Pinned
Alissa
@lissertations.bsky.social
· Feb 19
The Process is the Point
An irregular newsletter about library metadata and the forces that shape it.
buttondown.com
I'm launching a newsletter. It's called The Process is the Point. It's about library metadata and the forces that shape it. Sign up here: buttondown.com/lissertations
Reposted by Alissa
Anyone itching to have Library and Archives Canada divest from American infrastructure should take encouragement from the way #LIBR509 students feel about that relationship (via memes from an anonymous student and Lia H.)
December 3, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Anyone itching to have Library and Archives Canada divest from American infrastructure should take encouragement from the way #LIBR509 students feel about that relationship (via memes from an anonymous student and Lia H.)
Reposted by Alissa
So apparently a conservative "journalist" attended the ZLuC over this past weekend, attended and live-streamed sessions without consent, and is trying to intimidate and dox attendees.
Here's the organizers' statement:
www.zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2025/
Here's the organizers' statement:
www.zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2025/
Zine Librarians unConference 2025 | zinelibraries.info
www.zinelibraries.info
November 11, 2025 at 8:07 PM
So apparently a conservative "journalist" attended the ZLuC over this past weekend, attended and live-streamed sessions without consent, and is trying to intimidate and dox attendees.
Here's the organizers' statement:
www.zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2025/
Here's the organizers' statement:
www.zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2025/
Reposted by Alissa
If we put half as much resources into metadata and cataloging as we do into dumb AI stuff, we’d way better off in terms of the info/data ecosystem
Panel at #Crossref2025 wonders if metadata has an image problem. Bianca Kramer says the word metadata not used in the Barcelona Declaration. Mariángela Napoli thinks perception of metadata is something too technical. Kazuhiro Hayashi describes metadata as "the unsung hero". Time for a rebrand ;)
October 23, 2025 at 11:44 AM
If we put half as much resources into metadata and cataloging as we do into dumb AI stuff, we’d way better off in terms of the info/data ecosystem
Reposted by Alissa
Are you a cataloguer or interested in cataloguing and have a view on whether LCSH is fit for purpose in a UK context? CILIP MDG @cilipmdg.bsky.social are hosting a Worldcafe event (a big meeting basically!) to discuss ideas at Wellcome Library in London Wed 26th Nov www.cilip.org.uk/events/Event...
CILIP: the library and information association
www.cilip.org.uk
October 30, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Are you a cataloguer or interested in cataloguing and have a view on whether LCSH is fit for purpose in a UK context? CILIP MDG @cilipmdg.bsky.social are hosting a Worldcafe event (a big meeting basically!) to discuss ideas at Wellcome Library in London Wed 26th Nov www.cilip.org.uk/events/Event...
Reposted by Alissa
Encountering a near existential dissonance seeing articles like this next to articles about professors, teacher unions, and university admins gleefully adopting and promoting these systems.
Trump signs three executive orders targeting ‘woke’ AI models
Crackdown on what the White House claims is bias echoes longstanding conservative grievances against tech
www.theguardian.com
July 24, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Encountering a near existential dissonance seeing articles like this next to articles about professors, teacher unions, and university admins gleefully adopting and promoting these systems.
Reposted by Alissa
[worst possible stuff happening everywhere] man why do I feel bad
July 10, 2025 at 12:46 AM
[worst possible stuff happening everywhere] man why do I feel bad
Reposted by Alissa
“This article shows how interlibrary loan, conceived as a form of academic traffic, played a crucial role in postwar reconstruction efforts, facilitating the xchg of resources + info among libraries… [It] focuses on the elaborate procedures librarians developed to create union catalogs.”
Libraries as “Academic Traffic Facilities”: Interlibrary Loan Imaginations after 1945 | Critical Inquiry: Vol 51, No 4
Abstract The devastation of World War II left German libraries partly in ruins, collections and catalogs lost or destroyed, prompting a need to reconstruct and reimagine the library system. This artic...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
June 26, 2025 at 3:56 PM
“This article shows how interlibrary loan, conceived as a form of academic traffic, played a crucial role in postwar reconstruction efforts, facilitating the xchg of resources + info among libraries… [It] focuses on the elaborate procedures librarians developed to create union catalogs.”
