The Sanford Berman School of Cataloging

1. The Sanford Berman School of Cataloging By Susan Tidd Southern Connecticut State University

2. This paper briefly examines the cataloging philosophy of Sanford Berman, self-proclaimed heretic, and former head cataloger of Hennepin County Library in Minnesota who recognized and fought to change subject heading practices adopted and disseminated by the Library of Congress that were biased, bigoted and inaccurate. Were reforms necessary, and if so why? What other changes have taken place and are taking place within the library profession regarding access to collections?

3. Sanford Berman 1933 -

4. Librarians as heretics • How did librarians evolve into heretics? I was mildly surprised to find that several controversial historical figures were librarians. • The great lover Casanova around the age of 50 began a career as the librarian for a Count in Bohemia. • Mao Tse-Tung was an assistant to the chief librarian of the University of Peking. When he was overlooked for advancement he decided to become a communist despot. • On the other end of the spectrum, Pope Pius XI was a librarian at the College of Doctors of the Ambrosian Library in Milan and became chief librarian.

5. In his book, The Joy of Cataloging, (1981) Berman says that cataloging should be based on three principles: Intelligibility Find-ability Fairness The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) which are widely used by librarians have been the bane of Berman’s existence for almost 35 years Rules for cataloging

6. Berman identified two basic categories of problems with subject cataloging according to LC. First is vocabulary or terminology Second, assignment. The vocabulary issue he divides into four parts. First is the failure to contemporize or correct awkward, obsolete or bizarre forms, Second, to promptly create headings when new topics appear. Third, the failure to reform headings that inaccurately portray groups, or that are obsolete. Fourth is the failure to promptly create new subject headings for new topics, insufficient cross-references and insufficient useful subheadings or multiple headings. Identifying the problems

7. Berman first noticed the need for revision and reform early in his career while working at the University of Zambia in the late 1960’s and came across the Library of Congress subject heading, KAFIRS, which his colleagues told him was the equivalent of using the word NIGGERS in America. This experience sparked the beginning of his crusade for cataloging reform. In his publication, Prejudices and Antipathies: a Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People (1971), he mentions some of the first headings he managed to abolish besides KAFIRS, such as JEWISH QUESTION and YELLOW PERIL.

8. What if? • What if I were an eighth grade student and had to write a paper on the subject of YELLOW PERILand the psychology behind racial fear and ignorance during World War II? If I am not savvy as to how to describe YELLOW PERIL in subject heading terminology, I may not be able to find the materials I need if I do not know the right subject headings. • I went to the Library of Congress catalog online to see if I could find what I needed to write a paper on YELLOW PERIL. I could not find anything using YELLOW PERIL in a subject search except for a comic book series. • I respected Berman’s philosophy but found it lacking in practical terms. Do we have to agree with and make sure that subject headings are politically correct in order for them to be useful?

9. Social treatise? • Professor Seymour Lubetzky reviewed Berman’s work, Prejudices and Antipathies and explains that “a list of subject headings is not a social treatise reflecting its author’s philosophy or point of view.” • Berman, however, perceives a bias and bigotry by catalogers in applying subject headings to works and groups of works that do not accurately describe those works. He cites the example:

10. A cataloger confronted by four titles on the same topic in which one author writes of “Negroes,” another of “Blacks,” the third “Afro-Americans,” and the fourth “niggers” must choose one heading to embrace them all (even if the ultimate choice necessitates revision of an established, standard head). Similarly, he or she must make both a political and intellectual decision on whether to prefer “Hottentots” or “Khoi-Khoin,” “Kafirs”, or “Xhosa,” the former rubric in both instances being a White supremacist tab while the other represents what the people calls itself. Again, catalogers have opted for the racists’ or subjugators’ terms. (Joy of Cataloging, p.67) More to the story…..

11. Changing headings • I began to see that the problem wasn’t with historical terms, but the biases and prejudices of those creating and assigning the subject headings • The problem with the subject heading JEWISH QUESTION resembles the problem with the heading YELLOW PERIL. While it is an historical term, does it belong in a catalog as a subject heading? Berman provides an alternative to JEWISH QUESTION when he said, • “If for research purposes, it’s desirable to trace the history of the concept itself, however odious, a little imagination could produce an acceptable form like ‘JEWISH QUESTION’ (ANTISEMITIC DOCTRINE).” (Subject Cataloging: Critiques and Innovations, 1984. p. 187).

12. A Novel idea • Berman’s philosophy and reforms have been given merit by the creation of one of the most popular tools for librarians today, NoveList. His creation of subject headings for fiction collections was the basis for NoveList, a database for locating fiction created by EBSCO, a widely used database by librarians and other users.

13. The future • This brings up the question of the future of cataloging. Is Berman’s philosophy being threatened by new technology and the way we use it?

14. Off with their headings! • In a recent article by Norman Oder, “The End of LC Subject Headings?” he remarked on the suggestion that LC do away with subject headings in favor of more free-text searching capabilities. (Library Journal, 2006, May 15, p. 14-15).

15. Bibliobarbarism • Berman opposes the idea and defends the LCSH concept, despite his criticism of LC to change and reform subject headings when appropriate and timely. In typical Berman fashion he defended the LCSH concept and said he feared “bibliobarbarism.”

16. Cataloging & keyword searching • Thomas Mann, in his article “Research at Risk” discusses the importance of good online cataloging. He compares scholarly research and quick internet searching. He states that LCSH provides “the mechanism that enables researchers to recognize what they cannot specify”… • ”Cataloging and classification done by professional librarians enable systematic searching, not merely desultory information seeking, says Mann.” .” (Library Journal, 2005, July 1).

17. Bruce Sanders on the future • “Digitized texts can be classified in exactly the same way as books shelved in stacks, and hit lists via browse call number searches can mimic the order of books in stacks perfectly. With links to the digitized text, books can be browsed in a way analogous to browsing stacks, and with the same sometimes-serendipitous results. Further, digitized texts can be browsed anywhere, anytime…” (American Libraries, 2005, September).

18. The end of literacy • Thomas Frey, Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute says that media formats are continually disappearing. Over time he believes we will transition into a verbal society. • He predicts that keyboards will be obsolete and that by 2050 literacy will be dead. • He also predicts that technology in the future will include the “ability to search for such attributes as taste, smell, texture, reflectivity, opacity, mass, density, tone, speed, and volume.” (Frey, n.d.)

19. As libraries and librarians have become the gateway through which society finds access to all types of information we need those like Sanford Berman who are committed to the principles of intelligibility, find-ability, and fairness to ensure the future of the quality of such access. Berman’s best