This presentation discusses prejudice and bias in controlled vocabularies and classification systems. It defines key terms like prejudice, bias, controlled vocabularies and classification. It provides examples of prejudice and bias in subject headings like those used in the Library of Congress Subject Headings. It also discusses how prejudice and bias can be built into systems through principles like literary warrant and through the language used. Finally, it suggests ways to address these issues by working locally to expand vocabularies and globally to re-examine assumptions in subject access.

1. Prejudice and Bias in Controlled Vocabularies and Classification Presentation for LIS415 Class Use Only December 12, 2009 Kelly Shand, Arlene O'Connell, Alison Hunt

2. What are we really talking about? Subject access Then, a democratic revolution Now, still essential for users

3. What's at stake? Effective access for all Modern subject access has to work when diverse users around the corner, around the world diverse information resources rapid information change Subject vocabularies must become more inclusive and responsive, if they are to be fair and relevant. It is a question of ethics, equity and effectiveness.

4. Defining the problem: areas of concern Prejudice and bias are systematically built into subject vocabularies Prejudice and bias are expressed in the terms catalogers use Prejudice and bias exist in the application of subject vocabularies

5. Defining the Problem: original concepts Prejudice From Latin, pre-judge Decide in haste or without thought Bias Originally, oblique Imbalance Systemic distortion Controlled Vocabulary Word list Range of language Restraints, strict usage Classification Six divisions of Roman society ranked by property were the original "classes"

6. Although prejudice and bias are normally considered harmful, even hateful, they can be positive or negative.

7. Two kinds of subject languages Controlled Vocabularies These subject language lexicons group concepts together connect related terms may be a hierarchy designate a preferred term are verbal Classification These subject language lexicons place subjects in a category categories are exclusive use a hierarchy works are uniquely located include notation

8. Controlled Vocabularies & Classification Examples Controlled Vocabularies Subject Heading Lists LCSH Sears MeSH Thesauri Art & Architecture Eric Descriptors Ontologies WordNet United Medical Language System Classifications Universal schemes Dewey Decimal LC Classification Universal Decimal National general schemes for use in one country Subject specific schemes for use in one discipline Home grown schemes for use by specific business or institution See Taylor and Joudrey pp. 348-359, pp. 389-390

9. Name authority files are controlled vocabularies in the broadest sense. They are usually considered separately from subject vocabularies.

10. Defining the problem: two perspectives Systemic Issues Prejudice and bias are inherent, because of basic concepts and principles such as literary warrant and "the reader as focus." Expression Issues The terms we choose and how we juxtapose them promote very specific worldviews...and leave other views invisible.

11. Prejudice and bias within the system Language Semantic : The meaning of the element, and of the complete statement. Syntactic : The way in which the language elements are joined together to form statements. Effective (Pragmatic): Intended or unintended effects statements have on the recipients. Semantic rules tend to be policy matters and likely to vary among vocabularies even within one system. A concept cannot be expressed without language...this is a systemic problem .

12. Literary Warrant or Controlled Vocabulary The Guiding Principal Which Introduces Prejudice and Bias Controlled vocabulary is a carefully selected list of words and phrases, which are used to tag units of information so that they may be more easily retrieved by a search. Indexing and retrieval are linked; the indexing language and retrieval technique are interdependent. Effective communication requires that source and receiver understand the message in the same way.

13. Prejudice and bias within the system LC Subject Heading: Alien - Alien Abduction Alien Being (Extraterrestrial) Alien Criminals Homosexual - Anti-homosexual bias Sex Instruction for Homosexual Men Lesbians - Abuse of Lesbian Partners Gay & Lesbian Liberation Movement Wife Abuse - Religious Aspects Christianity Judaism

14. Kaffirs, The Jewish Question, Women as Librarians, water closet. These 4 headings represent the racist, chauvanistic and confusing ways of a subject vocabulary. Prejudice and bias in the expression of subject vocabularies...

15. A Timeline for Sanford Berman Born 10-6-1933 in Chicago. B.A. in Political Science UCLA 1955. MLS Catholic University of America 1961. D.C. Public Library 1957-1962. U.S. Special Services Librarian West Germany 1962-1966. Schiller College West Germany 1966-1967. UCLA research library 1967-1968. University of Zambia 1968-1970. Makerere University Library, Uganda 1970-1972. Hennepin County Library, Minnesota 1973-1999.

16. Sanford Berman The first radical militant librarian. Mentor, cataloger, advocate, gadfly. Created a catalog for HCL that was a national model. Believed in dignity, common sense and current terminology when using subject headings. Created headings when LCSH was termed offensive. Campaigned for the deletion or change of dozens of headings at the Library of Congress, which he once called The Great Washington Behemoth.

17. Yellow Peril now refers to a comic strip in LCSH instead of Asian Communism Hansen's Disease is a See also in refeStreamline vocabulary revision processrring to Leprosy. One of LC's firm stands against Berman Fossil Man is now Fossil Hominids or prehistoric peoples.

