Sandy Berman has never met me. But I have met him, many times.I was first introduced to Sandy when I was a student in library school in the late '80's. He was described as "some kind of nut" who insisted on "pestering" and "hounding" the subject division of the Library of Congress about "trivial matters." You know the kind of thing: gender and racial equality, individual and ethnic rights, respect for minorities, as reflected in the labels and language and subject headings used by the Library of Congress to categorize information in the nation's libraries.
Throughout the next ten years or so, I kept running into Sandy in the pages of American Libraries and Library Journal and other publications. Articles by or about him and his "crazy cause" and letters to the editor supporting or opposing some action he had taken or had proposed be taken by LC or ALA or just the average public librarian working in the average public library. I wondered what his problem was. Why he didn't just do his job and stop making waves? After all, it didn't make any difference what words librarians used for subject headings. And librarians are supposed to be neutral and objective. Besides, the guy was just a cataloger, for heaven's sake!
And at some point during this period, Sandy moved from the fringes to the mainstream. Or the mainstream moved to where Sandy was. Suddenly, everywhere I looked people were concerned about labels and language and -- yes - even subject headings. For a while, Sandy was no longer "some kind of nut" but a pioneer, a trailblazer, an advocate of the oppressed.
Of course, that didn't last long. Now Sandy and those like him are once again marginalized, this time as "politically correct nuts" or just "p.c.-niks." But this time, I'm right out there with him. Thanks to Sandy, I know now that words matter, especially the official words that are used to label and categorize people and information. I have learned that catalogers are important and that what they do makes a difference. Catalogers determine the structure and language of information in the library which influences the structure and language of public knowledge and public discourse which is reflected in the social and legal structures based on that discourse.
I have also learned that neutrality and objectivity are not the same as apathy and indifference. I have been empowered to take an active role in advocating and protecting the individual and civil rights and interests of every citizen, especially the marginalized and the dispossessed. I have learned to expect to be called a "nut" and "militant" and "opinionated" and to be criticized as a bad librarian who doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut, and to keep talking.
And I love cataloging!
- Suzanne M. Stauffer