Category: critcatenate

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. Critcat is short for critical cataloging, focusing on the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

#critcat in March 2022:

• New article: “Tribal Libraries in Michigan to Create New Classification System with Community Input” in Library Journal, describing a new IMLS-funded project being undertaken by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Libraries to select/create an Indigenous-centered classification scheme. The “Decolonizing Libraries to Foster Community Well-Being” project will include information for other libraries looking to do similar work.
• Recorded presentation: “Challenges facing catalogers in describing and indexing Middle Eastern books and periodicals,” part of the Middle East Librarians Association’s Social Justice Series. Presentation by Fatme Charafeddine & Basma Chebani of the American University of Beirut Libraries, describing their use and local adaptation of LCSH and LC name authority records. Includes discussion on the paucity of Arabic and Islam headings in LCSH.
• New document: Hispanic/Latinx Inclusive Terminologies Projects Technical Report by Aidy Weeks and Katie Hoskins, describing the process of a controlled vocabulary review.
• Blog post: “Say My Name, Say My Name: Addressing Missing Name Information for Women in Yale Special Collections” by Alison Clemens, Jennifer Coggins, Michelle Peralta, and Jessica Tai, published by the Description Section of the Society of American Archivists.
• “CHM Local Headings – Indigenous Endonyms,” a new batch of local headings from the Chicago History Museum’s catalog highlighting Indigenous terminology in self-description of groups.
• New post “White privilege” on the Cataloging Lab, compiling professional discussion about the lack of this LCSH and sharing LC’s rationales for rejecting the proposals in 2011 and 2016.
• The presentation “Removing Bias and Barriers from Your Cataloging” by Meghan O’Keefe was held March 23 at the Public Library Association conference. The slides and handouts about the River Forest Public Library (Illinois) audit and reclassification project are available at the link.
• Twitter thread from Jennifer LaGarde describing how and why to review and revise subject headings for discoverability. Base on her presentation “Radical School Librarianship: Creating Discoverable Library Spaces for Your Most Vulnerable Readers” given at the North Carolina Technology In Education Society conference; presentation slides are also available.
• New “Harmful Language Statement” from Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota) on their efforts to correct injustice in the catalog. As always, find a compilation these statements here on the Cataloging Lab’s List of statements on bias in library and archives description.
• Two new documents available on the PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) site: “Authority Control FAQs for Authors and Creators” and “Authority Control FAQs for Catalogers Contacting
  Creators/Contributors”. The document for authors/creators gives non-librarians information about why libraries collect their information and what is done with it; the document for catalogers creating name authority records stress that privacy concerns should be taken into account. (Editor’s note: I’m very proud to have helped create these important documents! The idea for them originated in the 2019 chapter I co-wrote with Tina Gross on “Authority Work as Outreach“.)
• Thanks to Maria Oldal for this addition to this month’s Critcatenate: two blog posts from the Morgan Library & Museum discussing the exclusion of women and other marginalized people from traditional cataloging: “A ‘Free Woman’ Lost and Found” written by Sandra Carpenter in March 2022, and “Not A Long Life, But A Happy One: Researching and Cataloging the Letters of Maria Tunno” written by Madeleine Barnes in November 2021.

Upcoming:

• Friday April 8th: “Problems in the Stacks: Queer theory, Pedophilia, & Library of Congress Call Numbers” by Meghan Bergin, lightning talk as part of the New England Technical Services Librarians (NETSL) 2022 Virtual Spring Conference. (Registration is $40 for non-members.)
• Friday April 29th: “Controlled vocabularies and you: a panel discussion on addressing and redressing terminologies through new and existing vocabularies” from the ACRL RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee, featuring speakers from the African American SACO Funnel, Lau Ā Lau Ka ʻIke project, RBMS Controlled Vocabularies Prejudicial Materials Working Group, and the Chicano Thesaurus at University of California, Berkeley. Free registration.
• Wednesday May 11th-Friday May 13th: 2022 OVGTSL conference held by the Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians will feature several critcat-related sessions (virtual attendance registration $55):
  • “Next Steps in Decolonizing the Catalog: Application of Indigenous Subject Headings at the University of Dayton” presentation by Jill J. Crane & Grace Huffman on replacing “Indians of North America” & other LCSH.
  • “The Frontlog Quandary: A Case Study of DEI in the Cataloging Community” presentation by Jeremiah Kamtman discussing the impact of processing backlogs on providing access to music scores by composers of color.
  • “Resources for Understanding Metadata and Description of Library Collections: Professional Development Tools for Technical Services” presentation by Andrea Morrison & Janice Gustaferro describing resources available for revising problem subject headings and more.

