Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People

by Sanford Berman (editor), Eric Moon (Foreword)

First published in 1971 (by Scarecrow Press), Prejudices and Antipathies marked the opening salvo in the fight to rid the Library of Congress Subject Headings of bias. In the ensuing decades, many of its recommendations have been embraced. Progress has been made but problems persist. The McFarland edition of 1993 includes corrections, a new foreword by Eric Moon, a new preface and an index.

Genres: Nonfiction, Library Science, School, Grad School, Librarianship, Research, Social Justice

229 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Cataloging librarian who crusaded to reform subject headings that were out of date and offensive.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be required reading for all librarians, pre or post MLIS. I heart LSCH headings, but that doesn't mean I should use them irresponsibly or not be aware of the implications of structuring knowledge.

[Jesus]

After reading Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey, I was seeking a way to understand how Dewey's prejudice may have been displayed subsequently. This book details these almost ad nauseum.

[Amy Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a snarky, succint, well-cited source of how bad LCSH once was, you've come to the right place.  Sanford Berman used his privilege for the greater good, questioning why men and whiteness and Christianity and the United States were the assumed "normal" for a system used internationally, and by various different people.  He called the Library of Congress out on their double standards, on their stereotyping, and his footnotes certainly packed a punch!  (Seriously though, don't miss out on the footnotes).  

Each chapter focuses on a certain group of people--for example, the section about men, women, and members of the LGBT community.  And in the chapters are tens of subject headings that Berman deems as needing fixing, a description as to why it needs fixing, and potential remedies.  He was a radical and revolutionary for his time, and this book reiterates that fact.  

In fact, if you are a library science student, I highly recommend reading this.  This is a key book in the whole of library science literature, and it will not disappoint you one single bit.

Review cross-listed here!

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is severely out of date due to the activism of Sanford Berman. He worked himself into outdatedness! Things are better, though still not great, in the LCSH, and there's a reason everyone starts a talk about bias in library headings by talking about Sandy Berman. He's an absolute legend, and this book really served to remind me that we didn't get suddenly woke. People have been fighting for these same issues for a really long time.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a continuing ed class; definitely should have read as part of foundational classes in library school, though.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

One progressive librarian's perspective on the racism, sexism, colonialism, and many other -isms present in the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

This book was published in 1971 - as I read it, I looked up a lot of the subject headings Berman mentions on the Library of Congress website, to see if they are still being used. Some are, and some aren't. Luckily, "Children--Management" is no longer there. Neither are "Society, Primitive," "Art, Immoral," 'Yellow Peril," or countless references to "Negroes."

On the other hand, the LCSH are still very Christian-centric. Many generic religious subject headings such as "God," "Baptism," "Church," and "Judgment Day" are still supposed to be assigned only to materials dealing with the Christian varieties of those topics. Luckily, "Paganism" has now been updated to refer to specific religious beliefs/practices, instead of meaning "non-Christian" as it seems to have been used in 1971. "Mohammedanism" has also been updated to "Islam," thank goodness.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for all students studying Library Science. A great introduction to the discussion of the bias of library systems and taxonomy. Although it was published in 1971, many problematic subject headings still remain and it's important to explore this topic. Now that I've finished reading it I'm going to go back and look up many of these LC subject headings and see also references to see if, and how, they've changed since it was published.

[Lee Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

While doing research for some of the work I had to do in Scotland, I had stumbled across some articles about some bigotry within the Library of Congress Subject Headings. So, a semester later, when my Indexing & Surrogation professor assigned a concept paper related to organization schemes, I dug into the issue a little more and found out about this book.

I've read many "textbooks" throughout the last year and a half related to the LIS field, and I found this one the most interesting. Berman occasionally slips in some sassy comments that made me laugh out loud, and I learned quite a bit -- not only about racism and sexism and homophobia, but also classism and ageism. This is a very well-researched book, and it had a great impact on the field.

[Shomeret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book, but Sanford Berman should not be regarded as the Pope of Classification Bias. By that I mean that he's not infallible. His views of bias are open to challenge and his concept of how to remedy biased headings is also open to challenge. He does deserve a great deal of credit for opening this area to discussion.

Shomeret

[Jessica Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and an important (and still very relevant) reminder from the 1970s that the LC Subject Headings should continue to be viewed as a work in progress, to be updated and refreshed as often as possible in order to better reflect the entire world of information and not just a small segment enlarged to cover all.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a course's final project over two years ago - and didn't finish it because of time constraints - though I would in the future, probably, as I find that Berman makes a whole host of persuasive arguments, I've been clearing out my reading list and feel I can put this to bed, finally.

[Sarah Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was for school but I enjoyed it mostly. I found it eye-opening if very dated.

[Travis Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still necessary.