“Aliens” vs. Catalogers: Bias in the Library of Congress Subject Heading

Abstract

Aliens: It is the subject of conspiracy theories and nightmares, the name of a blockbuster science fiction/horror movie franchise, and also how the de facto national library of the United States refers to “persons who are not citizens of the country in which they reside.” In 2016, the Library of Congress announced that it would reconsider the usage of “Aliens” and its related terms in the Library of Congress Subject Headings, following a student-led movement to change the pejorative term “Illegal Aliens.” Yet, three years on, these terms remain in the LCSH. Using the “Illegal Aliens” controversy as a case study, this article explores how the LCSH works, its role in research, and its vulnerabilities to bias, and offers proposals for how librarians can help improve the situation.     

LCSH in the Southern Levant*

Abstract

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) geographic headings for the Southern Levant mirror the political investment of Congress and the American public in Middle East politics over the last thirty years. These LCSH headings contrast markedly with those established in other national libraries and independent value vocabularies, and global opinion regarding the legal status of the occupied territories. The author offers ways that libraries can “decolonize” their metadata in service of Sanford Berman's “access and equity.”     

Uniqueness Matters: Author-Supplied Keywords and LCSH in the Library Catalog

This study concerns the overlap between author-supplied keywords and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) bibliographic records in the library catalog. The article provides a discussion on uniqueness, matching, and complementariness based on a replication of Strader's methodology and rubric from a 2009 article. Findings support most of Strader's conclusions, including the complementary nature of keywords and controlled vocabularies. Both keywords and LCSH provide unique terms that enhance access. Researchers also broke new ground regarding partial matching, particularly within LCSH. The fact that uniqueness matters has implications for the continued use of LCSH, for LCSH maintenance, and for further research.     

Emerging Issues in Academic Library Cataloging & Technical Services

This article responds to Jonathan Tuttle's article “The Aphasia of Modern Subject Access” in which Roman Jakobson's semiology of “shared codes” consisting of preexisting signs is offered as the explanation for two redundant linguistic tools associated with cataloging: LCSH and LCC. The article criticizes Tuttle's terminology, his semiology, and his argument that selection and combination are both necessary for the operation of language but each are associated with only one of these tools.

“The Aphasia of Modern Subject Access” by Jonathan Tuttle appears in Cataloging &; Classification Quarterly, Vol. 50, Issue 4, 2012, pp. 263—275. doi: 10.1080/01639374.2011.641199. Jonathan Tuttle's “Jakobsonian Library Science? A Response to David Bade” appears in Cataloging &; Classification Quarterly, Vol. 51, Issue 4, 2013, pp. 439—440. doi: 10.1080/01639374.2013.763321.     

美国公共图书馆未成年人服务岗位研究——基于ALA招聘网站的内容分析

[目的/意义]通过分析与探讨美国公共图书馆未成年人服务岗位的现状与特征,提出研究公共图书馆未成年人需求及服务的新视角,同时为我国公共图书馆未成年人服务岗位的设置、支撑与发展提供借鉴.[方法/过程]收集美国图书馆协会招聘网站上发布的未成年人服务岗位招聘信息,进而使用内容分析法深入分析美国公共图书馆未成年人服务岗位的岗位描...     

关于主题规范文档建设机制的若干思考--以LCSH为例

《美国国会主题标题表》(LCSH)是由美国国会图书馆(LC)制定并负责维护的一套英语主题标引系统,历经一个多世纪的发展,以强大的生命力适应时代的发展变迁,成为世界图书馆主要采用的主题标引与检索工具。LCSH标题数量庞大,结构严谨,应用规则严格,随着主题规范合作项目SACO的开展,以LC为首的越来越多的图书馆参与到LCSH的建设中,并形成了一套相对成熟的建设机制。本文以LCSH长期以来形成的建设机制为切入点,对主题规范文档建设中遇到的包括文档更新、书目更新、名称主题词的归属、建设基础等若干关键问题进行深入思考,并对我国当前主题规范控制工作实践如何借鉴国外有益经验提出思路。     

Critical Views of LCSH- Ten Years Later:

Pauline Cochrane and Monika Kirtland's "Critical Views of LCSH-Library of Congress Subject Headings: A Bibliographic and Bibliometric Essay" published in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly v.1 (2/3) 1982, pp. 71-93 has been widely cited as a source for discussion and complaints about Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Cochrane and Kirtland cover the literature from 1944 to 1979. The present work provides a critique of the Cochrane/Kirtland study and a survey of the literature concerning the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) during the 1980. The classified bibliography is arranged according to the format of the Cochrane/Kirtland study to facilitate comparison. Criticism of LCSH reiterates the same points over and over again, whether it is sparseness, bias or currency of the subject headings. Significant trends which emerged in the 1980s include an increased emphasis on the use of LCSH as an online searching tool, concern for the syndetic structure of LCSH and the role of subdivisions, as well as repeated calls for the development of coherent standards to ensure LCSH evolves and is applied in a consistent manner.     