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, focusing on the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

#critcat in February 2022:

• Really terrific new article from Tina Gross “Search Terms Up For Debate: The Politics and Purpose of Library Subject Headings“, written for the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History magazine. A great resource for non-librarians or non-catalogers about recently contested headings and what’s at stake in critcat discussions.
• New survey on cataloging and accessibility, from David Philip Norris at St. Catherine University. “The aim is to gain a better picture of how libraries and catalogers are aware of and making use of accessibility metadata in their cataloging, as well as the types of accessible materials in their collections.”
• Panel titled “Critical Cataloging Conversations in Teaching, Research, and Practice” at the Visual Resources Association (VRA) conference included four presentations. Find a pdf of abstracts of this panel. The panel will be repeated at the VRA annual meeting in Baltimore on Tuesday, March 29.
  • “Describing Art on the Street: The Graffiti Art Community Voice” by Ann M. Graf
  • “Queer Work | Queer Archives” by Jennifer Sichel and Miriam Kienle
  • “Pattern and Representation: Critical Cataloging for a New Perspective on Campus History” by Megan E Macken and Louise E. Siddons
  • “Adapting to non-Western information workflows and protocols with Critical, Relational Metadata” by Devon Murphy
• New recording available: “Body-Oriented Cataloging and the Future of Gender in Archives” presented by Travis L. Wagner, as part of the CAFe Speaker Series from the University of Maryland’s iSchool. Travis talked with catalogers about how they would describe historical footage of a gender nonconforming activity in a library catalog and uses their answers to reflect on positionality & cataloger’s judgment. Well worth your time!
• New recording available of the OCLC Cataloging Community Meeting on Jan 28, including:
  • “Using the Homosaurus controlled vocabulary in both OCLC Connexion and in the local catalog” by Adrian Williams
  • “DEI in public library consortia: Trusting, collaborating, and thriving” by Misty Alvaro
  • “OCLC metadata DEI” by Cynthia M. Whitacre
• Valuable twitter thread from Tracy Shields on MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) change from “Oceanic Ancestry Group” to “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander”.
• From museum land, the UK’s Collections Trust is looking for feedback on a new draft of a document draft scope and policy questions titled “Rethinking cataloguing.”
• New article on LitHub: “We Need to Radically Rethink the Library of Congress Classification” by Claire Woodcock. [I don’t think the author is a cataloger?]
• Reminder about the ARLIS/NA (North American art librarians) Cataloging Advisory Committee’s new form to propose changes to problematic/offensive art subject headings: “CAC Launches Form to Propose Changes to Problematic Art Subject Headings“. [Note that that post provides a link to see what’s been submitted already and leave notes. If you have non-art related subject headings you’d like to note as “problematic,” the Cataloging Lab has a place to submit & review a crowdsourced list of problem subject headings.]

Upcoming:

• Monday March 21 / Tuesday March 22: “Critical Conversations – The death of cooperative cataloguing as we know it” presentation with Melissa Parent and Ebe Kartus. [Note that this is in Australia (& just after daylight savings ends in the U.S.) so careful when converting time zone, U.S. friends.]

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, focusing on the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

#critcat in December 2021 and January 2022:

• “Decolonizing Canadiana Metadata: An Overdue Step in Removing Harmful Subject Headings” from the Canadian Research Knowledge Network. Information about replacing the LCSH “Indians of North America” with “Indigenous peoples” and replacing other “Indians” terminology. Includes a spreadsheet with a list of replacements.
• The ARLIS/NA Cataloging Advisory Committee has launched a form to propose changes to problematic/offensive art subject headings.
• “ARLIS/NA Statement on Removal of Library of Congress – Illegal Aliens – Subject Headings” expressing disappointment about LC’s change to “Illegal immigration” & lack of transparency/rationale behind their choice.
• New post: “Still Changing the Subject: Examining Library of Congress Subject Headings and Considering Options for Change” by Steph Roach at the Council of Chief Librarians California Community Colleges website. I especially appreciate the excellent list of actions on this post.
• Short twitter thread from Alissa McCulloch: “One day we will cease attempting to ‘reduce bias’ in our catalogues, and start to ‘add values’ and ‘strengthen ethics’ and ‘redistribute power’ instead.“
• Also from Alissa McCulloch: a new blog post: “Beyond ‘Ditch Dewey’ in the academic library,” on the complexity of de-Deweying the library and the need for culturally sensitive metadata.
• New blog post on the ARLIS/NA blog: “Critically Cataloging Black Arts Movement Material” by Nic Caldwell, including info about crediting (and creating authority records for) Black artists who haven’t been included in traditionally cataloged records.
• Short article: “Critical Librarianship in a Global Context” by Emily Drabinski in the Philippine Journal of Librarianship and Information Studies. Includes discussion of the D schedule in LCC as evidence of U.S. imperialism.
• New LCSH was added in December for “Palestinian Nakba, 1947-1948” which had been rejected in 2017. Other new headings of interest: “Feminism and racism,” “White feminism,” “Vaccine mandates,” and “Greenwashing.”
• New recording available: “Tackling Racism and Bias in the Library Catalog” from the Public Library Association, with staff from Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library, and BookOps discussing the replacements for the “Illegal aliens” headings. You may need a (free) ALA Connect login to access this content.
• New recording available: “Cataloging & Calcification: Issues & Suggestions in Applying LC Standards to Indigenous Materials” from Allison Mills (Ililiw/Cree), discussing marginalization in LCC, using alternate vocabularies, & exploring alternate classifications. Part of the session Land Acknowledgement & Beyond: Special Collections and Indigenous Communities from PACSCL (The Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries).
• New special journal issue available: Queering Information: LGBTQ+ Memory, Interpretation, Dissemination, volume 5 number 4 of The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion.  “Diversity Monitoring in the Library: Categorisation Practices and the Exclusion of LGBTQ Library Users” by Kevin Guyan may be of particular interest.
• The catalog records & subject authorities created by Sanford Berman and colleagues at Hennepin County Library are now accessible through an online system, thanks to David Lesniaski. The KOHA installation contains the bibliographic and subject authority files of the Hennepin County Library catalog from late 2001-early 2002. The main page contains a link to a document explaining various ways to search the metadata. (Hat tip to Tina Gross!)
  .

