*Cross posted to multiple lists.*

ALCTS e-Forum: Power that is Moral: Cataloging and Ethics

September 5-6, 2017

Moderated by Violet Fox and Beth Shoemaker

Please join us for an e-forum discussion. It’s free and open to everyone!

Registration information is at the end of the message.

Each day, discussion begins and ends at:

Pacific: 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Mountain: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Central: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Eastern: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Catalogers know that the decisions they make in their work can enhance or obscure access to resources. Instructions when applying subject headings are framed in the arguably unattainable prescription to strive for neutrality. Neither the ALA Code of Ethics or the 1994 Guidelines for ALCTS Members to Supplement the American Library Association Code of Ethics speak specifically to the day-to-day challenges faced by catalogers—how would a code written with cataloging practice in mind be useful?

At ALA Annual in June 2017, Elizabeth Shoemaker & Hope Olson spoke at the CaMMS Forum about “Power That Is Moral: Creating a Cataloging Code of Ethics” (http://connect.ala.org/node/265990). This forum is designed to continue that discussion about creating a document that would help guide ethical cataloging decisions.

Moderators

Violet Fox is Metadata Librarian at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University (Minnesota) and a 2013 graduate of the University of Washington iSchool. She has been the News Editor for Cataloging and Classification Quarterly since 2014. Her research interests include the intricacies of zine cataloging and the ethics of classification. Chat with Violet on Twitter at @violetbfox.

Beth Shoemaker is the Rare Book Cataloger at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archive & Rare Book Library. She graduated from the GSLIS at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2014. Her research interests are cataloging and discovery of artists’ books and ethics in cataloging and metadata production. You can reach her at: elizabeth.shoemaker@emory.edu.

What Is an e-Forum?

An ALCTS e-forum provides an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest, led by a moderator, through the e-forum discussion list. The e-forum discussion list works like an email listserv: register your email address with the list, and then you will receive messages and communicate with other participants through an email discussion. Most e-forums last two to three days. Registration is necessary to participate, but it's free.

For information about upcoming e-forums, please visit http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/e-forum

How to Register

You must register your email address to subscribe to or access an electronic discussion list on ALA's Mailing List Service. Once you have registered for one e-forum, you do not need to register again, unless you choose to leave the list. Find instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing online. (http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/e-forum/sympa)

If you have any problems, please contact alcts-eforum-request@ala.org.

*Posted on behalf of the ALCTS Continuing Education Committee.*