FAST:主题术语的分面式应用——以《国会图书馆主题词表(LCSH)》为基础的简单化词汇

《国会图书馆主题词表 （LCSH)）》是至今为止最常用并被广为接受的通用主题词汇，实际上已成为一种国际性的控制词汇和世界各国编制主题词表的样板，但是它的复杂的关于建立标目的句法和规则却限制了它的应用，因为使用者必须受过专门训练，其对规范文档的自动化管理的效率也因此受到限制。近年来网上文献的猛增迫使书目控制系统向易懂易用方向转变，主题标目也不例外。本文介绍由OCLC、美国图书馆学会 (ALA) 的ALCTS/SAC委员会、美国国会图书馆（LC)共同进行的一项编制《FAST（主题术语的分面式应用）》词汇的工作。在一个句法简单的分面式的词表中采用LCSH，其目的在于保留LCSH丰富的词汇，同时使之易懂、易控制、易应用、易使用。     

Constructing the “new ethnicities”: media,sexuality, and diaspora identity in the lives of South Asian immigrant girls

This paper posits that adolescence, as experienced by girls of immigrant diaspora groups, is complicated by issues of race, culture and nation that intersect with discourses of sex and gender. In terms of globalization theory, sexuality is conceptualized as a locus of cultural hybridization; media representations of sexuality often mark the global/local nexus for diaspora peoples. In this study, a series of in‐depth interviews were conducted with South Asian American girls in order to analyze the role of media in their sexual identity constructions. The focus group data revealed radical rearticulations of sexual identity from an “interstitial” audience position that involved oppositional readings of various media texts. These rearticulations can be seen as part of the project of forging new ethnicities in the diaspora context.     

Reshaping the Borders of Journalism

The Saami and the Roma are both transnational peoples with robust journalistic practices. Although vastly different in socio-economic standing and relationship to the state, both groups choose to develop journalism and journalists to share their perspective of the world; and do so while remaining true to the distinction between journalism and propaganda. This requires access and ability to frame issues and actors, problems and solutions while maintaining professional journalistic standards. Media—both having one's “own” media and creating stories that appear in the “mainstream” media—is key to this practice. Saami and Romani journalists very clearly show there is a way to be objective without being neutral. By interviewing 45 journalists, journalism educators, funders, and evaluators across six countries, as well as examining primary source documents, I show that although emerging from radically different contexts, the Saami and Roma are both distinct nations stretching over two or more states—transnational—which allows, and indeed requires, a unique approach to journalism. I identify two distinct strategies in approaching the goals and practice of, “transnational peoples’ journalism”: nation building/speaking within and intervening/speaking outside.     

A Review of “Understanding the Semantic Web: Bibliographic Data and Metadata”

Successful subject searching depends upon the terminology of the search query. This paper compares the terminology of book titles with that of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) ¹ on a semantic level. Methods of ananlyzing titles into title phrases that serve as matching units are described. Guidelines used to choose LCSHs with the closest semantic matches to title phrases are set forth. The pairing of title phrases with semantically related LCSHs constitutes the data of the study. Categories representing the types of semantic relationships holding between pairs of terms are defined. Results of the study show that the most common semantic relationship holding between title phrases and LCSH is a hierarchical one where title phrases are more specific than LCSHs.     

Teaching the Use of Library of Congress Subject Headings as a Research Strategy for Undergraduate Students

Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH) are such a powerful tool that ACRL recognized them in the Information Literacy Competency Standards. The Standards state that the information-literate student should be able to select discipline-specific controlled vocabulary and construct a search strategy. The authors, recognizing this often-forgotten Standard, surveyed instruction librarians to determine if LCSH are still taught in the library instruction classroom, and, if so, which strategies are used for identifying relevant subject headings. Survey results were mixed. While teaching the use of controlled vocabulary has clearly fallen from popularity, it is still recognized as a valuable tool.     

A Research Agenda for Cataloging: The CCQ Editorial Board Responds to the Year of Cataloging Research

The cataloging and classification community was called to highlight 2010 as “The Year of Cataloging Research,” and specifically was challenged to generate research ideas, conduct research, and generally promote the development of new research in cataloging. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly has become the most influential journal of research in cataloging and classification since its inception in 1981. The idea behind the research reported here was to give the CCQ editorial board an opportunity to present its point of view about research for cataloging. A Delphi study was conducted in three stages during the 2009–2010 academic year. Members were asked to define the key terms “cataloging,” “evidence,” and “research,” and to develop a research agenda in cataloging. The results reveal a basic core definition of cataloging perceived as a dynamic, active process at the core of information retrieval. An eight point research agenda emerges that is forward-looking and embraces change, along with top-ranked calls for new empirical evidence about catalogs, cataloging, and catalog users.     

Rooted in the Past: Use of “East Indians” in Library of Congress Subject Headings

This article argues that the use of the Library of Congress subject heading “East Indians” in reference to individuals from India represents not only a problematic vestige of colonialism, but also a failure of the principle of literary warrant. It provides an overview of the term's historical roots and then examines whether the term is still widely used in published resources. Although assigning a subject heading is not easy and can involve a choice between contested realities of diverse peoples, the author contends that a rejection of outdated terminology is central to providing any culturally sensitive tool for resource organization.     

Subject Access to Urban Studies Monographs

Library of Congress subject headings (LCSHs) are generally felt to be especially inadequate in dealing with social science materials. I attempted to see whether PRECIS indexing "brought out" what a group of urban studies works were "about" better than LC subject cataloging. PRECIS does turn out to provide more access points than LCHS; but this advantage would disappear in an on-line catalog having key-word access. PRECIS also ends up providing apt headings more of the time than LCSH; its advantage here, however, would diminish if LCSH (1) employed more up-to-date vocabulary and (2) included a time facet more freely. Neither LCSH nor PRECIS turns out to be particularly successful in dealing with "multi-tiered works," those whose "intellectual subject(s)" differ from their "ostensible subject(s)." I argue that the best way to provide good subject access to these (as well as many other kinds of) works would involve supplementing traditional subject headings with abstracts or summaries.