Classification and justice: Unfinished work in resource description

Five decades after Sanford Berman’s influential publication, Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People, there’s still much work to do to rid Library of Congress Subject Headings and other schemas of sexism, racism, and other prejudicial language. The words we use to describe people of marginalized identities can have an impact on the internalized bias we hold about them. Outdated and offensive classifications cause real harm to marginalized people by perpetuating harmful stereotypes and feeding bias in research. This panel presentation will explore the longstanding harm of how we categorize people and identities in classification systems. Through panel presentations and discussion, we’ll explore actions all librarians can take to further the work of critical cataloging regardless of their day to day work with resource description.

Panelist, Emily Drabinski, will address the role dominant cataloging and classification structures play in the expansion of American empire. How does Library of Congress Classification work when implemented in the Philippines, and how do librarians creatively resist hegemony in resource description? Understanding cataloging through the lens of power changes how we think about this ostensibly neutral work.

Panelist, Staci Ross, will discuss "Black" and other racial terms in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). What do these headings reveal about collection development and catalogers' judgment? How can metadata professionals ensure subject access to materials on racial and ethnic groups are meeting the needs of all users?

Panelists will speak to the topic based on their unique research and perspectives. The moderators will have prepared several questions for the panelists to engage with one another, followed by a question and answer period with the audience.