Are we doing your headings in yet? This is the time to be asking. At Goldsmiths, we are getting serious about subject headings. How does the way we describe the books and e-resources you use affect YOU? Are we representing the people who produce and access our collections fairly? Could we do better? Students and staff at universities across the UK are criticising and debating library terminology, as part of a move to decolonise and diversify curricula and academic culture. This follows historic and revolutionary stirrings in college communities across the Atlantic, where real change and liberation from conventional-but-oppressive practices has already begun. As she departs, Cataloguing Assistant Karen Smith leaves us this short audio-visual presentation on alternative subject headings, and why we should all care about them.

1. Where are our
headings
heading?
alternative library subject headings
towards social justice
Karen Smith, Cataloguing Assistant

2. What’s a subject heading again?
◦ An authorised (standardised or ‘controlled’) label describing the subject(s) covered by
a book or resource.
◦ Wikipedia: “a human and intellectual endeavor, by which trained professionals apply
topic descriptions to items in their collections. Without a uniform standard, each
library might choose to categorize the subject matter of their items differently. The
widespread use and acceptance of the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
facilitates the uniform access and retrieval of items in libraries across the world; users
can use the same search strategy and LCSH thesaurus [… though they can attract]
extensive debate and even controversy in the library community.
◦ We use LCSH at Goldsmiths – it’s the world's most widely used subject vocabulary.
Some libraries use alternatives (or invented ones!). Many medical libraries in the
United States use the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings
(MeSH).
The Librarian
Giuseppe Archimboldo

3. Illegal aliens at Goldsmiths
◦ Library Search – Advanced Search – Subject
◦ A “well-documented” problematic Library of Congress Subject Heading we adopted earlier:
Heading in record

4. The Devil in the detail 600, 610, 650, 651s

5. Librarians in white coats?
◦ Experiment with headings! https://cataloginglab.org/

6. Heading for change https://cataloginglab.org/kb/sex-change-revision/
LCSH
Authority
Index

7. Alternative thesaurus (no dinosaurs were hurt)
◦ Homosaurus http://homosaurus.org/
◦ International linked data (cross-referenced) vocabulary of LGBTQ terms.
◦ Supplement to LCSH to aid discoverability of LGBTQ resources.

8. Got beardache yet?
◦ Example of thesaurus heading http://homosaurus.org/v2/berdache

9. Slack cut yourself some new terminology app.slack.com
Carissa Chew EDI Intern @ National Library of Scotland
“Channels” - connect with cultural & library
professionals & discuss subject description
Specific channel for subject headings

10. Be more suggestible
◦ Library of Congress “Authorities” (approved subject headings database) https://authorities.loc.gov/
◦ Library of Congress Linked Data Service: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html
◦ Procedure for adding & changing LCSH: https://www.loc.gov/aba/cataloging/subject/lcsh-process.html

11. Share your stories don’t shelve them
Fellow cataloguer Diana Stevenson shares an interesting example from her early career. She remembers a book about a movement
encouraging US factory workers to engage in creative activities:
Diana changed the subject headings and class mark to better reflect the content & context of the work:
◦ Working class|zUnited States|xIntellectual life.
◦ Factories|xEmployees|xIntellectual life.
◦ Labor union locals|zUnited States.
(“Authorised” headings constructed according to Library of Congress)
The difference a socially-aware cataloguer makes!
Much to my surprise and horror the first LCSH allocated […] was “Social problems” and the work had been given an LC
class mark to match, meaning it would have been shelved with books on drug addiction, crime, violence and
unemployment. The second LCSH was “Public welfare” which often implies some sort of handout (the Narrower terms
for Public welfare include Asylums, Rent subsidies, Food relief, and Welfare fraud). I realised that just the term
“Working class” in the title had prompted these associations in the mind of the cataloguer or publisher. Yet this was a
work about creativity and achievement, not problems.
CATALOGUING

12. Take a heading for a walk
◦ Fantasy the Perfect Heading = saucy & impossible!
◦ Permissive culture take a leaf from Brene Brown & allow yourself to try & fail. Go rogue!
◦ Inclusion involve to evolve: invite participation from students & staff, industry, local & international community
◦ Complex problem, simple solution? Thinking & reading outside the traditional ‘library’ box. Social science lessons:
Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink & Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt. Could sometimes mean using existing headings more
sensitively rather than reinventing them.
◦ Information vs understanding – less can mean more. Careful attention = better quality data.
◦ Human thought vs machines; don’t let them take over! Inaccuracy, incompleteness and the influence of algorithms
might be taking root in your subject headings. Records need to be made sense of by people, not just computers!
Sometimes it’s not the cataloguer’s fault (honest!) – erroneous headings can be generated by pre-publication data or
coding.
◦ A reflective, critical approach as responsible professionals; maximise inclusion, minimise harm.

13. New improved librarians now with added morals
◦ Cataloging Ethics Steering Committee published a code of ethics for cataloguers
https://sites.google.com/view/cataloging-ethics/home They’re inviting community-generated case studies that
illustrate the practical application of these ethical principles. These will help cataloguers who face similar ethical
situations and issues. Get in touch with co-chairs Karen
Snow ksnow@dom.edu and Beth Shoemaker elizabeth.shoemaker@emory.edu.
◦ JISC newsletter subscriptions https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/advancedsearch.html LIS-DECOLONISE
◦ CILIP: Catalogue & Index Journal online. Jennie-Claire Crate, metadata librarian at the University of Kent, writes about
her involvement with the Subject Headings Working Group in a recent issue
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.cilip.org.uk/resource/collection/CC45A47F-BE48-4BA1-B6D4-
25BF10F1BC41/C&I202Crate_working_group.pdf
◦ Why not connect with your favourite metadata librarians on social media? @poetrycataloger

14. Links & resources for those who catalogue, those who’d like to, and those who
are frightened to (or all of the above)
◦ What’s with all the numbers? MARC fields https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/
◦ CILIP Metadata & Discovery Group – training & events info.mdg@cilip.org.uk
◦ NBK Library Hub: https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/advanced-search/
◦ World’s largest library catalogue: https://www.worldcat.org/
◦ #critcat – Critical Cataloguing http://critlib.org/about/critcat/
◦ Cambridge decolonising platform: https://decolonisingthroughcriticallibrarianship.wordpress.com/cataloguing-and-
classification/
◦ Change the Subject documentary: https://collections.dartmouth.edu/archive/object/change-subject/change-subject-film
◦ Cataloguers’ directory of resources https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2019/07/catalogers-reference-directory-tools-
resources-cataloging-metadata-librarians.html
◦ Questions? Contact us https://www.gold.ac.uk/library/contact/
Librarian Bomber by Hafuboti