Each month, members of the Reparative Cataloging Subgroup take turns sharing news related to reparative cataloging and recent updates to the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSHs).
Tentative Approved LC Headings
From the recent Tentative Approved Monthly Lists, the following LC subject headings may be established or revised in February and March 2024:
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Anti-racism in literature (NEW)
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Gender-based violence--Religious aspects (NEW)
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White flight (NEW)
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Cerebral palsied --> People with cerebral palsy (other related terms also changing; ex. Cerebral palsied children--> Children with cerebral palsy)
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Deaf --> Deaf people (other related terms also changing; ex. Accessible Web sites for the deaf --> Accessible Web sites for deaf people)
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Hearing impaired --> Hard of hearing people (other related terms also changing; ex. Films for the hearing impaired --> Films for hard of hearing people
Concerning Updates to Childrens’ Subject Headings
Most of the WRLC institutions do not use the Children's Subject Headings (CYAC), but we found concerning updates in the CYAC Tentative Approved Monthly List for February 2024. Over 30 headings that describe African American people are listed to be cancelled because “there is no literary warrant in the CYAC catalog”, meaning there is no published work that uses these terms to justify the headings to exist. We reached out to the Children's and Young Adults' Cataloging Program Coordinator at the Library of Congress regarding these concerning updates, and received the following response, explaining the reason for cancellation and how they assign headings for their young readers:
"Thank you for reaching out. The ones that are being cancelled are machine generated and don’t follow how we normally apply headings. For the CYAC vocabulary we prefer a more faceted approach. For example, instead of African American Actors we would apply African Americans and another heading Actors and Actresses. For the children’s material, this allows greater discovery options when searching."
We requested them to change the reasoning for cancellation in the note from "there is no literary warrant in the CYAC catalog" to something else that's more explanatory and clearer. They heard our concerns and updated all the notes for clarity and republished the Tentative List (and Approved List) as follows:
Before
150 | African American actors CANCEL HEADING [sp2021060252]
682 | This authority record has been deleted because there is no literary warrant in the CYAC catalog
After
150 | African American actors CANCEL HEADING [sp2021060252]
682 | This authority record has been deleted because the heading is covered by the subject headings African Americans (DLC)sj2021050049 and Actors and actresses (DLC)sj 96004701
We helped to change the Children’s Subject Headings authority records!
WRLC Reparative Cataloging Subgroup is committed to repairing problematic headings in our shared catalog by evaluating and suggesting replacement or alternative headings. If you see headings or descriptions that you feel should be updated or changed, please submit the Reparative description heading reporting form created by the subgroup or join us at our next meeting in March!
Yoko Ferguson
Cataloging and Metadata Librarian, UDC
On behalf of the Reparative Cataloging Subgroup
