What does decolonizing the library catalog mean? What does this work look like? In this session, we will explore the ways in which our catalogs represent and normalize certain viewpoints and why that presents a problem for our users. We will define the issue and then look at different ways we can work to break the hegemony of particular viewpoints in our work as catalogers making the catalog a place where diversity in thought and knowledge is exemplified.
Karl Pettitt is an Associate Professor & Coordinator of Catalog & Metadata Services at the University of Denver. He has been a faculty librarian since 2010 working in the field of cataloging for academic libraries. He holds a B.A. in Religion from Whitworth University, a M.A. in the History of Christianity from Wheaton College, and a M.L.I.S. from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He has broad academic interests, but he has spent most of his professional career studying and applying the art and science of bibliographic description for databases within academic libraries.
