Ethnic Groups and Library of Congress Subject Headings
Jeffre
INTRODUCTION tricks for success in doing African studies research3. One of the challenges of studying ethnic Several sections of the article touch on subject head- groups is the abundant and changing terminology as- ings related to African studies. sociated with these groups and their study. This arti- Sanford Berman authored at least two works cle explains the Library of Congress subject headings about Library of Congress subject headings for ethnic (LCSH) that relate to ethnic groups, ethnology, and groups. His contentious 1991 article Things are ethnic diversity and how they are used in libraries. A seldom what they seem: Finding multicultural materi- database that uses a controlled vocabulary, such as als in library catalogs4 describes what he viewed as LCSH, can be invaluable when doing research on LCSH shortcomings at that time that related to ethnic ethnic groups, because it can help searchers conduct groups and to other aspects of multiculturalism. searches that are precise and comprehensive. Interestingly, this article notes an inequity in the use Keyword searching is an ineffective way of of the term God in subject headings. When referring conducting ethnic studies research because so many to the Christian God, there was no qualification by individual ethnic groups are known by so many differ- religion after the term. but for other religions there ent names. Take the Mohawk lndians for example. was. For example the heading God-History of They are also known as the Canienga Indians, the doctrines is a heading for Christian works, and God Caughnawaga Indians, the Kaniakehaka Indians, (Judaism)-History of doctrines for works on Juda- the Mohaqu Indians, the Saint Regis Indians, and ism. The default was for Christianity. Recently the by other names. Because different sources from Library of Congress changed this policy and now re- different times and places use different terms, a quires the gloss "(Christianity)" after "God" for works keyword search on only a single term for the Mohawk on Christian theology. Berman's article outlining Indians will never generate a comprehensive search these different practices and calling for change was result. But by using a controlled vocabulary, such as published in 1992. So change does occur in LCSH, LCSH, a single term can be assigned to bibliographic it just takes time. Although this is not a discussion of records for works about the Mohawk Indians, regard- religious headings in this article, this example from less of what they are called in each work. In this way, Berman is cited to demonstrate the pace of change in a search will pull up all resources about the Indians, LCSH. A much earlier (1978) article by Bermans(not regardless of what the resource calls them. viewed) also describes perceived shortcomings for After explaining and giving examples of subject headings for ethnic groups in LCSH. the Library of Congress subject headings for ethnic groups. this article will examine Prospector
V. 32, No. 4 2006 Colorado Libraries headings are recorded in authority records that are ently, and this will be explained below in the section created and distributed to libraries and other agen- on Indians. Additionally, there are numerous sub- cies by the Library of Congress. These authority ject headings that relate to ethic groups in general. records have several functions. One is to record These will be discussed in the section below with the authorized heading for a person, place, thing, the heading, "Other Ethnology and Diversity Related and such; including ethnic groups. Another function Subject Headings." is to list variant forms-or synonyms-of the main heading. These variant forms are also called cross AFRICAN-AMERICANS references, and they refer a researcher from a vari- Among the controversies relating to sub- ant form of the name of something to the authorized ject headings for ethnic groups that have occurred form. over the years, perhaps none has been greater For example, on the authority record for Bur- than that regarding the choice of heading for African aku people, the term Buraku people is listed on the Americans. Throughout most of the 20th century, authority record as the authorized form of the name. the heading was Negroes. This changed in the There are several cross references on the record, late 1970s when the form was changed to Blacks. including Aeta (Japanese people) and Tokushu Later, in the 1990s, the heading was changed again. burakumin (Japanese people). The heading se- this time to Afro-Americans. A few years ago the lected as the main heading is generally the one that heading was changed again, so the current head- is most commonly used in reference sources. Still ing is African Americans. Libraries are necessarily the selection of the main heading, and consequently conservative about changing subject headings not so the selection of what the cross references will be, can much because they are conservative institutions, but seem arbitrary. But the selection of a single autho- because of the labor involved in changing headings. rized form is essential for in a controlled vocabulary In the days of card catalogs, it was cumbersome to two terms cannot represent the same concept. change headings because library staff had to change A searchable database of authority records, the actual catalog cards. Now with automated called the Library of Congress Authorities, is freely systems, the task has become somewhat easier, but available on the Internet at http://authorities.loc. manual changing of bibliographic records is still often gov. In this database every country has a heading necessary when subject headings are changed. that follows