Upcoming:

• Wednesday February 2: “Body-Oriented Cataloging and the Future of Gender in Archives” talk by Travis Wagner, sponsored by the Center of Archival Futures.
• Tuesday March 8: “Skill-Sharing Conversation: Addressing Bias in the Library Catalog” from LibraryLinkNJ with Charles Dolan and Eileen M. Palmer.

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!

Also: I don’t get paid for this work, so if this roundup is useful to you, please drop me a line to say thanks and/or give me a job!

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, focusing on the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

#critcat in November 2021:

• New article “Collecting for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Best Practices for Virginia Libraries” by Nan Carmack for the journal of the Virginia Library Association. Advises keywords/local subject headings be added to LCSH for discovery, training and self-awareness for catalogers and vendors.
• New article “Just like Museums, Libraries Aren’t Neutral” by Fuchsia Hart, based on a viral tweet thread. Focuses on the LCC classification of people in Afghanistan,  the history in Palestine being treated from an Israeli perspective, as well as denoting time periods in the Middle East according to dynastic periods.
• Webinar “ELUNA learns – DEI Initiatives” included sessions on using local Alma name & subject authorities for Indigenous peoples of North America, the LCSH change to “Tulsa Race Massacre” through the SACO process, & survey results from 130 libraries on how to address derogatory language in subject headings. Half-day event held December 1st, but the recording is available for a year for those who register ($25).
• Short Twitter thread by Tracy Shields on recent changes to MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), efforts to address bias, and the need for more work on this topic.
• News article “Outdated terms referencing Indigenous peoples are being removed from SD 60’s library catalogue” reporting on a school district in British Columbia replacing #LCSH “Indians of North America” with “Indigenous peoples” and replacing Anglicized names of Indigenous groups with their preferred terminology.
• The Trans Metadata Collective‘s Name Authorities Working Group is looking to evaluate existing institutional guidelines for trans/gender diverse subjects, authorities, etc. If your institution has guidelines, send them to Bri Watson.
• A call from E. Johnson-DeBaufre to add the subject heading “Eugenics” to the bib record for the journal “Mankind Quarterly.”
• ALA Core Board of Directors has endorsed the Cataloguing Code of Ethics, which is now available in the ALA repository.
• Blog post from October “On Outdated and Harmful Language in Library of Congress Subject Headings” by Columbia Libraries archivist Celeste Brewer. A good summary of why we use #LCSH and what needs to happen for alternatives to replace/ supplement terminology (“alternatives require widespread adoption and investment to succeed”).
• Presentation “Changing the Narrative” given by members of the Medical Libraries Association Hispanic/Latinx Inclusive Terminologies Project at the REFORMA National Conference, talking about their efforts to create inclusive Hispanic/Latinx terminologies in MeSH. Find more information at the project page: https://osf.io/9mgwq/.
• OCLC webinar “Reimagining Descriptive Workflows: An Anti-Racist Approach” by Merrilee Proffitt, hosted by CILIP.  “Participants will learn about work that has been done at OCLC and elsewhere to understand the impact of harmful descriptive practices and will hear about outcomes from a June 2021 workshop. Attendees will be invited to reflect on how they can participate in changing power structures that will result in more just descriptions.” Free recording available.
• The big LCSH news is about the revision of “Illegal aliens” to be replaced by the headings “Illegal immigration” and “Noncitizens.” Opinions vary about this outcome, but many are unhappy with the replacement terms, despite this very sunny press release from ALA about the revision: “ALA Welcomes Removal of Offensive ‘Illegal aliens’ Subject Headings,” calling it a reflection of social justice values. Here’s one of the news articles about U.S. senators pushing back on the change: “Sen. Ted Cruz goes after Library of Congress for dropping term ‘illegal alien’“. See this Book Riot article, “Library of Congress Subject Heading Change Doesn’t Address the Real Issue” by Kelly Jensen, and my Twitter thread, for more thoughts. The co-director of the Change the Subject documentary, Jill Baron, is hosting listening sessions this month to talk to library workers about how they feel about the revision.
• A proposal was made to change the LCSH “Slaves” to “Enslaved persons,” which was “retained” until March 2022 “due to concerns that terminology used in society in general may not have changed sufficiently.”

Upcoming:

• Friday December 10: “Cataloguing and classification ethics: an ARLIS online talk” by Deborah Lee, sponsored by the ARLIS (Art Libraries Society) Cataloguing and Classification Committee, discussing the problematic design of cat and class systems, practitioner ethics, and the wider context including barriers/issues/tensions in making changes to our systems/practices.
• Thursday December 16: “Tackling Racism and Bias in the Library Catalog,” sponsored by the Public Library Association. Featuring Paloma Celis Carbajal, Melissa Gasparotto, Amy Mikel, & Steven Pisani of New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library.

