New LCSH for the war in Gaza
Soufi, Denise
Dear colleagues,
I’m writing to let you know that the following subject headings and classification numbers related to the war in Gaza have been approved and are available for use:
Gaza Strip--History--Bombardment, 2023- [sp2024000398]
Israel-Hamas War, 2023- [sp2023002951]
Includes the variant: Gaza War, 2023-
Class number: DS119.771
Israel-Hamas War, 2023---Campaigns [sp2024000388]
Israel-Hamas War, 2023---Campaigns--Gaza Strip [sp2024000390]
Israel-Hamas War, 2023---Religious aspects [sp2024000393]
Israel-Hamas War, 2023---Religious aspects--Judaism [sp2024000395]
October 7 Hamas Attack, Israel, 2023 [sp2024000359]
Includes the variants: Al-Aqsa Flood, Israel, 2023; Tufan Al-Aqsa, Israel, 2023
Class number: DS119.77
October 7 Hamas Attack, Israel, 2023--Hostages [sp2024000362]
October 7 Hamas Attack, Israel, 2023--Religious aspects [sp2024000363]
October 7 Hamas Attack, Israel, 2023--Religious aspects--Judaism [sp2024000364]
Related to these subject headings is one for the blockade of Gaza: Gaza Strip--History--Blockade, 2007- [sp2024000301]
All of these are listed in the latest approved subject heading list (https://classweb.org/approved-subjects/2406.html), and the full records are available in OCLC.
As of August, there were no resources in OCLC that focused on the war or the attack from an Islamic perspective, hence the absence of “Religious aspects—Islam.” I encourage anyone who catalogs such a resource to submit the appropriate proposal to LC or to contact the MEIS Funnel to make the proposal.
The Cataloging, Access and Discovery Subgroup of the Working Group on Palestine is working on recommended guidelines for representing the attack and war in bibliographic records which will be shared out at the MELA Annual Meeting.
Regards,
Denise
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Denise Soufi
Metadata Librarian for Middle Eastern Languages
Research Description & Management
203 Walter Royal Davis Library
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3900
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
P 919-926-3824 E dso...@email.unc.edu
Soufi, Denise
Dear Fatme,
Good question! No, we did not suggest any of those topics as related terms in the new subject heading records; it is unlikely they would have been accepted (“World War, 1939-1945”, for example, has no related terms). All those topics have corresponding subject headings.
War crimes in Gaza:
War crimes $z Gaza Strip
Israel-Hamas War, 2023- $x Atrocities $z Gaza Strip
Israel-Hamas War, 2023- $x Destruction and pillage $z Gaza Strip
For legal aspects of war crimes:
War crimes (International law)
Population transfer:
Population transfers ǂx Palestinian Arabs [geographic subdivision not allowed]
Genocide:
Genocide $z Gaza Strip
See the Subject Headings Manual, H 1200, for a complete list of subdivisions that can be used under wars.
Best,
Denise
From: Fatme Charafeddine <fc...@aub.edu.lb>
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2024 3:22 AM
To: Soufi, Denise <dso...@email.unc.edu>; mela...@googlegroups.com; mideas...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: New LCSH for the war in Gaza
Dear Denise,
Thank you for sharing the approved subject headings.
Did the committee suggest the following related terms (550):
Population transfer, War Crimes, International criminal law, or Genocide as described by many
Best regards,
Fatme Charafeddine
Associate University Librarian for Research and Academic Collaboration Services
University Libraries, American University of Beirut
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Soufi, Denise
Dear colleagues,
Thank you for your questions and concerns pertaining to the suite of proposals on the current war in Gaza. This email is a response to Sumayya’s suggestion that we share the proposal process.
To provide context for those of you not familiar with the LCSH proposal process, it’s important to know that the process is governed by instructions, rules, and practices outlined by LC’s Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO). To justify a new subject heading, it is necessary to have “literary warrant”, which is provided by a cataloged resource that requires the new subject heading. For current events which have few published resources, the name provided in the heading (the authorized access point, or AAP) needs to be justified by usage in English by news outlets as well.
Iman Dagher (UCLA) and I proposed the subject heading “Gaza War, 2023-” in December 2023. At that time there were few cataloged resources so we had to rely more on usage in English-language news outlets. We knew that “Israel-Hamas War” was more commonly used, but we thought we were justified in choosing “Gaza War” as the more accurate name. In February we met with LC staff; despite our justifications for “Gaza War” they were adamant that “Israel-Hamas War” needed to be in the AAP. Thus the choice of AAP reflects the bias in English-language (particularly American) news media.
The fact that the subject heading was first proposed in December and not approved until September should be an indication as to the amount of work that was required of us. Iman and I were primarily involved in the proposal for the war, to which we devoted many hours of difficult research and discussion. Added to that, we could not make proposals for any topics that do not have “literary warrant” as described above, and the amount of cataloged resources was quite small at the time. The best we could do was propose a heading for “Gaza Strip--History--Bombardment, 2023-” for which there was a January online UN document that my institution’s interim ME librarian supported cataloging for our library’s collection. And we were able to successfully argue, with much persistence, for the inclusion of “Tufan Al-Aqsa, Israel, 2023” as a variant access point for the attack.