the pattern, Ethnology-[place]. Under Authority records, in addition to listing the this heading for each country one can find listed as main heading and the cross references, occasionally narrower terms the ethnic groups that belong to that also provide what are called scope notes that guide country or region. For example to search Ethnol- librarians and library users in the correct assignment ogy-Poland the authority record is retrieved, plus and usage of particular subject headings. For ex- links to the authority records for the ethnic groups of ample, here is the scope note on the authority record that country, like this: for African Americans: Here are entered works on citizens of the Ethnology-Poland United States of black African descent. Narrower Term: Jacnwiez Works on blacks who temporarily reside in Narrower Term: Kashubes the United States, such as aliens, students Narrower Term: Kurpie from abroad, etc., are entered under Blacks- Narrower Term: Lasowiacy -United States. Works on blacks outside Narrower Term: Lemky the United States are entered under Blacks- Narrower Term: Polanie (Slavic people) -[place]. Narrower Term: Poles An additional scope note also advises us- Narrower Term: Silesians ers to search for subject headings that begin with African American. There are numerous subject Sometimes an ethnic group will span an area headings that follow this pattern, for example African that is larger than a single country. Those ethnic American nurses. This practice of using the adjec- groups will not be found when searching Ethnology- tival form of an ethnic group's name followed by a [place] where the place is a country. To find some noun is the rule in LCSH for lndians and for American ethnic groups using this method, it is necessary to ethnic groups. Additional examples following this search for regions or continents as the place. An pattern are: example is the Goths. The record for this group can African American art be found by searching EthnologpEurope. African American Methodists Note that this method of finding the ethnic African American preaching groups of a place does not work for lndians of the African American radio stations Americas; headings for lndians are organized differ- 38 Colorado Libraries V. 32, No. 4 2006 It is not true that the subject heading African also to Latino Americans, Latinos in the United Americans has completely replaced the heading States, Hispanics in the Unites States, Spanish- Blacks. Because only Americans can be African speaking people in the United States, and Spanish- Americans, there has to be a term for people of Afri- surnamed people in the United States. This heading can origin outside of the United States, and that term is also used in its adjectival form followed by a noun, is Blacks. such as Hispanic American consumers. There is The scope note on the record for Blacks also the subject heading Latin Americans, which explains the proper usage of this heading: can be divided geographically to create the subject Here are entered works on blacks as an heading Latin Americans-United States. So what element in the population. Theoretical works is the difference between Hispanic Americans and discussing the black race from an anthropo- Latin Americans-United States? The difference logical point of view are entered under Black is that the Hispanic Americans are United States race. citizens; the Latin Americans are just here on a visit. Works on black people in countries whose Note also the subject heading Mexican racial composition is predominantly black are Americans. The term "Chicanos" is a cross-refer- assigned headings appropriate for the coun- ence under this heading. There is also a similar try as a whole without the use of the heading subject heading for every Latin American country, for Blacks. The heading Blacks is assigned example, Peruvian Americans. And there are many to works on such countries only if the work adjectival subject headings that begin with the form discusses blacks apart from other groups in Mexican American, such as Mexican American the country. Folk Art. So, to explain this usage, it might help to look at the difference between the following two subject INDIANS headings: Headings for lndians are probably the most Blacks-Brazil complicated of all the groups, but a basic introduction African Americans-Brazil is all that is needed to understand the main concepts The first subject heading refers to black Brazilians liv- needed for research. The main subject heading, ing in Brazil. The second one refers to black Ameri- Indians, refers to "the aboriginal peoples of the cans who are in Brazil. Note that the heading Afri- Western Hemisphere, including Eskimos" according can Americans-United States is wrong because it to the authority record. The subject heading lndians is redundant. However it is not uncommon for cata- is used to refer to all lndians from Alaska to Tierra del logers to assign this heading mistakenly anyway. For Fuego, but the Library of Congress also divides up example, the incorrect heading sometimes appears lndians into five groups. According to the authority in the Prospector catalog. There may be occasion to record for Indians, assign the subject heading Blacks-United States. For convenience, the Western Hemisphere According to the authority record for the heading has been divided into five basic geographi- Blacks-United States, cal regions: North America, Mexico, Central Here are entered works on blacks who tem- America, West Indies, and South America. porarily reside in the United States, such as Works pertaining to Indian groups located aliens, students from abroad, etc. Works on within the confines of one of these regions citizens of the United States of