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, focusing on the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

#critcat in October 2021:

• New survey “Description specialists and inclusive description work in LIS“: Treshani Perera, a researcher at the University of Kentucky Libraries, invites you to participate in a research study investigating the educational, work experiences, and demographics of description specialists involved in inclusive description work and/or initiatives in LIS.
• “Identity, Anti-Bias Practices, and the Library Catalog” video recording now available, recorded in September. In Episode thirty-Two of New York Public Library’s Doc Chat series, NYPL’s Paloma Celis Carbajal and Jelicia Jimenez were joined by Bronwen Maxson of the University of Oregon to discuss how issues of identity, particularly as relates to immigrant communities in the U.S., have shaped discovery tools such as library catalogs in far-reaching ways.
• “Metadata and DEIA” webinar recording & slides now available. Presentation hosted by the  NISO Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee featuring Treshani Perera, Merrilee Proffitt, and Brian M. Watson.
• Chicago Open Archives 2021 Unconference included multiple critcat/critarch sessions, including “Critical Cataloging: Introducing Local Headings” by Gretchen Neidhardt and Elizabeth McKinley of the Chicago History Museum and “Let the Records Speak: Uncovering the Stories of Black Women in the WCTU” with Janet Olson and Kristin Jacobsen of the Frances Willard House Museum and WCTU Archives. All session recordings are available on the Chicago Area Archivists Youtube channel.
• New blog post “On Adding Autistic People to HV” by Netanel Ganin (from September), regarding recent additions to the LCC schedules for classifying works about autistic people.
• New bibliography “A Cataloging and DEI Reading List” created by Taylor Diken, with sections on Cataloging and Technical Services, Classification Systems and Knowledge Organization, Subject Headings and Name Authority Records, and In Practice: Changing LCC and LCSH.
• “Treating subjects with respect: how the Libraries are addressing discrimination and harmful content in its catalog” post on two projects at the Miami University Libraries, revising the “Illegal aliens” LCSH and putting “sensitive content” warnings on displays for sensitive visual materials in digital collections.
• Twitter thread from Merrilee Proffitt on anti-racist work in libraries and the need for apology in repair.
• Twitter thread from Tina Gross on metaphors for replacing/reforming LCSH.
• Webinar session “Collaborative Approaches to Address Representational Bias in Search Applications” discussing how librarians, publishers, and vendors can work together to revise metadata practices. One of the 2021 Charleston Preconference sessions [not sure if it was recorded or not?].
• News article critiquing critcat work: “Leading historian speaks out as National Library of Scotland rewrites ‘harmful’ colonial language“: updating library catalogue records and resources criticized as “anachronistic”.
• “Stratford library taking steps to update offensive colonial language in its catalogue” news article in The Stratford Beacon Herald (Ontario) by Chris Montanini.
• New chapter: “Cataloguing, Classification, and Critical Librarianship at Cambridge University” in book Narrative expansions: interpreting decolonisation in academic libraries, including case studies on moving from UDC to LCC at the African Studies Library, revising the Polar UDC classification, & cataloging cartoneras from Argentina. Click “sample chapter” on this page to download this chapter.
• Valuable step-by-step guide on “How to Propose a New Topical LCSH” for those not in SACO libraries compiled by Beck Schaefer.
• New LCSH this month include:
  • Racism in law enforcement
  • Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021
  • Sixties Scoop, Canada, 1951-ca. 1980
  • Indigenous children–Government policy
• Request for cataloger’s help to test the usage of ISO 639-3 language codes in MARC records, which would provide better access to less common languages. Catalog 2-5 resources using PCC draft Guidelines for test of use of ISO 639-3 language codes in MARC records. Deadline December 3.
• September 2021 issue of Catalogue & Index from CILIP-Metadata & Discovery Group includes several critcat-related papers, including:
  • “Walking the talk: cataloguing ethics in an era of pandemic” by Jane Daniels discussing each of the ten principle statements in the Cataloguing Code of Ethics
  • “Changing the subject at the University of Macedonia Library & Information Centre” by Elisavet Chantavaridou, Evaggelia Semkou, & Athina Kesidou discussing revisions to #LCSH for North Macedonia & Illegal aliens at
    the University of Macedonia library, inspired by the Change the Subject documentary film

Upcoming:

