anything else coming up!