Ethnic Groups and Library of Congress Subject Headings
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Ethnic Groups and Library of Congress Subject Headings
Jeffre
INTRODUCTION tricks for success in doing African studies research3.
One of the challenges of studying ethnic Several sections of the article touch on subject head-
groups is the abundant and changing terminology as- ings related to African studies.
sociated with these groups and their study. This arti- Sanford Berman authored at least two works
cle explains the Library of Congress subject headings about Library of Congress subject headings for ethnic
(LCSH) that relate to ethnic groups, ethnology, and groups. His contentious 1991 article Things are
ethnic diversity and how they are used in libraries. A seldom what they seem: Finding multiculturalmateri-
database that uses a controlled vocabulary, such as als in library catalogs4 describes what he viewed as
LCSH, can be invaluable when doing research on LCSH shortcomings at that time that related to ethnic
ethnic groups, because it can help searchers conduct groups and to other aspects of multiculturalism.
searches that are precise and comprehensive. Interestingly, this article notes an inequity in the use
Keyword searching is an ineffective way of of the term God in subject headings. When referring
conducting ethnic studies research because so many to the Christian God, there was no qualification by
individual ethnic groups are known by so many differ- religion after the term. but for other religions there
ent names. Take the Mohawk lndians for example. was. For example the heading God-History of
They are also known as the Canienga Indians, the doctrines is a heading for Christian works, and God
Caughnawaga Indians, the Kaniakehaka Indians, (Judaism)-History of doctrines for works on Juda-
the Mohaqu Indians, the Saint Regis Indians, and ism. The default was for Christianity. Recently the
by other names. Because different sources from Library of Congress changed this policy and now re-
different times and places use different terms, a quires the gloss "(Christianity)" after "God" for works
keyword search on only a single term for the Mohawk on Christian theology. Berman's article outlining
Indians will never generate a comprehensive search these different practices and calling for change was
result. But by using a controlled vocabulary, such as published in 1992. So change does occur in LCSH,
LCSH, a single term can be assigned to bibliographic it just takes time. Although this is not a discussion of
records for works about the Mohawk Indians, regard- religious headings in this article, this example from
less of what they are called in each work. In this way, Berman is cited to demonstrate the pace of change in
a search will pull up all resources about the Indians, LCSH. A much earlier (1978) article by Bermans(not
regardless of what the resource calls them. viewed) also describes perceived shortcomings for
After explaining and giving examples of subject headings for ethnic groups in LCSH.
the Library of Congress subject headings for ethnic
groups. this article will examine Prospectorheadings are recorded in authority records that are ently, and this will be explained below in the section
created and distributed to libraries and other agen- on Indians. Additionally, there are numerous sub-
cies by the Library of Congress. These authority ject headings that relate to ethic groups in general.
records have several functions. One is to record These will be discussed in the section below with
the authorized heading for a person, place, thing, the heading, "Other Ethnology and Diversity Related
and such; including ethnic groups. Another function Subject Headings."
is to list variant forms-or synonyms-of the main
heading. These variant forms are also called cross AFRICAN-AMERICANS
references, and they refer a researcher from a vari- Among the controversies relating to sub-
ant form of the name of something to the authorized ject headings for ethnic groups that have occurred
form. over the years, perhaps none has been greater
For example, on the authority record for Bur- than that regarding the choice of heading for African
aku people, the term Buraku people is listed on the Americans. Throughout most of the 20th century,
authority record as the authorized form of the name. the heading was Negroes. This changed in the
There are several cross references on the record, late 1970s when the form was changed to Blacks.
including Aeta (Japanese people) and Tokushu Later, in the 1990s, the heading was changed again.
burakumin (Japanese people). The heading se- this time to Afro-Americans. A few years ago the
lected as the main heading is generally the one that heading was changed again, so the current head-
is most commonly used in reference sources. Still ing is African Americans. Libraries are necessarily
the selection of the main heading, and consequently conservative about changing subject headings not so
the selection of what the cross references will be, can much because they are conservative institutions, but
seem arbitrary. But the selection of a single autho- because of the labor involved in changing headings.
rized form is essential for in a controlled vocabulary In the days of card catalogs, it was cumbersome to
two terms cannot represent the same concept. change headings because library staff had to change
A searchable database of authority records, the actual catalog cards. Now with automated
called the Library of Congress Authorities, is freely systems, the task has become somewhat easier, but
available on the Internet at http://authorities.loc. manual changing of bibliographic records is still often
gov. In this database every country has a heading necessary when subject headings are changed.
that follows the pattern, Ethnology-[place]. Under Authority records, in addition to listing the
this heading for each country one can find listed as main heading and the cross references, occasionally
narrower terms the ethnic groups that belong to that also provide what are called scope notes that guide
country or region. For example to search Ethnol- librarians and library users in the correct assignment
ogy-Poland the authority record is retrieved, plus and usage of particular subject headings. For ex-
links to the authority records for the ethnic groups of ample, here is the scope note on the authority record
that country, like this: for African Americans:
Here are entered works on citizens of the
Ethnology-Poland United States of black African descent.
Narrower Term: Jacnwiez Works on blacks who temporarily reside in
Narrower Term: Kashubes the United States, such as aliens, students
Narrower Term: Kurpie from abroad, etc., are entered under Blacks-
Narrower Term: Lasowiacy -United States. Works on blacks outside
Narrower Term: Lemky the United States are entered under Blacks-
Narrower Term: Polanie (Slavic people) -[place].