black African are entered under lndians of the pertinent descent are entered under African Ameri- region, e.g. lndians of North America; cans. lndians of Mexico. Note that, curiously, the Library of Congress contin- ues to use the subject heading Black English and So the five main headings are: not African American English. lndians of North America Libraries may be interested in participating lndians of Mexico in the African American Subject Funnel Project.This lndians of Central America project is coordinated by SACO, which is the Sub- lndians of South America ject Authority Cooperative Program of the Program lndians of the West lndies for Cooperative Cataloging. The program provides The heading lndians of North America is further a mechanism for libraries to propose new Library subdivided by U.S. State, Canadian province, or of Congress subject headings that relate to African region (such as West (U.S.)) as shown in these Americans. examples lndians of North America-Colorado HISPANIC AMERICANS lndians of North America-Alberta This broad subject heading is used to refer lndians of North America-West (U.S.) V. 32, No. 4 2006 Colo~rado Libraries 39 This is the way, at the LC Authorities web site, reflect only those tribes about which materials have individual tribes that are associated with a particu- been added to library collections creating the need lar place can be found, like finding individual eth- for a corresponding subject heading. nic groups under a country or region as described Some subject headings exist that represent above. For example, if the search words are lndians groups of Indians, such as Algonquian Indians. of North America-Colorado, these are the results: There are see also references under these groups in the index display for the tribes that are a part of the lndians of North AmericaFolorado larger group. Narrower term: Jicarilla lndians Also there exist many headings using the ad- Narrower term: Moache lndians jectival form of the tribes' names. Here are the ones Narrower term: Tabeguache lndians that are established for Cherokee Indians: Narrower term: Ute lndians Narrower term: Wiminuche lndians Cherokee art Cherokee astronomy A similar search for lndians of North America- Cherokee baskets Great Plains gets these results: Cherokee calendar Cherokee cookery lndians of North America-Great Plains Cherokee dance Narrower Term: Arapaho lndians Cherokee drawing Narrower Term: Arikara lndians Cherokee incantations Narrower Term: BruleG lndians Cherokee language Narrower Term: Cheyenne lndians Cherokee law Narrower Term: Comanche lndians Cherokee literature Narrower Term: Crow lndians Cherokee magic Narrower Term: Dakota lndians Cherokee mythology Narrower Term: Dhegiha lndians Cherokee painting Narrower Term: Hidatsa lndians Cherokee poetry Narrower Term: Hunkpapa lndians Cherokee pottery Narrower Term: Iowa lndians Cherokee weapons Narrower Term: Kiowa lndians Cherokee women Narrower Term: Mandan lndians Cherokee youth Narrower Term: Mill Creek lndians Narrower Term: Miniconjou lndians Each lndian tribe will not necessarily have all Narrower Term: Oglala lndians these subject headings established for the tribe, and Narrower Term: Omaha lndians other tribes may have subject headings established Narrower Term: Oneota lndians (Great that are not on this list. It all depends on what books Plains) have been wlitten and cataloged on the various as- Narrower Term: Oohenonpa lndians pects of lndian culture. The headings are established Narrower Term: Oto lndians as needed. Narrower Term: Ponca lndians Note that the term lndian can also be used Narrower Term: Sans Arc lndians as an adjective and refers to all lndian groups in gen- Narrower Term: Santee lndians eral. Subject heading such as lndian Narrower Term: Saone lndians mythology and lndian astronomy are broad in Narrower Term: Sihasapa lndians scope because they refer to all lndian groups. These Narrower Term: Siksika lndians terms can be subdivided geographically. That means Narrower Term: Siouan lndians they can take a place name after them as a geo- Narrower Term: Sisseton lndians graphical subject subdivision, like in this example: Narrower Term: Teton lndians lndian astronomy-North America. Note that Narrower Term: Yankton lndians the heading for this concept is not "lndians of North America-Astronomy." Note that the adjective "lndic" Of course it is possible to search each lndian is used for headings relating to the country India. tribe directly; the method shown above is helpful Some examples include: when a searcher does not know the tribes of a state lndic literature or region or when one wants to get a list of tribes of Mythology, lndic a particular area. It is possible that an lndian tribe or Science fiction, lndic ethnic group exists for which there is no established Relief (Sculpture), lndic subject heading; the available subject headings 40 Colorado Libraries V. 32, No. 4 2006 These headings are in inverted form because they Asian Americans are for ethnic groups that are outside the United Austrian Americans States and are non-Indian, i.e. non-native American. Azorean Americans The first example is not in inverted form because Bahamian Americans literatures are an exception to the inverted rule. The Bangladeshi Americans authority records have cross references for whatever Basque Americans form is not the correct form, and they will lead to the Belarusian Americans authorized form. Belgian Americans Note that Native Americans is a cross refer- Bengali Americans ence under the heading Indians of North America. Black Seminoles Also a common question at this point is, "What does Bosnian Americans the Library of Congress call people from India?" The Brazilian Americans answer