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.
N.B.: Your faithful Critcatenate editor was laid off from her cataloging job in July and is still out of work. 😩 Send job offers & good vibes her way!
#critcat in October 2025:
- new book: The House That Archives Built & Other Thoughts on Black Archival Possibilities by Dorothy Berry. Order the book and watch a book talk with the author.
- new academic article: Down Syndrome in the Archives: Addressing Archival Description of Legacy Records Documenting Disability Histories by Megan K. Friedel, published in The American Archivist
- new academic article: A Community of Belonging through Inclusive Metadata
by Sharolyn Swenson, Katie Yeo, Jeremy Myntti, and Nicole Lewis, published in Theological Librarianship, describing work done by Brigham Young University librarians and their creation of an Inclusive Metadata Policy - new academic article: Inequality and the Syndetic Structure of the Authority File : A Case of the “Lost Cause” Myth of the American Civil War in a Name Authority Record’s References by Mark Danley, published in the 2025 ALISE Proceedings
- new-ish academic article: Inching Forward in the Face of Hegemonic Factors: Examining Metadata Contradictions Across University Indigenous Collections
Kaia MacLeod, Susan Dahl & Ingrid Reiche, published in the Journal of Library Metadata - new-ish academic article: Mitigating Bias and Advocating for Data Sovereignty: The Role of Metadata and Paradata in Ethical AI-Driven Information Systems by Laís Barbudo Carrasco, published in the Journal of Library Metadata
- new blog post: Culturally Competent Description Action Campaign Updates by Amy Berish, Katie Martin, and Darren Young, describing work done at the Rockefeller Archive Center
the AI corner, I guess:
- new video: Don’t Erase, Inform! : the DE-BIAS Approach to Detecting and Contextualizing Harmful Language in Cultural Heritage Collections presented by Orfeas Menis Mastromichalakis. See also the article Don’t Erase, Inform! Detecting and Contextualizing Harmful Language in Cultural Heritage Collections and The DE-BIAS Vocabulary and Knowledge Graph
- new-ish academic article: Mind the Gap!: How Do we Ethically Bridge the Divide Between the Cataloging/Metadata Community and the World of AI? by Stephanie Sussmeier & Joshua A. Henry, published in the Journal of Library Metadata
upcoming:
- Tuesday November 4: ALA Core webinar: Exploring Descriptive Strategies for Outdated Language in Metadata and Cataloging, presented by Jessica L. Serrao and Tomeka Jackson
- Tuesday November 18: ALA Core Webinar: Retroactive Addition of Homosaurus: An Evaluation, presented by Brinna Michael and Sofia Slutskaya