Reposted by Alissa
I had the pleasure of giving a keynote for the ANZREG conference earlier this week titled 'Beyond provocation: Reimagining systems through care, critique, and community.'
🔗 Talk and slides: www.emiliabell.com/2025/06/13/b...
🔗 Talk and slides: www.emiliabell.com/2025/06/13/b...
Beyond provocation: Reimagining systems through care, critique, and community - Emilia C. Bell
Keynote at ANZREG Conference 11th June 2025 Slides | Recording [when available] Licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-4.0), except for any content quoted from ...
www.emiliabell.com
June 12, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I had the pleasure of giving a keynote for the ANZREG conference earlier this week titled 'Beyond provocation: Reimagining systems through care, critique, and community.'
🔗 Talk and slides: www.emiliabell.com/2025/06/13/b...
🔗 Talk and slides: www.emiliabell.com/2025/06/13/b...
Reposted by Alissa
A new memorandum from the Dept of Defense listing specific subject headings to be used within military libraries to flag books with "divisive content." #LCSH #critcat 📚 media.defense.gov/2025/May/09/...
media.defense.gov
May 11, 2025 at 10:05 PM
A new memorandum from the Dept of Defense listing specific subject headings to be used within military libraries to flag books with "divisive content." #LCSH #critcat 📚 media.defense.gov/2025/May/09/...
Reposted by Alissa
Carla Hayden was president of the @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social when ours was one of few organized voices opposed to the USA PATRIOT Act.
Librarians have been fired all across the federal government, gutting not just ours but the world’s intellectual infrastructure. Devastating.
Librarians have been fired all across the federal government, gutting not just ours but the world’s intellectual infrastructure. Devastating.
May 9, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Carla Hayden was president of the @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social when ours was one of few organized voices opposed to the USA PATRIOT Act.
Librarians have been fired all across the federal government, gutting not just ours but the world’s intellectual infrastructure. Devastating.
Librarians have been fired all across the federal government, gutting not just ours but the world’s intellectual infrastructure. Devastating.
Reposted by Alissa
So this has been an entertaining 24 hours
![A mastodon post by @hedgielib (on glammr.us server) that says
There was a question about "what AI skills should librarians have" on one of my listservs. My Ideas:
• Knowledge of the IP theft underlying these tools
• Discerning “we just relabeled something and now are pretending it’s AI to charge you more while making the product worse” from vendor pitches
• Understanding the inherent biases, the ecological harms, the underpaid mods
• Addressing loss of critical thinking and reading skills ]
• Demonstrating how this is being used as labor suppression
It has 354 boosts in 24 hours](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hd6roxnoffbrfbprybbtbpqf/bafkreigxepy56wvuzflleltygposkm477hx2pqwilchbzp2jfdqicslsb4@jpeg)
May 7, 2025 at 2:12 PM
So this has been an entertaining 24 hours
Reposted by Alissa
Could you use help explaining the value of #cataloging & good metadata to your admin, coworkers, #MLIS students, etc.? Happy to share this set of resources put together by an ALA working group chaired by @magsjoy.bsky.social. All of these & more are available at hdl.handle.net/11213/22872. 📚
April 3, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Could you use help explaining the value of #cataloging & good metadata to your admin, coworkers, #MLIS students, etc.? Happy to share this set of resources put together by an ALA working group chaired by @magsjoy.bsky.social. All of these & more are available at hdl.handle.net/11213/22872. 📚
Reposted by Alissa
Here's a banger from Sandy Berman about the #lcsh changes from Mount Denali to Mount McKinley and Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America (and The Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division of the Library of Congress being "handmaidens to chauvinism, ethnocentrism and fascism."). 📚
![Scan of a letter from Sandy Berman to The Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division of the Library of Congress. It reads:
3-22-25
Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4305
Dear Colleagues,
BRAVO! Your recent conversion of DENALI, MOUNT (ALASKA) and
MEXICO, GULF OF to MCKINLEY, MOUNT (ALASKA) and AMERICA, GULF OF, respectively, as both primary and subheadings was breathtakingly thorough and detailed. You are masters of your craft.