• Wednesday November 3: “Authors, Authority, & Identity: Facilitating Self-Identification for Discovery & Inclusive Knowledge Production“. Part of Harvard Library’s Advancing Open Knowledge initiative, featuring speakers Amber Billey, Julia Bullard, Hannah Carton, B.M. Watson, Ciyadh Wells.
• Tuesday November 9: Minitex (Minnesota) Technical Services Symposium happening online. The 2021 theme is “Good Trouble: Activism and Ethics in Technical Services”. Critcat sessions include:
  • “Scruples and Hoopla: Ethical principles into ethical actions” keynote by Beth Shoemaker
  • “From the Back Room to the Front Line: Integrating DEI Primary Sources for Discovery” by Faye Mazzia and Ying Zhang
  • “Demographics of Cataloging and the New White Man’s Burden” by Preston Salisbury
• Friday November 19: “It’s All Subjective: Modern Subject Analysis” virtual fall meeting of NOTSL (Northern Ohio Technical Services Librarians). Presentations include:
  • “‘About’ Is What It’s About! The State of Subject Access” by Rocki Strader
  • “Underrepresented Collections in the Howard B. Waltz Music Library” by Linda Bagley, Clara Burns, and Kelsey A. Fuller
  • “Ghost in the MARChine: Pseudonymity and Anonymity Usage in Electronica Music Sound Recordings” by Leonard “Leo” Martin
• Call for submissions: the next issue of Catalogue & Index will be on the topic of advocacy, very relevant to critcat interests. Consider submitting your example of advocating for more staff / resources or for the value of metadata / cataloging. Deadline November 30.

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, focusing on the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

#critcat in September 2021:

• New article: “Re-questioning the Library from the Inside: American Society and the Future of Librarianship“by Akane Yoshiya (in Japanese). Perspectives on #critlib and #critcat from a Japanese perspective, featuring discussion of the revisions to the “Tulsa Race Riots” & “Japanese Americans–Evacuation and relocation” LCSH.
• New article: “Contextualizing Disability: A Century of Library of Congress Subject Headings” by Carolyn Sullivan, comparing the second edition (1919) & eighth edition (1975) of LCSH for headings concerning deafness and other disabilities.
• New article: “The Shortcomings of Bibliographic Description in Service of Indigenous Peoples in Canada” by Amelia Hunter, discussing the limitations of MARC fields & LCDGT in describing Indigenous resources.
• New article:  “Mitigating Bias in Metadata: A Use Case Using Homosaurus Linked Data” by Juliet Hardesty and Allison Nolan in Information Technology and Libraries, demonstrating proof of concept testing of increasing access to LGBTQ materials using Homosaurus.
• Webinar from New York Public Library: “Doc Chat Episode 32: Identity, Anti-Bias Practices, and the Library Catalog” with Jelicia Jimenez, Paloma Celis Carbajal, and Bronwen Maxson. Recording should be available in October.
• Blog post from Chicago History Museum “Updating the Archival Descriptions of Enslavement Documents“: CHM collections intern Ella Trotter writes about the critical process of describing archival documents regarding enslaved people in the United States.
• I missed this back in February: “Spark a Conversation on Metadata Inclusiveness” by Sai Deng. Slideshow prepared for coworkers with overview of EDI in cataloging, good overview of multiple critcat topics with tools & bibliography.
• Changing the Subject at California’s Community College Libraries: follow-up to an April 2021 post (Changing Subjects: Two DEI Metadata Projects at CCC Libraries) on efforts to replace the “Illegal aliens” LCSH at 110 community colleges.
• Statement and roadmap from the University of Washington Libraries: “Words Matter: Critical Cataloging and Archival Description at the University of Washington Libraries“.
• Recording of “Dewey Really Need It” discussion on the Dewey Decimal Classification in Australia, including info on local revisions to the DDC and exploring alternatives.
• January 2021 CCQ article now available for free until February 2022: “Records, Responsibility, and Power: An Overview of Cataloging Ethics” by Jennifer M. Martin. The article outlines major issues in cataloging ethics through the last several decades.
• “Bias in the Library” 17-minute podcast episode discussing LCSH and Dewey. “On the Media producer Molly Schwartz spoke with Wayne A. Wiegand, a library historian and author of Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey, Caroline Saccucci, former Dewey Program Manager at the Library of Congress, Emily Drabinski interim chief librarian of the Mina Rees Library at CUNY, and Dartmouth librarian Jill Baron from the documentary Change the Subject.”
• Letter requests from Sandy Berman to LC to create subject headings for “Land back movement” and “Racial capitalism“.
• Call for proposals: special issue of CCQ on “Empowering Representations: Rethinking Surrogates from the Margins” edited by Lynne Howarth & Katharine Leigh, exploring how librarians should reconsider representations in cataloging. Proposals due October 31.
• Valuable Twitter thread by Dr. Stacy Allison-Cassin starting with: “Equity in cataloguing and bibliographic data needs to go beyond the data itself. It’s not enough to focus on subject headings and description. We need to also take a hard look at the modes of delivery and the platforms that control access to sharing data.”
• Webinar from SAA: “DEI and Collections Metadata/DEI Audit” discussing “how to critically examine collecting practices for bias and gaps” and “strategies for identifying problematic language and descriptions in your collection data and outline possible steps for addressing them.”
• Short essay “Library Systems Are Not Perfect: Describing Transgender Children and Young People Using LCSH” by Niamh Quigley in the new Disorientation Guide to Librarianship zine.

Upcoming:

• Monday October 4: “Metadata and DEIA” webinar from the  NISO Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee featuring Treshani Perera, Merrilee Proffitt, and Brian M. Watson.
• Minitex (Minnesota) Technical Services Symposium is happening online Tuesday November 9. The 2021 theme is “Good Trouble: Activism and Ethics in Technical Services”.

