From an email:
We are pleased to invite all library staff and library school students in the New York City metro area to join us on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 3 – 5 PM for an online screening of “Change the Subject. A Documentary About Labels, Libraries, and Activism” and a Q&A panel with the student activists and librarians featured in it or who have worked on making this change.
Change the Subject (2019. 55 min. Dir. Jill Baron & Sawyer Broadley) follows a group of Dartmouth College students and librarians who worked to change the Library of Congress Subject Headings containing the term “illegal aliens.” They sought support from the American Library Association and the Library of Congress to replace this terminology with bias-free subjects that instead promote inclusion in library catalog records. The plan brought forth by the Library of Congress was stalled in 2016 when, in an unprecedented move, the United States House of Representatives required the Library’s continued use of the term in its subject headings.
Despite the setback in Congress, this grassroots effort has garnered support from libraries across the country and there is a growing number of libraries embracing the “Change the Subject Project.” According to the SAC (Subject Analysis Committee) Working Group’s Final Report, published on June 19, 2020, at least 40 individual libraries have changed the subject headings in their local records. These include academic, public, special, and school libraries from across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. These libraries range from small, local church and school collections to large universities and county library systems.
A panel with Jill Barron, Tina Gross, Melissa Padilla, Steven Pisani, and Tomasz Kalata, all experts, activists, and/or librarians, will immediately follow the screening.
This screening is intended for library staff and library school students in the New York City metro area.
Registration is free. More information HERE.
This event was made possible by METRO’s 2020-2021 Equity in Action Grant Program.