just don't call it critical theory

Critical race theory is getting bashed these days so I don't want to say this post is about critical feminist theory. Nonetheless, I just listened to most of the keynote address by Lauren Klein at the 2021 LD4 Conference on Linked Data. I was thoroughly heartened by her statement that working to change a system is worth it if it has a long history and is widely used. This was said in the context of a question about whether it's worth it to fix outdated and offensive terminology in LCSH and other vocabularies or should you just start over. She applied her theoretical work based on intersectional feminism to say that we should topple the hierarchy, smash the binary, and embrace pluralism. Use LCSH, try to fix it, supplement it in the short term by other vocabulary. Both/and, not either/or.

LCSH, literary warrant, heading deprecation, today's news

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging held its semi-annual meeting last week. It would normally be held in conjunction with ALA Midwinter or Annual but was virtual again this time around. Judith Cannan, the head of the Policy, Training and Cooperative Programs Division at the Library of Congress, gave a very interesting thought piece called "Emerging thoughts on LCSH" (the link is to my notes on the meeting) which she cautioned was purposefully unpublished (not even lecture slides) but was to encourage thinking about the future of LCSH.

The Library of Congress Subject Headings originated in 1898 though I'm sure LC did subject access in their catalogs before that. It was maintained for LC and by LC. In the century and more since then, it has expanded far beyond LC and many other libraries contribute subject headings, most through the Subject Authority Coooperative Program or SACO.

Cannan's thoughts focused on four areas: the support of LCSH as an international standard is not sustainable with LC resources; the current model is built on literary warrant in published resources and a possible expansion to newspapers, TV, magazines as terminology sources; deprecation of terms which are outdated or offensive; and pre- or post-coordination of terms. How to handle deprecated terms has generally been handled by making a reference from the old term to the new term. There is significant effort going on with revision of headings as the U.S. and the whole world are dealing with systemic racism, social injustice, and other issues. The old terminology is important for some research and may appear in transcribed and descriptive portions of the bibliographic record. Much to think about and the chat box in the iCohere software was very busy.

I was listening to Weekend Edition as I drove to Wegmans for my Sunday morning fix: the Sunday New York Times and the week's groceries. One of the stories was "Newsrooms revisit past coverage as editors offer a fresh start" by David Folkenflik. One phrase he said really stood out in light of thinking about literary warrant from newspapers. He called news reporting "the first draft of history." This so lined up with Judith Cannan's thoughts on the role of history in how we catalog. One of our intentions is that our cataloging can be as objective as possible and therefore last, if not forever, a long time. But words cannot be objective. They are loaded with cultural significance and that changes over time.

site specificity

 Site specificity in art, as a concept, sometimes troubles me but especially when someone claims it to be absolute. All installations are at least somewhat specific to the place in which they are installed, and almost anything can be moved to another site or reproduced (reconstructed) in a new place. My interest was piqued when the Library of Congress added a subject heading for Site specific installations (Art) as distinct from and a narrower term than Installations (Art). If you click on the "troubles me," you'll be taken to a few earlier blog entries that dance around this matter. And now I've had a couple interesting experiences and readings with site specificity in the past couple weeks.

"Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven" was presented at Alfred University in mid September 2020 after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring. It is "a play for all audiences about finding your place in the universe and intelligent life in your hometown." The original plan was for a traditional theater presentation. COVID health concerns moved it outside and, mirabile dictu, the setting became the parking area at the observatory on campus with a couple bits actually taking place inside the telescope buildings. The story was all about Annie Jump trying to come to terms with life beyond this planet and how to deal with her quirky astronomer father. The play was pretty heartening but seeing it under the starlit sky at the observatory was fantabulous indeed. What a site for this specific play.

I love my indexing work for the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. One of my titles is Future Anterior and an issue I just did -- volume 15, number 2, winter 2018 -- was on the theme "Ex situ: on moving monuments." That is, ex situ as contrasted from in situ. The issue includes a description by Ryan Mendoza of his deconstruction of Rosa Parks's house in Detroit when it was threatened with demolition and its reconstruction in Berlin. When its time in Berlin was ending, there was talk of moving it back to the United States but it has now been reconstructed at the Palazzo Reale in Naples. What a trip this supposedly immovable structure has been taking, and what a time this is.

I'm not sure either of these experiences has convinced me that Site specific installations (Art) is a necessary subject heading but they certainly have given me plenty to think about. I think I'd prefer Site specificity in art in combination with Installations (Art) when the artist really talks about the specific site of an installation.

materials science?

One of the oft-used subject headings in the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals is "Building materials." Very handy in an architectural index but we also index lots of articles on design, including those on the materials used. Fabrics, plastics, paper, glass, substances of various sorts. The collective term in the literature is often just "Materials" so I suggested to editor Ted that we might want to add the subject heading "Materials."

First stop: AAT. There, I found "materials (matter)" which is in the Materials hierarchy of the Materials facet. My first reaction was that the qualifier "(matter)" was unnecessary but it does make it clear that we're not talking about cloth. AAT often uses qualifiers that you don't necessarily need in context.

A couple days later. I'm up at the library for Team Trivia where we three older librarians (60, 70, and 80) actually finished with the highest score. We always decline the prize (tonight, a coupon for a pizza from a local pizza parlor). I checked the McNaughton leisure reading shelves before I left the library and noticed Stuff matters: exploring the marvelous materials that shape our man-made world by Mark Miodownik (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014).

Obviously, I had to check to see what subject heading(s) the book had been given. The only subject heading in the CIP on the title page verso is "Materials science--Popular works." Nope. Won't do. I wonder why they didn't just use "Materials" which is in LCSH. The scope note there is somewhat restrictive: "Here are entered comprehensive works on the basic engineering and industrial materials used in the construction of devices, apparatus, structures, equipment, etc."

For your information, "Materials science" in LCSH is related to the broader term "Physical sciences." In AAT, "materials science" is in the Disciplines hierarchy of the Activities facet. That is, you can get a college degree in materials science. Materials are what you make something out of. cf http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-prepositions/

it goes around, it's going around

Yesterday, I cataloged a book entitled University problems in the metropolis and had used the subject heading "Urban universities and colleges." Today's email reading brought this paragraph from SACOLIST from the LC Policy and Standards Division (PSD just doesn't trip off the tongue yet, like CPSO does).

Urban animals; Urban aquaculture; Urban entomology; etc.
Catalogers should note that, per the instructions provided in these scope notes, headings of the type Urban [ ... ] are not divided geographically to the level of individual cities. For works on a topic in relation to a specific city, the more general heading is assigned, i.e. the heading not qualified by the word Urban. For example, a work about hospitals in various cities in New York state may be assigned the heading Urban hospitals--New York (State), but a work about hospitals in New York City is assigned the heading Hospitals--New York (State)--New York [not Urban hospitals--New York (State)--New York].

So whether you do your cataloging in New York City or Alfred, you are: Catalogers--New York (State) ... [not Urban catalogers--New York (State) ...]