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, an effort focusing on discussing the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

#critcat in August 2021:

• ALA Core webinar “Walking the Talk: Realizing Ethical Considerations in Cataloging Work” included an overview of the Cataloguing Code of Ethics.
• Blog post from the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives blog by MLIS student River Freemont: “Exploring Bias and Library of Congress Subject Headings“.
• Responses requested on this survey for archives workers “Identifying Bias and Offensive Language in Legacy Descriptions” from the Leeds Arts & Humanities Research Institute.
• Jenny Schollaert from the National Endowment for the Humanities on “Phantom Records: A Two-Part Series on Searchability and Records in Chronicling America, Part 2,” discussing creating authority records for Black newspaper editors.
• New terms and revisions to MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) include changing “Hispanic Americans” to “Hispanic or Latino”. See Tracy Shields’ Twitter thread about notable revisions.
• ARLIS/NA Artist File Special Interest Group met August 9 to talk about Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and artist files, with a discussion on how to collect artists’ information, decolonizing subject headings and ensuring inclusion of BIPOC artists.
• Call for blog posts about critical cataloging from the ARLIS Cataloging Section.
• New CCQ article “Cataloging, Consequences, and Creativity: An Essay in Honor of Lynne C. Howarth” discusses Howarth’s approach to cataloging as a liberatory tool for expressing relationality, agency, and empowerment
• A survey report from Backstage Library Works “Managing Authority Control in a Changing Discovery Landscape” showed that more than 70% of responding libraries want to eliminate offensive terms for immigrants and Indigenous peoples in their catalogs. Backstage also featured a LinkedIn post on developing a list of decolonized indigenous peoples terms as well as generating a crosswalk for LGBTQ+ terms in LCSH based on the Homosaurus.
• IFLA session on “Subject to Change: How to Deal With Changes in Subject Information” featured presentations by F. Tim Knight, Violet Fox, & Hollie White
• Dr. Tonia Sutherland at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has been awarded a 3-year $357,000 grant from the US IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarianship Grant program to study Redescription as Restorative Justice in American Archives.
• New to me, but not new: the Labelling Matters project from Pitt Rivers Museum in the UK, including blog posts about their efforts to redescribe objects respectfully.
• New to me from June 2021: “How Getty Archivists Support Racial Justice: Inside the Ongoing Work to Reexamine Thousands of Records to Create Better and More Equitable Archives” post from the Getty blog by Samantha Ceja, Sara McGillivray, and Helen Kim.
• “Move Over, Melvil! Momentum Grows to Eliminate Bias and Racism in the 145-year-old Dewey Decimal System” article from School Library Journal.

Upcoming:

• “Dewey Really Need This?,” a panel exploring the Dewey Decimal System, streaming and in person, from PMI Victorian History Library in Australia. (Sunday September 19 on Australian time means this will be on Saturday September 18, 11 pm U.S. Central time.) Speakers will discuss the ethical and practical issues of Dewey classification, and how it is used or modified in different institutions today.
• Minitex (Minnesota) Technical Services Symposium is happening online Tuesday November 9. The 2021 theme is “Good Trouble: Activism and Ethics in Technical Services”. Deadline for proposals: September 24.

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, an effort focusing on discussing the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

• New article in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly: “Searching for Paumanok: A Study of Library of Congress Authorities and Classifications for Indigenous Long Island, New York” by Kristen J. Nyitray & Dana Reijerkerk
• Request from author Alex Gino to add a new alternate heading to the book “Melissa’s Story”. WorldCat bib record #900624128 has already been revised, so consider making this revision in your local catalog too.
• Excellent blog post about the Decolonising the Database event, which happened at the University of Brighton July 5th. Author Ananda Rutherford critically discusses efforts to decolonize the description of museum collections.
• “Research Study on Support for Critical Librarianship Efforts in Public Libraries” from Ellis Butler at Clarion University; survey respondents who are in cataloging are especially welcome!
• Author data privacy in libraries by Ros. A great writeup for authors explaining their options for authority control/identity management, written specifically for the Australian library context, but applicable to libraries worldwide.
• Video recording from LD4 conference featuring a project briefing on the “Reimagine Descriptive Workflows” project from OCLC, presented by Merrilee Proffitt, and “Use of the Homosaurus as an alternative controlled vocabulary at the University of Kentucky Libraries,” ​presented by Adrian Williams​​​.
• “Queering the Linked Data Universe: Word- and World-defining with the Homosaurus” video recording of a presentation at LD4 conference by Bri Watson, Cailin Roles, Jay Colbert, and K.J. Rawson.
• Recording of Ethical Cataloging Workshop from OLAC 2020 conference presented by Gretchen Neidhardt and Violet Fox. The presenters discussed using more inclusive subject headings, shared a variety of local solutions through case studies, and talked about barriers to ethical cataloging.
• New publication: “Social Justice in Cataloging Annotated Bibliography” compiled by Eric Willey, Jeremy Berg, Cathy Chapman, Gretchen Neidhardt, Stephanie Porrata, and Jennifer Young.
• Revisions to LCSH this month include:
  • a new heading “Rape in correctional institutions” (Previously, works on this subject were given the LCSH “Prisoners––sexual behavior”. See the proposal for this heading.)
  • new heading “Say Her Name movement” (see the proposal for this heading).
  • ~20 headings that previously used the phrase “Evacuation and relocation” but now use “Forced removal and relocation”. Thanks to Allison Bailund for the research of these headings!
• Revisions to LCC this month include:
  • ~40 class numbers that previously used .N3, .N4, or .N5 to represent topics on “Negroes,” which have now been changed to use Cutters for “Blacks”. (For example, D547.N4, Negroes in World War I, was replaced by D547.B64, Blacks in World War II.)

