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Below are a selection of widely-cited readings on cataloging ethics and critical cataloging, the examination of knowledge organization systems and how they can codify systems of oppression.
Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia’s Anti-Racist Description Working Group, “Archives for Black Lives Matter in Philadelphia Anti-Racist Description Resources” (September 2020). "[M]etadata recommendations for archival professionals to address racist and anti-Black archival description.”
Burns, J., et. al., “Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources” (2022). “[C]ollaboration by the Trans Metadata Collective (TMDC; https://transmetadatacollective.org/), a group of dozens of cataloguers, librarians, archivists, scholars, and information professionals with a concerted interest in improving the description and classification of trans and gender diverse people in GLAMS (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and Special Collections).” DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6829167
Descriptive Notes (blog). [T]he blog of the Description Section of the Society of American Archivists. The Description Section provides a forum for the exchange of information and ideas about all aspects of archival description among those responsible for, involved in, or interested in description projects, standards, and systems
Tai, J. “Cultural Humility as a Framework for Anti-Oppressive Archival Description” Radical Empathy in Archival Practice3(2) (2021). This essay argues for the necessity for mainstream archival institutions to audit for oppressive, euphemistic or misrepresentative language within their archival description, and will advocate for the redescription of collections to be undertaken through a framework of cultural humility.” DOI: https://doi.org/10.24242/jclis.v3i2.120
Melissa Adler, Cruising the library : perversities in the organization of knowledge (2017). Examines how cataloging systems have (mis)expressed gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and race. MSUL Z695 .A25 2017 or ebook (access to MSU affiliates only)
Geoffrey Bowker, Sorting things out : classification and its consequences (1999). Examines how classification systems (not just library ones) can shape both worldviews and social interactions. MSUL BD175 .B68 1999 or ebook (access to MSU affiliates only)
E. Drabinksi, “Queering the catalog: Queer theory and the politics of correction” Library Quarterly 83(2) (2013):94-111. Uses queer theory to critique library classification systems and controlled vocabularies.
V. Fox & G. Neidhardt, Ethical Cataloging Workshop. Presentation at the OLAC 2020 Virtual Conference.
Paula Jeannet, “The ethics of describing images: representing racial identities in photographic collections.” From an issue devoted to issues with controlled vocabularies. Describes Duke University Library’s efforts to analyze and reshape its descriptive practices for photographic collections to address harmful past practices. The article has a good bibliography. Catalogue & Index 202 (March 2021):30-43.
Jane Sandberg, editor, Ethical Questions in Name Authority Control (2018). A collection of essays examining the issues surrounding the creation of names and identities in library catalogs. MSUL Z693.3.A88 E86 2019 or ebook (access to MSU affiliates only)
Gina Schlesselman-Tarango, editor. Topographies of whiteness: mapping whiteness in library and information science (2017). A collection of essays exploring how whiteness has shaped libraries and archives in higher education. MSUL Z716.4 .T67 2017 or ebook (access to MSU affiliates only)
In 2016, the Subject Analysis Committee of the American Library Association proposed a replacement for the Library of Congress subject heading "Illegal aliens." Debate on this continued until November 2021 when the Library of Congress finally replaced that term. This example illustrates many of the issues involved in changing library descriptive practices.