I would like to reiterate that there is a very long list of subdivisions that can be added to the war heading that do not need to be proposed (see H 1200); many of them can be subdivided geographically. Some examples include:
Atrocities
Blockades
Casualties
Children
Destruction and pillage
Forced repatriation
Forced removal of civilians
Hostages
Occupied territories
Prisoners and prisons, Israeli
Protest movements
Repatriation of war dead
Women
None of this in any way is intended to defend or excuse the many biases that run through LCSH. For those of you who are cataloging resources about this topic, I urge you to submit proposals to LC for any headings you may need or to contact the MEIS Funnel to submit proposals for you. All we need is a cataloged resource that requires the subject heading. The Middle East and Islam are poorly represented in LCSH, and with your support, MEIS Funnel members will do their best to improve it.
The current result is disappointing, to say the least, given all the time and effort that was expended. It is possible that the AAP could be changed in the future if we can show the preponderance of a different name using reference sources. As Daniel notes, "Armenian Massacres, 1915 to 1923” was changed to "Armenian Genocide, 1915 to 1923" in 2020; another example would be the change of “Wilmington Race Riot, Wilmington, N.C., 1898” to “Wilmington Massacre, Wilmington, N.C., 1898” that same year. All this requires much research, and it should not be the burden of any one person. A case in point is the successful proposal by a group of MELA catalogers which resulted in the addition of “Palestine question (To 1948)” and “Palestine question (1948-)” to LCSH in 2023.
The MELA Committee on Cataloging will be hosting a panel on various projects in progress pertaining to metadata and the discoverability of resources on Palestine and Palestinians, and we invite you to join us to learn about the positive news in this area.
Respectfully,
Denise
--
Denise Soufi
Metadata Librarian for Middle Eastern Languages
Research Description & Management
203 Walter Royal Davis Library
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3900
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
P 919-926-3824 E dso...@email.unc.edu
From: Daniel Anger <danie...@nypl.org>
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2024 10:15 AM
To: sumayya ahmed <haw...@gmail.com>
Cc: fatna...@bulac.fr; Lavent, T. (Tine) <t.la...@nvic.leidenuniv.nl>; Soufi, Denise <dso...@email.unc.edu>; Fatme Charafeddine <fc...@aub.edu.lb>; mela...@googlegroups.com; mideas...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MELANET-L] Re: New LCSH for the war in Gaza
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Dear colleagues,
I'm curious how these LCSH changes compare to any updates made to Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2023 war. This could be a useful case study for the current war in Israel and Palestine. Personally, I need to read more about how grassroots efforts led to LC replacing "Armenian Massacres, 1915 to 1923" with "Armenian Genocide, 1915 to 1923" in 2020. (https://armenianweekly.com/2020/10/21/breaking-library-of-congress-corrects-armenian-massacres-subject-heading-to-armenian-genocide/)
Thank you all for highlighting the recent LCSH change.
Daniel
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 9:48 AM sumayya ahmed <haw...@gmail.com> wrote:
Greetings all,
Thank you Tine, for the reminder that as information professionals, we need to be careful about word use.
Here is a short video that explains why Israel Hamas war is an inaccurate term :
But to be honest with ourselves, we cannot expect the powers who are funding the onslaught in Gaza to describe it honestly.
It would be great if those Mela members who were involved in the process of choosing these subject headings could share the experience and process with us so that we are better prepared going forward.
Best,
Sumayya Ahmed
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 9:05 AM fatna...@bulac.fr <fatna...@bulac.fr> wrote:
Dear Tine,
I totally agree with you, this is too biased and Western centered of a view.
Regards
FZ
Le 15 sept. 2024 à 09:20, 'Lavent, T. (Tine)' via MELANET-L <mela...@googlegroups.com> a écrit :
Hi everyone,
I can't help but find these extremely problematic. Since when can the genocide be reduced to a "Israel-Hamas war"? Not a squeak about zionism? Hostages included but no mentioning of the thousands of Palestinians who have been unrightfully kidnapped, enforced disappeared and/or incarcerated without trial?
These headings are immensely biased.
Tine Lavent
Head librarian & Arabic language instructor
Library catalogue • Join our library's newsletter • Our opening hours
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Soufi, Denise
Dear Mohamed,
Many thanks for your support!—as well as the link to the book that could help the MEIS Funnel in the future. The WGP Cataloging, Access and Discoverability subgroup will undoubtedly be discussing a number of options at its next meeting.
Best,
Denise
From: Mohamed Hamed <mha...@berkeley.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2024 6:35 PM
To: Soufi, Denise <dso...@email.unc.edu>
Cc: mela...@googlegroups.com; mideas...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MELANET-L] Re: New LCSH for the war in Gaza
Dear Denise,
Thank you so much for your reply, and many thanks to you and all the Cataloging Committee and the subgroup of Cataloging, Access and Discoverability on Palestine. We immensely appreciate yours, Iman's and all the Cataloging Committee's work in this regard, and we highly appreciate the amount of effort you put in this work. We also understand the biases of LCSH, not just for this topic, but as you and others mentioned, many more.
In terms of examples of books that are already published, I saw this book recently where the subjects assigned do not reflect the content of the book, which is basically the genocide in Gaza. If I see other examples, I will share them with MEIS Funnel so you can use them in proposals.
Other than that, a couple of years ago, before LoC or ALA agreed to change the topic "Illegal aliens" my library, and probably others decided to have a local practice of changing this topic to what it is used now before the change happened. I am not sure how visible this idea is for the MELA community to agree on and implement for "Gaza war, 2023-".
Finally, I am looking forward to the ConC panel during MELA conference in November.
Thank you again, and my best,
Mohamed
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Mohamed Hamed, PhD.
Middle Eastern & Near Eastern Studies Librarian
438 Doe Library. University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000
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mha...@berkeley.edu
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