Upcoming:

• August 12: “Cataloging Queer Library Issues: A Symposium to Honor Walt ‘Cat’ Walker” is not just cataloging, but will feature cataloging and multiple other topics related to queer issues in academic libraries, including a discussion of the Homosaurus vocabulary and reorganizing Vancouver’s Out On The Shelves library. Registration is free.
• November 9: Minitex Technical Services Symposium. This year’s theme will be “Good Trouble: Activism and Ethics in Technical Services”. The speakers will include Kenda Zellner-Smith, who preserved the artwork created in Minneapolis during the George Floyd protests, and Beth Shoemaker discussing the Cataloging Code of Ethics.

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, an effort focusing on discussing the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

• The Trans Metadata Collective is looking for new members. The group consists of “cataloguers, librarians, archivists, scholars, and information professionals with a concerted interest in improving the description and classification of trans, non-binary, Two Spirit, and other gender nonconforming people in GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums),” with the primary goal “to develop a set of best practices for the description and classification of gender nonconforming information resources.”
• Survey respondents are requested for “Changing the Subject: Offensive Terms in KOS and Library Metadata,” a research study by Athena Salaba asking about local practices regarding offensive terminology in subject and genre vocabularies. (Only open to U.S. respondents.)
• “Antiracism Resources: Reassessing Library of Congress Subject Headings“: blog post from Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY) with a roundup of efforts to revise LCSH from across the U.S.
• “Examining Evolving LGBTQIA+ Language,” blog post featuring the Chicago History Museum’s efforts to assess LGBTQIA+-related language & incorporate new terminology.
• “Don’t Dream It’s Over; or, A Return to Cataloguing“: personal blog post from from Alissa McCulloch discussing the need to revisit subject headings, especially those relating to the culture of Aboriginal Australians.
• “Librarian and Documentarian Jill Baron MLIS’12 Shares Career Path, Details SC&I’s Influence,” interview featuring the motivation behind Change the Subject, the documentary film about the LCSH “Illegal aliens”
• “Optimizing Elasticsearch Search Experience Using a Thesaurus,” new article in Code4Lib Journal by Emmanuel Di Pretoro [and others] featuring a detailed explanation of a mechanism to implement “if the user types X search for Y” (hat tip to Graeme Williams!).
• “Indigenous Knowledges,” a new special issue of KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies, includes articles about archives and other cultural institutions.
• Critcat-related sessions that happened at ALA Annual 2021:
  • “Cultural Responsiveness in the Library: Centering Equity Beyond Collection Development,” on-demand session presented by librarians from the Chicago Public Schools discussing their Critical Cataloging Project.
  • “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the Library and Technical Services” was the theme of this year’s Role of the Professional Librarian in Technical Services Interest Group session, featuring these topics:
    • “Inclusive Cataloging Practices” by Alyssa Koclanes
    • “Embracing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion with Local Subject Headings” by Brian Stearns
    • “Addressing Systemic Racism in Metadata” by Jessie Copeland & Lars Meyer.
  • “What’s in a Name?: LGBTQ+ and Latinx Perspectives on Access Terminology—Challenges and Solutions” panel discussion featuring Jamie A. Lee, Emily Drabinski, and Andrea Guzman.
  • The Core Catalog Form and Function Interest Group featured a conversation on defining ways to address harmful language and harmful biases in catalogs, including information from Bela Gupta on new LCSH terms she has proposed for tribes in India.
• Also during ALA Annual 2021: Two resolutions were presented at ALA Council related to the “Illegal aliens” LCSH: “Resolution on Replacing the Library of Congress Subject Heading Illegal Aliens Without Further Delay” and “Resolution on Greater Transparency in the Library of Congress Subject Headings Revision Process.” Both resolutions failed to pass ALA Council. Find more discussion about the resolutions, coauthored by Tina Gross, Jill Baron, and Violet Fox, on this Twitter thread.

Upcoming:

