Wine, Witchcraft, Women, Wool:

Classifying Women's Studies Collections

Sarah Hume

#LISDIS

sarahfhume

Anyone who genuinely thinks thatcataloging tools and copy are okayprobably has not looked at them lately

Sanford Berman, “Cataloging Tools and ‘Copy’: The Myth of Acceptability ­ a PublicLibrarian’s Viewpoint,” in Cataloging Heresy: Challenging the Standard BibliographicProduct, ed. Bella Hass Weinberg (Medford: Learned Information Inc., 1992), 36.

Sanford Berman:

Facets of a self

You are yourgender, race,

ethnicity,class,

sexuality,health...

METHODOLOGY

300 word taxonomy

Terms selected after consultingmultiple introductory Women'sStudies texts and previous feministand Women's Studies thesauri

METHODOLOGY

Each term mapped to DDC number - asaccurately as possible - and an LCSH -a single heading per term, as manyinstitutions limit the number of LCSHper record.

METHODOLOGY

Results analysed

3 categories identified - simple one toone mapping, a more complexmapping, or no mapping possible

DDC

DDC

One to one mapping - 48%

DDC

One to one mapping - 48%Includes medical and legal concepts

Abortion law, rights and medicalprocedure.

Equal pay laws and anti-discrimination measures

DDC

Complex mapping - 8%

DDC

Complex mapping - 8%

Compound terms, inappropriate contexts

Women in Shakespeare isn't possible,only general criticisms of Shakespeare

Adding -082 to a number means 'womenand x' AND 'feminist x'

DDC

No mapping - 44%

DDC

No mapping - 44%Important subject terms have no DDC

number.

Types of feminism, motherhood, thepatriarchy, violence against women,

women of colour...

LCSH

LCSH

One to one mapping - 63%

LCSH

One to one mapping - 63%Medical and legal concepts

Colloquial phrases - stay at home mother,glass ceiling

WOMEN--HISTORY exists but is huge...

LCSH

Complex mapping - 11%

LCSH

Complex mapping - 11%Outdated language - REFORMATORIES FORWOMEN still in use in place of women's prisons

Women treated as a subgroup -ASSERTIVENESS IN WOMEN, IN CHILDREN,IN ADOLESCENCE - but not men.

LCSH

No mapping - 26%

LCSH

No mapping - 26%Strict gender binary in place, impactinggender and sexuality

Tokenism and intersectionality absent

Types of feminism (Marxist, radical, etc)absent

Conclusions

Conclusions

DDC is not suitable for a standalone Women's Studies collectionThe hierarchical nature forces thecataloguer to chose - is race mostimportant? Class? Sexuality?

Number building is restricted, makingintersectionality impossible.

Conclusions

LCSH is slightly more suitable for aWomen's Studies collection

There are inconsistencies, and clearpatterns of response to specificcriticism.

But there's no attempt to reassesssimilar material at the same time.

Conclusions

Stand alone Women's Studiescollections are rare

Material usually seen in generalcollections, so specialisedclassification unlikely - so youcan't avoid DDC and LCSH

The way forward?

The way forward?

Structural changes

The least likely option!

A systematic overhaul of both schemes

It would take years, but biases could beremoved, and systems put in place to

allow for future changes

The way forward?

Institutional policiesTo sit over and alongside DDC and LCSH

Adapted to specific collections and usergroups

The way forward?

Proactive cataloguingThe most likely option

Each cataloguer being aware of theirown privileges

Fully examining each item andcreating the fullest record possible

All images from Gratisography,Unsplash and Morguefile,Creative Commons Zero

sarahfhumeslideshare.net/sarahfhume

THANK YOU!