Anti-Racism

Table of Contents

Advancing the Relationship between Critical Cataloging and Critical Race Theory / Karen Snow, Anthony W. Dunbar 

in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly. Vol. 60, issue 6-7 (2022)

article

Critical race theory (CRT) is a framework that evolved from critical legal studies of the 1970s but has only recently been the target of intense scrutiny in education and politics. This article aims to describe CRT and how it can frame issues within cataloging and classification standards and practice. CRT tenets permanence of racism, whiteness as property, the critique of liberalism, intersectionality, counter-storytelling, and interest convergence are explored in the context of cataloging and classification work. Concepts of “authority” and “justice” are also examined. CRT can provide valuable evidence for critical cataloging efforts to make cataloging more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

A related presentation was given at the ALA Core Cataloging & Classification Research Interest Group, March 2023.

Open access preprint version: (PDF) Advancing the Relationship between Critical Cataloging and Critical Race Theory

Anti-Racism Subject Headings / Northwestern University

September 6, 2022

manual or guide

GitHub repository documentation for identifying additional subject headings in Alma catalog records using the LC subject heading “Anti-racism.” This list was then used to search Gobi for new books.

Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia: Anti-Racist Description Resources / Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia’s Anti-Racist Description Working Group

October 2019

manual or guide

Metadata recommendations for archival professionals to address racist and anti-Black archival description. The recommendations are intended to combat the racist structures inherent in predominately-White institutions and in archival description of underrepresented and marginalized groups, in particular those in the Black community.

Challenging legacies at the British Library / Alan Danskin

in Art Libraries Journal. Vol. 48, issue 2 (April 2023)

article

The British Library established a corporate Anti-Racism Project (2020) designed to encourage participation via six subgroups, with staff recommendations incorporated into “Enacting Change”, the Library's Race Equality Action Plan (2022). The research and recommendations of the Cataloguing and Metadata subgroup fed into a pilot project proposed as a proof of concept to develop end-to-end workflows, focused on the South Asian Collection and the Caribbean Collection. Work has already been done to align ethical approaches to cataloguing with the Library's values. During the pilot project, new training modules for an ethical approach to metadata are being developed. The outcome will be to remove barriers to access and embed sustainable best practices. OPEN ACCESS

Changing the Name of the Tulsa Race Riot to Tulsa Race Massacre in LCSH

Dec. 1, 2021

presentation

Slides from a presentation by two Oklahoma librarians on their work getting the Library of Congress to change the subject heading “Tulsa Race Riot” to “Tulsa Race Massacre.”  Includes an introduction showing sources of metadata injustice in LC Subject Headings. 

Presented at Ex Libris Users of North America: ELUNA Learns - DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and the University of Central Oklahoma’s Metadata Justice in Oklahoma Libraries & Archives Symposium.

DARE to say NO: Addressing Outdated and Offensive Classification / J.J. Compton and Anona Earls

July 14, 2022

presentation

Slides from a presentation at the 2022 Metadata Justics in Oklahoma Libraries & Archives Symposium which describe a project to reclass offensive and dated terminology of call numbers for materials classified with N and O Cutter numbers for “Negro” and “Oriental.”  The project workflow was structured as “DARE” – Decide (to undertake the project), Access (change the metadata), Repair (the label, record, shelving location, etc.), and Eliminate (weed).