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. ( )