Radical Cataloging: Essays at the Front

by K.R. Roberto (Editor)

Overview

This collection of critical and scholarly essays addresses the state of cataloging in the world of librarianship. The contributors, including Sanford Berman, Thomas Mann, and numerous front-line library workers, address topics ranging from criticisms of the state of the profession and traditional Library of Congress cataloging to methods of making cataloging more inclusive and helpful to library users.

Other essay topics include historical overviews of cataloging practices and the literature they generate, first-person discussions of library workers' experiences with cataloging or metadata work, and the implications behind what materials get cataloged, who catalogs them, and how. Several essays provide a critical overview of innovative cataloging practices and the ways that such practices have been successfully integrated in many of the nation's leading libraries.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786435432
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	05/03/2008
Pages:	321
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

K.R. Roberto is the serials/electronic resources librarian at the University of Denver. Roberto is the co-editor of Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out (2003).

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface: What Does “Radical Cataloging” Mean, Anyway?      
K. R. ROBERTO
Introduction: Cataloging Reform, LC, and Me     
SANFORD BERMAN

I. CATALOGING IN CONTEXT
The Existential Crisis of a Cataloger     
BETH THORNTON
A Hidden History of Queer Subject Access     
MATT JOHNSON
Cataloging in Non-Roman Scripts: From Radical to Mainstream Practice     
BELLA HASS WEINBERG
Ubiquitous Cataloging     
BRADLEY DILGER and WILLIAM THOMPSON
The Genre Jungle: Organizing Pop Music Recordings     
MICHAEL SUMMERS
Playing Fast and Loose with the Rules: Metadata Cataloging for Digital
Library Projects     
JEN WOLFE
This Subfield Kills Fascists: A Highly Selective, Slightly Irreverent Trip Down Radical Cataloging Literature Lane     
BRIAN HASENSTAB

II. WE CRITICIZE BECAUSE WE CARE
Ranganathan’s Forgotten Law: Save the Time of the Cataloger     
JENNIFER YOUNG
OCLC: A Review     
JEFFREY BEALL
Latina Lesbian Subject Headings: The Power of Naming     
TATIANA DE LA TIERRA
Swine—Juvenile Literature?: Good Cataloging vs. Good Public Service     
JOHN SANDSTROM
Cults, New Religious Movements, and Bias in LC Subject Headings     
TRACY NECTOUX
(The English Word) That Dares Not Seek Its Name     
CAROL REID
Folk Art Terminology Revisited: Why It (Still) Matters     
JOAN M. BENEDETTI
Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic: A Drowning Cataloger’s Call to Stop Churning the Subject Headings     
CHRISTOPHER H. WALKER
Who Moved My Pinakes? Cataloging and Change     
TINA GROSS
The End of Prohibition     
CAROL REID
North American Indian Personal Names in National Bibliographies     
FRANK EXNER, LITTLE BEAR
Useful Cataloging     
CHRIS DODGE
What Is Going on at the Library of Congress?     
THOMAS MANN

III. INNOVATIVE PRACTICES
Don’t Class Me in Antiquities! Giving Voice to Native American Materials     
KELLY WEBSTER and ANN DOYLE
Teaching the Radical Catalog     
EMILY DRABINSKI
Browsing Bergman, Finding Fellini, Cataloging Kurosawa: Alternative Approaches to Cataloging Foreign Language Films in Academic Libraries     
MICHELLE EMANUEL and SUSANNAH BENEDETTI
User-Centered Serials Cataloging     
WENDY BAIA
“Why Isn’t My Book on the Shelf?” and Other Mysteries of the Library     
ROBIN
AACR2—Bendable but Not Flexible: Cataloging Zines at Barnard College     
JENNA FREEDMAN
CE-MARC: The Educator’s Library “Receipt”     
TOM ADAMICH
Dr. Strangecataloger: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tag     
JENNIFER ERICA SWEDA
Drawing Reference Librarians into the Fold     
DANA M. CAUDLE and CECILIA M. SCHMITZ
MARC: It’s Not Just for Cataloging Anymore     
DANA M. CAUDLE and CECILIA M. SCHMITZ
“Respect My Authoritah”: Eric Cartman and Enhanced Subject Access     
DANIEL CANNCASCIATO
High-Speed Cataloging Without Sacrificing Subject Access or Authority
Control: A Case Study     
CARRIE PRESTON
Monographic Collections Structure and Layout Revisions: Or, How
Tweak LC Call Numbers for the Good of Your Users     
BRIAN R. THOMPSON
Cataloging Heresy     
A. ARRO SMITH
Talkin’ the Cataloging Blues: The Poetry of Albert Huffstickler     
SYLVIA MANNING

About the Contributors     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

interesting historical overview...offers practical recommendations”—Booklist; “doesn’t disappoint”—American Libraries; “every voice in this volume is valuable. Some essays are funny, some filled with righteous outrage, but each is a learning experience...will help catalogers discover, or nurture, their radical side”—Technicalities; “a good book that feeds the fire of the revolutionary cataloger...a must-read”—Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services; “W&L urges readers to ensure their institutional librarians consider purchasing [this] book. It includes many items of interest to librarians and all of us interested in how knowledge and points of view will or won’t be preserved or discoverable, if preserved”—Women and Language.

From the Publisher

every voice in this volume is valuable. Some essays are funny, some filled with righteous outrage, but each is a learning experience...will help catalogers discover, or nurture, their radical side

Technicalities

doesn't disappoint

American Libraries

interesting historical overview...offers practical recommendations

Booklist