Respecting Authority: An Intro to Subject Analysis for Copy Catalogers (Morning Session)
Subject cataloging gets a bad rap as fussy and hard to learn. While mastery takes time, there are smaller steps copy catalogers can take to expand their knowledge and improve the use of subject terms in their catalogs. This brief workshop will introduce you to some of the most common subject systems, rules, and principles with a focus on Library of Congress Subject Headings.
Learning objectives:
Presenter:
Misty Alvaro is the Catalog Librarian for the Columbus Metropolitan Library. She received her MLIS after achieving a degree in Japanese and Italian at the Ohio State University. Misty has worked in public and technical services at a variety of library types including academic, public, and special libraries; she loves to talk about how all of them are awesome.
Harm Reduction in Library Classification (Afternoon Session)
Pernicious biases in subject headings and library classification schemes have been discussed at length, but how should our profession best address those biases? While resource description can never be neutral, using a harm reduction framework can help us identify potentially alienating terminology. Participants will learn how they can become active partners in democratizing classification to introduce more diverse perspectives. Violet will talk about Dewey, LCC, and LCSH so both public and academic librarians will find something of interest in the presentation.
Presenter:
Violet Fox is a library metadata expert and former cataloger. Her research interests include the ethical implications of library classification.