Giants

You are here:

KB Home
subjects
Giants

The problem: Giants is a broad heading which does not make a necessary distinction between “tall people,” “very tall people with a pituitary disorder,” and “very tall fictional characters.”

Back in 2016, Netanel Ganin wrote a blog post about the treatment of Dwarfs and Giants in LCSH which nicely encapsulates the issue. (As always, here’s a disclaimer that Netanel was not speaking on behalf of any institution.) Dwarfs has (mostly) been addressed at this point (there’s still some classification work to do), but Giants hasn’t. The treatment here will differ: as Netanel notes, while “dwarf” is a term that people with dwarfism use for themselves, for the most part (André the Giant aside), “giant” is not a term used by very tall people.

There is also a related issue of incomplete coverage of medical conditions: while there is currently a heading for Acromegaly, there is not a heading for Gigantism. These are closely related but different concepts; both are caused by disorders leading to excess growth hormones. Gigantism (excessive height) results when people are exposed to excess growth hormones in childhood, before their bones are done growing. Acromegaly results when people are exposed to excess growth hormones in adulthood, when their bones are fully fused.

The below revisions would require catalogers to go through their catalogs looking at resources that have been assigned the heading “Giants” to see if it’s about humans (in which case one or more of the headings “Tall people,” “Acromegaly,” or “Gigantism” should be assigned). If it’s about creatures in folklore, mythology, or religion, the “Giants” heading should be maintained.

Two potential problems with the draft solution below: this does introduce a level of medicalization: was someone in history tall because of a pituitary gland disorder? Or were they just, like, real tall? Catalogers will have to judge based on the description of the work. (Western medicine says gigantism is generally when children are three standard deviations taller than the norm, but that’s not particularly helpful for catalogers. I might default to assigning “Tall people” unless the work discusses the medical aspects, but there will probably be some edge cases.) This solution also lumps religious/biblical characters in with folklore and mythology. Will someone get mad because we’re saying Goliath was not human?

Happy for any feedback!

Deletions are marked using ~~strikethrough text~~. Additions are marked using highlighted text.

REVISION:
150 __ |a Tall people
550 __ |w g |a Persons
550 __ |a Stature, Tall
550 __ |a Giants
680 __ |i Here are entered works on taller than average people, including historical peoples. Works on excessive height due to pituitary gland disorders beginning when people are children or teenagers are entered under Gigantism. Works on excess growth due to pituitary gland disorders beginning in adulthood are entered under Acromegaly.

670 __ |i Cleveland Clinic website, viewed October 5, 2022 |b Gigantism (Gigantism is a very rare condition that happens when a child or adolescent has high levels of growth hormone in their body, which causes them to grow very tall. Gigantism is treatable, but early diagnosis is crucial to prevent excessive height and other complications.) |u https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22954-gigantism
680 __ |i Here are entered works on excessive height due to pituitary gland disorders beginning when people are children or teenagers. Works on excess growth due to pituitary gland disorders beginning in adulthood are entered under Acromegaly.

KEEP AS IS:
150 __ |a Giants in art

150 __ |a Giants in literature

150 __ |a Giants in the Bible

150 __ |a Giants |v Folklore
450 __ |w nne |a Giants (in religion, folklore, etc.)

150 __ |a Giants |x Mythology
450 __ |w nne |a Giants (in religion, folklore, etc.)

150 __ |a Giants |x Religious aspects
450 __ |w nne |a Giants (in religion, folklore, etc.)

Additional updates relating to Dwarfism in LCC:

153 |a HS3367 |c HS3369 |h Societies: Secret, benevolent, etc. |h Clubs and societies for special classes |j Dwarfs’ ~~and midgets’~~ societies
753 |a Dwarfs’ societies

Leave a Reply Cancel reply