Alas, you are also willful handmaidens of chauvinism, ethnocentrism
and fascism. Also: Trumpism.
Many weeks ago I expressed the hope that LC would resist the
temptation to implement this palpably capricious, arbitrary, and
baseless name-charging. That admonition appears to have gone unheeded.
Our President has no authority to wantonly replace the name for
international waters that abut more countries than our own.
Beyond that, the Gulf of Mexico has been so known since about
the 16th Century. Its renaming, totally rejected by neighboring
Mexico, smacks of arrogant linguistic imperialism.
It seems the whole state of Alaska prefers the Athabascan place-
name, Denali, to McKinley, a U.S. President associated with American
expansion who never set foot in Alaska. The widely-unwanted name change is an affront to Alaska's indigenous population, as well as
its state legislature and two Republican senators.
Although LC has now fully demonstrated its lock-step deference to
bigoted, unjustified authority, I hope American librarians will muster the moral and intellectual strength. to ignore its dismal example.
Sorrowfully,
[large, sprawling, angry signature]
Sanford Berman
Margaret Mann Citation Recipient
Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award Recipient
ALA Equality Award Recipient
Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice & Equality Recipient
4400 Morningside Road
Edina, MN 55416](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:apw5oj2sravjfhmubeeiepb3/bafkreighpizqnty3utahwbozvvzj4lw7jxfq2i6nzzw5z5u2dlcf5p4b7m@jpeg)
March 31, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Here's a banger from Sandy Berman about the #lcsh changes from Mount Denali to Mount McKinley and Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America (and The Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division of the Library of Congress being "handmaidens to chauvinism, ethnocentrism and fascism."). 📚
Reposted by Alissa
Reposted by Alissa
Join me and @abelantara.bsky.social on May 5th for the online launch of Ways of Knowing: The Worlds Words Create, our new collection documenting the development and implementation of alternative cataloging & classification schemes.
mhttps://litwinbooks.com/book-launch-ways-of-knowing/
mhttps://litwinbooks.com/book-launch-ways-of-knowing/
Book Launch - Ways of Knowing: Oral Histories on the Worlds Words Create - Litwin Books & Library Juice Press
Join us May 6, 2025 at 7pm Eastern for virtual book launch for the new title Ways of Knowing: Oral Histories on the Worlds Words Create edited by Amanda Belantara … Read more Book Launch – Ways of Kno...
litwinbooks.com
March 18, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Join me and @abelantara.bsky.social on May 5th for the online launch of Ways of Knowing: The Worlds Words Create, our new collection documenting the development and implementation of alternative cataloging & classification schemes.
mhttps://litwinbooks.com/book-launch-ways-of-knowing/
mhttps://litwinbooks.com/book-launch-ways-of-knowing/
Addressing this to fellow Australians but it applies to everyone: LCSH and LCNAF are not library law. Their use is entirely optional. We can choose otherwise. We should choose better.
Librarians doing anticipatory obedience 😡 🤢 💔
classweb.org/approved-sub...
151 Denali, Mount (Alaska) CHANGE HEADING
151 McKinley, Mount (Alaska) [sp 85082617 ]
151 Mexico, Gulf of CHANGE HEADING
151 America, Gulf of [sp 85084621 ]
📚
classweb.org/approved-sub...
151 Denali, Mount (Alaska) CHANGE HEADING
151 McKinley, Mount (Alaska) [sp 85082617 ]
151 Mexico, Gulf of CHANGE HEADING
151 America, Gulf of [sp 85084621 ]
📚
Monthly List 12 LCSH 2 (2025)Library of Congress Subject Headings (2025)
classweb.org
March 15, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Addressing this to fellow Australians but it applies to everyone: LCSH and LCNAF are not library law. Their use is entirely optional. We can choose otherwise. We should choose better.
Reposted by Alissa
New issue of Critcatenate now available for those interested in critical approaches to metadata in libraries & archives. Lots of events coming up! cataloginglab.org/2025/02/28/c... 📚 #critcat
Critcatenate: #critcat in February 2025 – Cataloging Lab
cataloginglab.org
February 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
New issue of Critcatenate now available for those interested in critical approaches to metadata in libraries & archives. Lots of events coming up! cataloginglab.org/2025/02/28/c... 📚 #critcat
Sand Talk being second on this list speaks volumes about its power to quietly ignite and transform perspectives all over the world. It’s still one of the best books I’ve ever read and it’s great to see it included below.
