Politics In the Subject Catalog: Congress Wants To Tell The Library Of Congress Which Subject Headings Not To Use

The Strange Case of Congress and the Confounding (Re)Classifications

Adam Elsgrau | May 5, 2016

You wouldn’t think that a decision by the Library of Congress about what subject headings libraries generally should use in, for example, an online catalog would create a political flap. Then again, in Washington – like the world on the other side of Alice’s looking glass – the usual rules of, well, almost anything tend not to apply. Here’s the strange tale . . .
[...]Two announced changes would replace the subject heading classification “Aliens” with “Noncitizens,” and “Illegal aliens” with two headings: “Noncitizens” and/or “Unauthorized immigration.” Similar, but not identical, changes previously had been requested by Dartmouth College and also were endorsed by a formal ALA resolution adopted at the 2016 Midwinter Meeting in Boston.

Source: [Long URL manually broken on 3 lines; splice all three parts together to view this link:
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/advleg/federallegislation
/04-28-16%20Letter%20to%20House
%20Appropriations%20Committee%20Requesting%20Removal%20of%20LC%20Classification%20Language.pdf

<more at http://www.districtdispatch.org/2016/05/strange-case-congress-confounding-reclassifications/; related articles and links: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/advleg/federallegislation/04-28-16%20Letter%20to%20House%20Appropriations%20Committee%20Requesting%20Removal%20of%20LC%20Classification%20Language.pdf (Request to Remove “Library of Congress Classification” Amendment from Legislative Branch Appropriations Legislation. April 28, 2016) and https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4926/ (H.R.4926 - Stopping Partisan Policy at the Library of Congress Act. Latest action: April 13, 2016)>