1. Changing Depictions of Persons in Library Practice
Spirits, Pseudonyms, and Human Books
Brian Dobreski, Doctoral Candidate
Syracuse University
Barbara H. Kwaśnik, Professor
Syracuse University

2. Keep These in Mind…
What is the responsibility of the library with respect to information about individuals it compiles? How can libraries determine what is “bibliographically significant”? How well can library data be understood out of context?

3. Introduction
Libraries have a long history of representing persons as information Standards have brought practices into order What is the story of how persons have been depicted?
Ruby Ethel Cundiff, Peabody Visual Aids, ca. 1940

4. Approach When are libraries called upon to represent persons?
Authority control
Community information
Oral history
Human Libraries
What standards guide these practices?

5. Community Information
Sources
Authority Control
Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (1967)
Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd. Ed. (1978)
Resource Description and Access (2010)
Community Information
MARC Community Information Format (1992)
Oral History
Oral History Cataloging Manual (1995)
Human Libraries
Living Library Organiser’s Guide (2005)

6. Sources

7. Analysis 1. Identify units of analysis 2. Inductive content analysis
Coded for descriptive elements
3. Semantic alignment
4. Close reading
5. Thematic development

8. Element Alignment

9. Themes
What is a Person? From Name to Identity Diversity and Inclusivity Justification and Authority

10. What is a Person?
Maxwell Memorial Library, Oral History, 2011

11. From Name to Identity AACR2 MARC CI RDA
Book Title: A soldier with PTSD
Description: Imagine going off to war and not knowing if you will ever come back and see your loved ones again. Imagine having to fight in real combat with enemies dedicated to ending your life and so you must fight to end theirs or lose your own. This is the reality of the soldier and that is why many of them come back with PTSD.
Prejudices: bloodthirstiness, that they are violence prone and talks about living out childhood fantasies of combat scenarios from the computer game, in real life
AACR2
MARC CI
RDA

12. Diversity and Inclusivity
English terminology
Institutional preference
Christian era dates
Institutional preference
Gregorian calendar
Institutional preference
English names titles
Language conferred
“Saints” & “Spirits”
“Saints” & “Spirits”

13. Justification and Authority
College at Brockport, Card Catalog, ca. 1980
University of California, Irvine, Oral History, 2011
Syracuse University, Human Library, 2013

14. What’s the Story?
“Persons” range from strings of characters, to surrogates for social problems True unit of analysis is “Identity” Differing goals among practices More information, more sources – do we want it all? Local needs vs. widespread usability

15. Data Sharing Considerations
"Linking Open Data cloud diagram 2017, by Andrejs Abele, John P. McCrae, Paul Buitelaar, Anja Jentzsch and Richard Cyganiak.

16. Library Data vs. The Web

17. Representation vs. Accuracy
Principle of Accuracy
“The data describing a resource should provide supplementary information to correct or clarify ambiguous, unintelligible, or misleading representations made on sources of information forming part of the resource itself”
RDA
Principle of Representation “The data describing a resource should reflect the resource’s representation of itself”
RDA

18. One vs. Many
+ ?
SIOC-Project, 2006,

19. Once Again…
What is the responsibility of the library with respect to information about individuals it compiles? How can libraries determine what is “bibliographically significant”? How well can library data be understood out of context?

20. Thank You Brian Dobreski Syracuse University bjdobres@syr.edu
Barbara H. Kwaśnik
Syracuse University