As libraries explore new avenues of information access, the need for a critical evaluation of our bibliographic tools is more important than ever. With the potential of the emerging semantic web and the promise of linked data, how will systems originally designed to organize closed physical collections translate to an increasingly fragmented digital information space? How will deep-seated cultural biases affect access to a cross-cultural information environment? This paper will review the work of Sandy Berman’s Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People aiming to explore a critical framework to evaluate the cultural interoperability of library classification and subject heading systems in a broader information landscape.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that “higher education shall be equally accessible to all.” Yet, even in North America in 2017, “the likelihood of earning a college degree is tied to family income” (Goldrick-Rab). For those of us who work in Higher Ed, it’s likely

Wayne A. Wiegand shares some of the stories of activists who risked their lives to desegregate libraries during the civil rights era.

A brief history of some of the civil rights sit-ins and protests that happened in libraries.

This chapter considers diversity broadly to mean a variety of perspectives, whether grounded in race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic status, or disciplinary study. It begins with a description of the current environment of scholarly communication, looking at the demographics and state of affairs in academia, publishing, and librarianship, including how biases present in all three fields affect scholarly communication. It then moves to a consideration of how librarians and library publishing programs can transform scholarly communication. By adopting a social justice perspective--actively working against ignorance and indifference to reduce systematic biases and injustice in academia, publishing, and librarianship- academic libraries can make their collections and products more reflective of the breadth of knowledge and experiences found in society and make their processes more welcoming to a diversity of participants.

Below is the working text of my talk to ACRL/NY’s symposium on Money and Power, along with more nuanced answers to questions and comments I received. My ongoing thanks to the organizers, atte…

the Antigonish Movement, 2.0

One way of working out if the data you’re gathering is particularly sensitive is to do a thought experiment: what would happen if this data got into the hands of a malicious actor? Who would be keen to get their hands on it? What are the worst things that they could do with this data?  Sometimes,

How algorithmic models screw up what they claim to measure.

\reading Weapons of Math Destruction\

The language of the internet doesn't follow the rules of English.

Censors are increasingly focusing on books that represent diverse points of view

Getting online can be difficult for ethnic groups excluded from power, a study finds.

Our ICYMI series provide summaries of presentations, publications, webinars, and other educational opportunities that are of interest to I&A members. We keep a running list of upcoming events. …

The question of the gender gap on Wikipedia has been percolating for several years now and “categorygate” was simply the latest eruption in a series of stories that have brought the issue to the

There's a lot to like about Wikipedia, but it's becoming a hostile place for many editors.

ACRLog welcomes a guest post from AJ Robinson, Islamic Studies & South Asian Studies Librarian at Washington University in St. Louis.  "Some people don’t expect to see themselves in the library." This comment from Vivek Shraya, 2015 recipient of the South Asia Book Award, was a moment of clarity a