The Core Cataloging and Classification Research Interest Group is proud to present the following session for its 2025 Core Interest Group Week meeting:
Click Here to Register! (Session is online, free, and open to the public)
Presentation 1: The Ethics Evolution: Catalogers' Perspectives Over Time (20 min)
From Karen Snow, Professor, School of Information Studies, Dominican University, and Elizabeth Shoemaker, Head, Bibliographic Services, Victoria University Libraries, University of Toronto
Abstract: In recent years, the cataloging community has increasingly focused on how to make cataloging work more ethical and inclusive, contributing to EDIA initiatives in libraries. In addition, the Cataloguing Code of Ethics, released in 2021, provides an important framework for thinking about cataloging work using an ethical lens. Yet, we still have much to learn about how catalogers think about cataloging ethics and what types of ethical issues catalogers face in their work.
Attendees of this session will learn the results of a study first conducted in 2019, and again in 2024, that reveals a broad range of perceptions about cataloging ethics, as well as what catalogers state are the major ethical issues they face in their work. The longitudinal nature of the study allows us to better understand the evolution of cataloger perceptions of ethical issues over time – what issues remain, what has changed, and why exploring the practical application of cataloging ethics matters.
Presentation 2: Exploring Systemic Gender Bias in Library of Congress Subject Headings: A Comprehensive Study (20 min)
From Sungmin Park, Resource Description Librarian, Rutgers University Libraries, and Yuji Tosaka, Cataloging/Metadata Librarian at The College of New Jersey
Abstract: The problem of bias, prejudice, and marginalization has been no hidden secret in library knowledge organization systems. Many critics have long criticized how these gender categories are represented in LCSH, pointing to a litany of LCSH terms that have no comparable headings assigned to men. This misrepresentation implicitly normalizes the male-as-default bias in resource description, relegating female classes of persons to a special, non-dominant category. The purpose of this study is a comprehensive evaluation on gendered LCSH demographic terms. Focusing on LCSH demographic terms containing "women," "female," "men," and "male," this study analyzed systemic bias in how headings for classes of persons are represented (or not represented) in terms of gender within LCSH thesaurus. OpenRefine and The Library of Congress Linked Data Service for LCSH were used to extract LCSH demographic gendered headings. In order to analyze the results based on the characteristics of terms, each heading was categorized into one or two of the 13 categories that were adapted from the LCDGT categories. The results will answer the four following research questions: 1) How many gendered headings are currently found in LCSH representing classes of persons overall?; 2) How many gendered headings are currently found in various LCSH categories?; 3) How many unpaired gendered headings are currently found in various LCSH categories?; 4) What discernible patterns and underlying assumptions may be identified, if any, through analysis of the findings?
Combined 15 minute Q&A
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Abby Beazer
Digital Metadata Librarian
Brigham Young University Library
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