is that they are called East Indians. British Americans Bulgarian Americans AFRICAN PEOPLES Cambodian Americans Another place that has a great diversity of Canadian Americans ethnic groups is Africa. Researchers can find lists Cape Verdean Americans of the groups in a country or region by searching Caribbean Americans Ethnologp[place] at the Library of Congress Carpatho-Rusyn Americans Authorities web site, just as they do for ethnic groups Catalan Americans in other countries. Most of the headings for individual Central American Americans groups consist of the group's name followed by the Central European Americans parenthetical gloss (African people) or a similar Chilean Americans gloss. Here are a few examples: Chinese Americans !Kung (African people) Colombian Americans Wolof (African people) Costa Rican Americans Xhosa (African people) Croatian Americans Baka (West African people) Cuban Americans Czech Americans Unlike ethnic groups in the United States and Danish Americans Indian tribes, LCSH does not use the adjectival form Dominican Americans of these names. Instead. they use the inverted form. Dutch Americans Here are some examples: East European Americans Beadwork, Xhosa East Indian Americans Art, Zulu Ecuadorian Americans Mythology, Baka Egyptian Americans Eritrean Americans ETHNIC GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES Estonian Americans Because the United States is a country of im- Ethiopian Americans migrants most of the names of the ethnic groups here European Americans include the name of the country of origin, followed by Filipino Americans Americans. To demonstrate this great diversity we Finnish Americans list below all the ethnic groups one retrieves when Flemish Americans doing a search of Ethnology-United States at the French Americans Library of Congress Authorities web site. Frisian Americans Gambian Americans Ethnology-United States Georgian Americans German Americans --See also: Afghan Americans Ghanaian Americans African Americans Greek Americans Afrikaner Americans Grenadian Americans Albanian Americans Guatemalan Americans Alsatian Americans Gujarati Americans Americans Guyanese Americans Arab Americans Haitian Americans Argentine Americans Hispanic Americans Armenian Americans Hmong Americans V. 32, No. 4 2006 Colo~rado Libraries Honduran Americans South Asian Americans Hungarian Americans Southeast Asian Americans Icelandic Americans Spanish Americans lndochinese Americans Sri Lankan Americans Indonesian Americans Sudanese Americans Iranian Americans Swabian Americans Irish Americans Swedish Americans Italian Americans Swiss Americans lvoirian Americans Syrian Americans Jamaican Americans Taiwanese Americans Japanese Americans Thai Americans Korean Americans Tibetan Americans Kurdish Americans Tongan Americans Laotian Americans Turkish Americans Latvian Americans Ukrainian Americans Lebanese Americans Vietnamese Americans Liberian Americans Walloon Americans Liechtenstein Americans WASPs (Persons) Lithuanian Americans Welsh Americans Luxembourg Americans West Indian Americans Macedonian Americans Yao Americans (Asian Americans) Maltese Americans Yemeni Americans Maratha Americans Yoruba Americans Mexican Americans Yugoslav Americans Minorcan Americans Montenegrin Americans Although this list looks pretty comprehensive, Nicaraguan Americans there are plenty of additional ethnic groups in the Nigerian Americans United States that are not listed here. For example. Norwegian Americans there is not a listing for 'Zambian Americans." Cer- Pacific Islander Americans tainly the group exists, but there has not been a need Pakistani Americans to create a subject heading for the group because no Palatine Americans book in the Library of Congress is about this group. Palestinian Americans Moreover, the list does not include ethnic groups that Panamanian Americans belong only to a specific part of the United States, Panjabi Americans such as Melungeons, Appalachians (People), and Peruvian Americans New Englanders. Polish Americans Portuguese Americans OTHER ETHNOLOGY AND DIVERSITY RELATED Romanian Americans SUBJECT HEADINGS Russian Americans This section concludes by listing some terms Ruthenian Americans and subject headings related to ethnic groups and Rwandan Americans making some brief comments: Salvadoran Americans Diversity: There is no such subject heading. Sami Americans However, Ethnic diversity is a cross reference on the Samoan Americans record for Pluralism (Social sciences). Also Ethnic Scandinavian Americans diversity policy is a cross reference on the record for Scottish Americans Multiculturalism. However there is a subject head- Serbian Americans ing for Diversity in the workplace. Sierra Leonean Americans Ethnic studies: There is no such subject Sikh Americans heading. Use instead either Ethnology-Study and Slavic Americans Teaching or Minorities-Study and teaching. Slovak Americans Be aware of the subject headings Indigenous Slovenian Americans peoples, Ethnic relations, Race relations, Ethnic Somali Americans groups, Whites, and Minorities. Sorbian Americans The world's largest landmass, Asia, has not South African Americans been treated very much in this article. However, the South American Americans subject headings for ethnic groups for this part of the Colorado Libraries V. 32. No. 4 2006 world are very straightforward and can be found at COMPARATIVE HOLDINGS the Library of Congress web site by searching Eth- This section provides a quantitative analysis nology-+place] where "place" is a country or region of the holdings of the Library of Congress Cata- or by searching the ethnic group names directly. log ~http://catalog.loc.gov/~,the OhioLink catalog Note that Asians is a valid subject heading.