• July 7: “Decolonizing the Catalog: Anti-Racist Description Practices from Authority Records to Discovery Layers” webinar from Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) featuring these topics:
  • Elizabeth Hobart will discuss the inadequacy of current subject headings related to anti-racism and the difficulties that patrons face in locating anti-racism books in the library catalog
  • Staci Ross and Michelle Cronquist will detail their work as Co-Chairs of the African American Subject Funnel Project
  • Kelly Farrell will discuss the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) collaborative efforts to remap problematic, outdated, and offensive LC Subject Headings by “replacing” these terms in their public catalog/ discovery layer.
• July 9-11: North American Symposium on Knowledge Organization. This year’s session topics include Topics include Indigenous knowledge systems, video game metadata, graffiti hashtags, equitable cataloging, fiction genres, and more.
• July 19-23: 2021 LD4 Conference on Linked Data. Registration is free; critcat-relevant sessions include “Is User-Centered Design in Conflict with Cataloging Ethics?” presentation by Peggy Griesinger, Mikala Narlock, and Hanna Bertoldi, discussing the tension between creator privacy and user needs, as well as a discussion and workshop on “Queering the Linked Data Universe: Word- and World-defining with the Homosaurus” from Bri Watson.
• July 26-30. ALA Core Virtual Interest Group Week. Sessions will happen all week, with two critcat-related sessions on July 28: the Cataloging and Classification Research Interest Group (CCRIG) will feature presentations on the theme “Ethical Cataloging: Toward Diversity and Inclusiveness” and the Metadata Interest Group will feature presentations on the topic of library metadata & EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion).
• August 12: “Cataloging Queer Library Issues: A Symposium to Honor Walt ‘Cat’ Walker” is not just cataloging, but will feature cataloging and multiple other topics related to queer issues in academic libraries. Stay tuned for more info about session content.

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!

Critcatenate is an effort to keep folks up to date on #critcat efforts with a monthly roundup of news. #critcat is short for critical cataloging, an effort focusing on discussing the ethical implications of library metadata, cataloging, and classification standards, practice, and infrastructure.

• New post relating to the “Illegal aliens” LCSH: OhioLINK adds alternative subject headings to Central Catalog MARC records. Also relevant are the OhioLINK Guidelines for Addressing Outdated or Offensive Subject Terms (pdf) providing information about adding local alternatives to LCSH in a consortial environment.
• New this month is the On These Grounds descriptive model for events involving enslaved people laboring for colleges and universities. Find a linked data vocabulary and a set of controlled vocabularies at that link.
• Post from March 2021 that had escaped my attention: An Intern’s Investigation on Decolonizing Archival Descriptions and Legacy Metadata by Laurier Cress.
• From the Description Section of the Society of American Archivists: Exposing Archival Mediations and Repairing Legacy Practices Through Redescription: Reprocessing the Luis Alberto Sánchez papers by Alexandra (Lexy) deGraffenreid
• May 13 2021 Twitter thread with questions and answers about how the LCSH proposal process works.
• New updates to the Chicago History Museum critical cataloging libguide include a mapping from LCSH to local subject headings they’ve included in their catalog.
• Request from the Cataloging Ethics Steering Committee for submissions of case studies exemplifying ethical issues in cataloging. Compiled case studies will act as an addendum to the recently completed Cataloguing Code of Ethics.
• A few of the new LCSH approved this month: “Settler colonialism”, “Conspicuous consumption”, “Night riding (Racial violence)”. “Concentration camps” has been deleted and is now replaced with “Internment camps” and “Nazi concentration camps”. “Noble savage” has been changed to “Noble savage stereotype”.
• New chapter: Sorrow, Fury, Helplessness, and Cynicism: An Account of the Library of Congress Subject Heading “Illegal aliens” by Jill E. Baron and Tina Gross, published in Borders and Belonging: Critical Examinations of Library Approaches toward Immigrants edited by Ana Ndumu.
• New chapter: “Words Matter: Examining the Language Used to Describe Mental Health Conditions in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)” by Carolyn Hansen, published in LIS Interrupted: Intersections of Mental Illness and Library Work edited by Miranda Dube and Carrie Wade.
• Crowdsourced list of DEI-related controlled vocabularies compiled by the Association of Moving Image Archivists Cataloging & Metadata Committee.
• Recording available of Inclusive Description in New York City, copresented by the New York Technical Services Librarians and the New York chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America. See the Inclusive Description in New York City session description for details. Speakers:
  • Inclusive Description at Columbia University Libraries: From “Change the Subject” to Action by Matthew C. Haugen and Michele Wan
  • “Changing the Subject” at Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library by Tomasz Kalata and Steven Pisani (shared during this session: an LCSH mapping for alternatives to the LC headings “Aliens” and “Illegal aliens”)
  • User-Driven Reparative Archival Description at New York University by Weatherly Stephan
• Capstone project from University of Washington iSchool students Karli Cotton, Seth Kurke, and Keiko Yamamoto: Indigenous Representation in Subject Headings, focusing on strategies for the University of Montana. Includes 5-minute video summarizing recommendations.
• 2-minute video titled This Is America: Creating Anti-racist Metadata for Digital Collections, a poster session by A. Laura Ramirez describing work done by the University of Houston Metadata and Digitization Services on a small digital collection of Theodore de Bry’s America copper engravings.
• Now available: recording of Reimagining Description for Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections: an Anti-Racist Approach by Mary Sauer Games and Merrilee Proffitt.

Upcoming:

• June 18 2021: OCLC Cataloging Community Virtual Meeting includes a session on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Metadata, including these topics:
  • Inclusive Description at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library from Celeste L Brewer, Yingwen Huang, and Kevin W. Schlottmann
  • update on the Mellon Grant to reimagine descriptive workflows from Jennifer W. Baxmeyer
  • Remapping LC subject headings in TRLN discovery from Cory Lown and Lynn Whittenberger

Please get in touch if I’ve missed anything relevant, I’d be happy to add it to next month’s report!