18. Fiction Access The Hennepin County Library catalogers added fictional character names to records for patron access. You could find Marple, Jane(Fictional Character) to Skywalker, Luke(Fictional character). The HCL catalog led the way in socially relevent subject headings and ease of use for patrons. Dignity, common sense, patron access were the components. When the Library of Congress had problems with social issues as subject headings they went to HCL to see what they had done.

19. Berman, Olson, Lawson Berman advocated for common sense and dignity in subject cataloging. Olson wrote that a library catalog is reflective of the values of the society that creates it. Therefore subject headings should be changed and adapted along with the society. The catalog cannot remain static. Lawson thinks that using social tagging as an addition to official subject heading will allow greater access. It's another way to get the books to the patrons easily.

20. What can we do to make subject access more accurate, fair and effective? Prejudice and bias in the application of subject vocabularies...

21. Act Locally Think globally

22. Act Locally #1 Know the range of the vocabulary Any vocabulary has inherent limits. How you use a vocabulary reinforces it. Using an inauthentic or inaccurate term reinforces it as a guidepost for future collocation by librarians and emphasizes it for user vocabularies.

23. Act Locally # 2 Remember: you're a player Berman and Olson argue too many librarians have ceded subject vocabulary authority to LC. But it is a negotiation between users, catalogers and language designers. Petition for changes to the vocabulary Create headings and collocate as needed Participate in developing alternatives vocabularies.

24. Act Locally # 3 Know your choices Šauperl's study found two useful approaches take your time where the vocabulary is weak use multiple headings to work around limitations and gaps

25. Act Locally # 3 Know your choices Other strategies: collocate relative to more current works and more diverse collections classify and develop subject headings at the same time to get more ideas consider some form of user links or tags in the OPAC

26. Think Globally #1 Change your perspective Go to Zambia. Use subject access tools in unfamiliar environments to see distortions and prejudicial assumptions. Spend time in other disciplines. Navigation, search and organization are fundamental issues that have been carefully advanced in several disciplines, including management and geography.

27. Think Globally #2 Reexamine the givens Popular usage for ease of access..... If a concept is new or on the fringe, it is better for users to sweat a bit than to have no access or biased context. Privileged names in authority files..... Why only one? Canada links Anglo and French equivalents. Specific entry..... Not necessary for all users. Sometimes people looking for poodles are happy to look for dogs.

28. Think Globally #3 Push the margins Bridge subject and user vocabularies Know our users better Add social tagging data to catalogs User tags as source for subject vocabularies More feedback for catalogers Streamline vocabulary revision process Move from hierarchy to web RDA will link to multiple vocabularies Creation of a mega-Source Vocabulary File

29. This access revolution can make subject vocabularies less prejudiced and biased inclusive and responsive effective for everyone.

30. ONLY CONNECT Prejudice and Bias in Controlled Vocabularies and Classification Kelly Shand, Arlene O'Connell, Alison Hunt This presentation for LIS415 was written for class use only

31. Bibliography Battles, Matthew. Library: an unquiet history . New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003 Berman, Sanford. Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People. North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. 1993. ---. Words, Meanings, and People. San Francisco: Inernational Society for General Semantics. 1982. ---. Worth Noting: Editorials, Letters, Essays, an Interview, and Bibliography. North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. 1988. Cataloging Special Materials: Critiques and Innovations. Ed. Sanford Brown. Pheonix, Arizona: The Oryx Press. 1986. Chan, Lois Mai. Library of Congress Subject Headings: Principles and Application. 4th ed. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005. Catologing Heresy: Challenging the Standard Bibliographic Product. Based on the Proceedings of the Congress For Librarians, February 18, 1991. Ed. Bella Hass Weinberg. New Jersey: Learned Information, Inc. 1992. Everything you always wanted to know about Sandy Berman but were afraid to ask . Ed. Chris Dodge and Jan DeSirey. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. 1995. Lawson, Karen G. Mining Social Tagging Data for Enhanced Subject Access for Readers and Researchers. The Journal of Academic Librarianship vol. 35, no. 6 November 2009, p.574-582. Elsevier Inc.

32. Bibliography cont. Olson, Hope A . " Difference, Culture and Change: The Untapped Potential of LCSH ." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 29, no. 1 (2000): 53-71. DOI 10.1300/J104v29n01_04 accessed from Simmons Library November 22, 2009. ---. The Power to Name Locating: The limits of subject representation in libraries. Dordrecht, Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2002. ---. " Thinking Professionals: Teaching Critical Cataloguing." Technical Services Quarterly 15, no. 1 (1997): 51-66. DOI 10.1300/J124v15n01_06 accessed from Simmons Library December 8, 2009. Olson, Hope A., and John J. Boll. Subject Analysis in Online Catalogs. Second Edition. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. 2001. Šauperl, Alenka. Subject Determination During the Cataloging Process . Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. 2002. Svenonius, Elaine. The Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization . Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. 2000. Taylor, Arlene G. and Daniel N. Joudrey. The Organization of Information . 3rd ed. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. 2009. Theory Subject Analysis: A Sourcebook. Ed. Chan, Lois Mai, Phyllis, A. Richmond, and Elaine Svenonius. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc. 1985. Wright, Alex. Glut: Mastering Information through the Ages . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2007.