. ,, . , SUWECT. . ~&d&$,, i . ' , : . 'id~ib~ .i ; id j~tr:: 2 ~lfs, lir; pgCle* , , .. ". > . . ;.;. :; ' ~, ,.,,, ,,'..,*& .. -.- *a*BSs - , .., .-, ,, i ' , ( African American art 35 165 85 I African American Methodists 35 4 1 7 African American preaching 22 37 11 African Americans 1392 2528 1212 African Americans-Brazil 0 1 1 Art, Zulu 2 3 2 Black English 104 207 107 Black race 214 399 178 Blacks-Brazil 152 123 82 Blacks-United States 1 6 1 Buraku people 108 34 13 Cherokee language 1 4 2 Cheyenne Indians 43 83 136 Creoles 17 39 29 Ethnology-Poland 56 36 11 Ethnology-Study and Teaching 22 28 19 Hispanic American consumers 17 18 20 Indians of North America-Colorado 16 32 140 Jicarilla Indians 5 7 13 Korean Americans 18 37 11 Latin Americans 2 9 12 Latin Americans--United States 20 26 30 Mexican American Folk Art 1 2 2 Mohawk Indians 25 49 22 Peruvian Americans 1 1 0 Ute Indians 37 39 167 Xhosa (African people) 28 37 19
Figure 1. Quantitative holdings analysis based on selected subject headings found in three online catalogs: Library of Congress, OhioLink, and Prospector. The data were gathered in September 2006.
V. 32. No. 4 2006 Colorado Libraries 43 Only hits for the exact subject headings listed below NOTES: are counted. That is to say, records that contained the subject heading in question with additional 'Lois Olsrud, "Difficulties of Subject Access subject subdivisions are not counted. For example, for Information about Minority Groups," The Acquisi- there are counted hits for Art, Zulu but not for tions Librarian 9/10 (1993): 47-60. Art, Zulu--Bibliography. The searches retrieved 2KarenA. Nuckolls, 'Subject Access to Diver- records for materials in all formats, except periodi- sity Materials: The Library of Congress Subject Head- cals, which were not included because they have the ing Shortfall," The Reference Librarian 45/46 (1994): subdivision Periodicals. 241 -251. Figure 1 shows that Prospector holdings 3Gretchen Walsh. "'Can We Get 'There from compare favorably with the holdings of the two other Here?': Negotiating the Washouts, Cave-Ins. Dead catalogs. Moreover, it shows that the holdings in Ends, and Other Hazards on the Road to Research all three catalogs for works about ethnic groups are on Africa," The Reference Librarian 87/88 (2004): 5- strong, based on these representative subject head- 96. ings. 4SanfordBerman, 'Things are Seldom What They Seem: Finding Multicultural Materials in Library CONCLUSION Catalogs," Alternative Library Literature 1990-1991 Access to library materials about ethnic (1992): 132-136. groups is facilitated by a controlled vocabulary such %anford Berman, "Stop Playing Hide-and- as the Library of Congress subject headings. There Seek with Ethnic Materials," Wilson library bulletin are many thousands of different ethnic groups and 52, no. 9 (May 1978): 691,719. native peoples, and many of these groups and 6Formore information on the African Ameri- peoples have been called by different names over can Subject Funnel Project, visit http:l/www.loc.govl time, so using a controlled vocabulary with cross catdir/pcc/sacolaframerfun.html (accessed Septem- references from variant forms of names is crucial to ber 23, 2006). providing access to these materials. The complex- ity of ethnic groups and ethnology is reflected in the subject headings used for these groups and their study, but the material presented here can serve as a basic introduction to conducting research in ethnic studies and can help make this research easier and more straightforward.
I I 44 Colorado Libraries V. 32, No. 4 2006