📣 New zine! "Radical Books That Aren't a Slog : Leftist Book Recommendations for Newly Radical Folks." If you're a baby leftist looking for a place to start imagining new possibilities, here's 17 books to get you started! violetbfox.info/radicalbooks/ 📚
February 28, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Sand Talk being second on this list speaks volumes about its power to quietly ignite and transform perspectives all over the world. It’s still one of the best books I’ve ever read and it’s great to see it included below.
Reposted by Alissa
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
February 19, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Alissa
I'm launching a newsletter. It's called The Process is the Point. It's about library metadata and the forces that shape it. Sign up here: buttondown.com/lissertations
The Process is the Point
An irregular newsletter about library metadata and the forces that shape it.
buttondown.com
February 19, 2025 at 11:22 PM
I'm launching a newsletter. It's called The Process is the Point. It's about library metadata and the forces that shape it. Sign up here: buttondown.com/lissertations
Reposted by Alissa
Also a good time for libraries to rethink paying vast sums for unreliable library software from companies like Ex Libris Group owned by Clarivate. There are other ways to run our libraries.
proprietary software has failed: a community-driven open source security proposal
This is the text of a paper I delivered at UKSG November Conference 2024 on 2024-11-20 on the theme of 'Cybersecurity and Censorship'. It has been edited from the original to incorporate the accompany...
opensauce.simonxix.com
February 20, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Also a good time for libraries to rethink paying vast sums for unreliable library software from companies like Ex Libris Group owned by Clarivate. There are other ways to run our libraries.
I'm launching a newsletter. It's called The Process is the Point. It's about library metadata and the forces that shape it. Sign up here: buttondown.com/lissertations
The Process is the Point
An irregular newsletter about library metadata and the forces that shape it.
buttondown.com
February 19, 2025 at 11:22 PM
I'm launching a newsletter. It's called The Process is the Point. It's about library metadata and the forces that shape it. Sign up here: buttondown.com/lissertations
I emailed LC noting, among other things, the difficulty of providing feedback by the 18th when it was 12.30am on the 19th for us when this list was issued.
LC is not my country’s library, though. I resent having to care so much about this.
LC is not my country’s library, though. I resent having to care so much about this.
Also encourage people to email LC to oppose this proposed revision, which was announced a few hours ago (with comments deadline of today 😡).
Your email can be short (1-3 sentences) and can focus on impact to your patrons. #critcat #LCSH #cataloging 📚
Your email can be short (1-3 sentences) and can focus on impact to your patrons. #critcat #LCSH #cataloging 📚
LC published a tentative list to change #LCSH Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America & Mt Denali to Mt McKinley. Comments on the proposed changes can be sent to listcomments@loc.gov by Tues. February 18, 2025 (which is TODAY). If you oppose the change, please email! #critcat (classweb.org/tentative-su...
February 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
I emailed LC noting, among other things, the difficulty of providing feedback by the 18th when it was 12.30am on the 19th for us when this list was issued.
LC is not my country’s library, though. I resent having to care so much about this.
LC is not my country’s library, though. I resent having to care so much about this.
Reposted by Alissa
Excited for the continued work of creating a Hawaiian knowledge organization system and improving our description through the Kahoʻiwai Mellon Grant!! Honored to be contributing to this work. #knowledgeorganization #critcat #controlledvocabularies www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/01...
$3.2M Mellon grant boosts Native Hawaiian knowledge at UH Mānoa Library | University of Hawaiʻi System News
The grant will integrate Native Hawaiian knowledge into library collections, preserving cultural heritage and enhancing accessibility.
www.hawaii.edu
January 30, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Excited for the continued work of creating a Hawaiian knowledge organization system and improving our description through the Kahoʻiwai Mellon Grant!! Honored to be contributing to this work. #knowledgeorganization #critcat #controlledvocabularies www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/01...