Sanford Berman

Sanford Berman’s Prejudices and Antipathies is one man’s crusade against chauvinism, discrimination, bigotry, and ignorance in the seventh edition of the Library of Congress subject headings. In his book, originally published in 1971, Berman extracts from LCSH (and, to a lesser extent, the ninth edition of the Sears List of subject headings) specific subject headings and uses them as examples of conceptual ignorance and discrimination against people.
Berman uncovers several instances of injustice that are difficult to argue against changing in LCSH. In fact, the bulk of Berman’s work is difficult to discredit. Berman identifies several common injustices that have been applied to nearly all categories of people in LCSH. Berman also identifies common groups that are often misrepresented by LC headings, such as Jews (and all other non-Christians), African Americans, and women. But there are limitations to human ability, in the abilities of LC catalogers to know, or even be aware of, all aspects of humanity and potential discriminations. Berman acknowledges this when he states that “no one can fair-mindedly expect that LC compilers would be blessed with the gift of prophecy to a greater degree than anyone else.” But one should expect the maintainers of LC to be vigilant to relevant changes, especially when the existing headings do not show proper respect to the people they are meant to represent. In his introduction Berman does admit that the LCSH “germinated” in a culture of limited sensitivity to certain terms and issues, but he argues that the roots of LCSH should not prevent it from adapting to the inevitable changes in relationships and the language that describes humanity, nor can the inaccuracies be perpetuated simply because it has always been so .
Berman has an understanding of human relationships and its history that is, perhaps, more sophisticated than can be expected from most people. This understanding makes Berman a great resource for parsing LCSH and other established authorities and practices for injustice. This work is invaluable for anyone studying LCSH to gain perspective on just what an impact the voice of the Library of Congress can have on the meaning of its subjects.… (más)

This work is a short collection of miscellaneous papers, letters and reviews that the author has gathered to “document the unreliability of standard ‘authorities’ and centrally generated cataloging products.” Berman uses the whole work to demonstrate that current cataloging practices can be improved and to challenge other libraries to question established practices. According to Berman, “The catalog should be [an] effective, modern, easy-to-use tool, not a thing of dread, confusion, embarrassment, or horror.” Berman compliments his criticisms with proposed alternatives to the problematic practices, which gives credibility to the ideas and changes presented in the book. In fact, the suggestions presented by the author are the strongest aspects of the work. The author uses his personal experience as a professional librarian at the Hennepin County Library (HCL) in Minnesota as an example of how to prepare for AACR2, as well as an example how to catalog periodicals using the HCL Rules. These real-world examples of alternatives to the current (in 1981) standards are very helpful for anyone researching the practical application of theoretical changes to current standards.
Unfortunately there is some repetition to the proposed ideas and changes (the suggestion not to repeat the author in the title statement if the author is the main entry is cited twice – once on page 3 and again on page 14.) Also, many arguments (as admitted by the author) are merely extended versions of the arguments from his earlier work, Prejudices and Antipathies, with additional support from letters and cited precedents. He also extends his criticism to the treatment of juvenile works (also an extension of Prejudices and Antipathies) and to the misconceptions and misjudgments of the Dewey Decimal System. He ends the work with several useful book reviews and a mock catalog use-study (of which, the “Methodology” and “Findings” sections may be the most entertaining take on library research ever published).
Although many response letters from LC are published in this book, the bulk of the work is only one man’s opinion. It is an approachable read, but not at all an introduction to the world of cataloging. In fact, only those with at least a mild understanding of cataloging would benefit from the ideas presented in the work.… (más)