Narrower Term: Poles An additional scope note also advises us-
Narrower Term: Silesians ers to search for subject headings that begin with
African American. There are numerous subject
Sometimes an ethnic group will span an area headings that follow this pattern, for example African
that is larger than a single country. Those ethnic American nurses. This practice of using the adjec-
groups will not be found when searching Ethnology- tival form of an ethnic group's name followed by a
[place] where the place is a country. To find some noun is the rule in LCSH for lndians and for American
ethnic groups using this method, it is necessary to ethnic groups. Additional examples following this
search for regions or continents as the place. An pattern are:
example is the Goths. The record for this group can African American art
b e found by searching EthnologpEurope. African American Methodists
Note that this method of finding the ethnic African American preaching
groups of a place does not work for lndians of the African American radio stations
Americas; headings for lndians are organized differ-
38 Colorado Libraries V. 32, No. 4 2006It is not true that the subject heading African also to Latino Americans, Latinos in the United
Americans has completely replaced the heading States, Hispanics in the Unites States, Spanish-
Blacks. Because only Americans can be African speaking people in the United States, and Spanish-
Americans, there has to be a term for people of Afri- surnamed people in the United States. This heading
can origin outside of the United States, and that term is also used in its adjectival form followed by a noun,
is Blacks. such as Hispanic American consumers. There is
The scope note on the record for Blacks also the subject heading Latin Americans, which
explains the proper usage of this heading: can be divided geographically to create the subject
Here are entered works on blacks as an heading Latin Americans-United States. So what
element in the population. Theoretical works is the difference between Hispanic Americans and
discussing the black race from an anthropo- Latin Americans-United States? The difference
logical point of view are entered under Black is that the Hispanic Americans are United States
race. citizens; the Latin Americans are just here on a visit.
Works on black people in countries whose Note also the subject heading Mexican
racial composition is predominantly black are Americans. The term "Chicanos" is a cross-refer-
assigned headings appropriate for the coun- ence under this heading. There is also a similar
try as a whole without the use of the heading subject heading for every Latin American country, for
Blacks. The heading Blacks is assigned example, Peruvian Americans. And there are many
to works on such countries only if the work adjectival subject headings that begin with the form
discusses blacks apart from other groups in Mexican American, such as Mexican American
the country. Folk Art.
So, to explain this usage, it might help to look
at the difference between the following two subject INDIANS
headings: Headings for lndians are probably the most
Blacks-Brazil complicated of all the groups, but a basic introduction
African Americans-Brazil is all that is needed to understand the main concepts
The first subject heading refers to black Brazilians liv- needed for research. The main subject heading,
ing in Brazil. The second one refers to black Ameri- Indians, refers to "the aboriginal peoples of the
cans who are in Brazil. Note that the heading Afri- Western Hemisphere, including Eskimos" according
can Americans-United States is wrong because it to the authority record. The subject heading lndians
is redundant. However it is not uncommon for cata- is used to refer to all lndians from Alaska to Tierra del
logers to assign this heading mistakenly anyway. For Fuego, but the Library of Congress also divides up
example, the incorrect heading sometimes appears lndians into five groups. According to the authority
in the Prospector catalog. There may be occasion to record for Indians,
assign the subject heading Blacks-United States. For convenience, the Western Hemisphere
According to the authority record for the heading has been divided into five basic geographi-
Blacks-United States, cal regions: North America, Mexico, Central
Here are entered works on blacks who tem- America, West Indies, and South America.
porarily reside in the United States, such as Works pertaining to Indian groups located
aliens, students from abroad, etc. Works on within the confines of one of these regions
citizens of the United States of black African are entered under lndians of the pertinent
descent are entered under African Ameri- region, e.g. lndians of North America;
cans. lndians of Mexico.
Note that, curiously, the Library of Congress contin-
ues to use the subject heading Black English and So the five main headings are:
not African American English. lndians of North America
Libraries may be interested in participating lndians of Mexico
in the African American Subject Funnel Project.This lndians of Central America
project is coordinated by SACO, which is the Sub- lndians of South America
ject Authority Cooperative Program of the Program lndians of the West lndies
for Cooperative Cataloging. The program provides The heading lndians of North America is further
a mechanism for libraries to propose new Library subdivided by U.S. State, Canadian province, or
of Congress subject headings that relate to African region (such as West (U.S.)) as shown in these
Americans. examples
lndians of North America-Colorado
HISPANIC AMERICANS lndians of North America-Alberta
This broad subject heading is used to refer lndians of North America-West (U.S.)
V. 32, No. 4 2006 rado Libraries
Colo~ 39This is the way, at the LC Authorities web site, reflect only those tribes about which materials have
individual tribes that are associated with a particu- been added to library collections creating the need
lar place can be found, like finding individual eth- for a corresponding subject heading.
nic groups under a country or region as described Some subject headings exist that represent
above. For example, if the search words are lndians groups of Indians, such as Algonquian Indians.
o f North America-Colorado, these are the results: There are see also references under these groups in
the index display for the tribes that are a part of the
lndians o f North A m e r i c a F o l o r a d o larger group.
Narrower term: Jicarilla lndians Also there exist many headings using the ad-
Narrower term: Moache lndians jectival form of the tribes' names. Here are the ones
Narrower term: Tabeguache lndians that are established for Cherokee Indians:
Narrower term: Ute lndians
Narrower term: Wiminuche lndians Cherokee art
Cherokee astronomy
A similar search for lndians of North America- Cherokee baskets
Great Plains gets these results: Cherokee calendar
Cherokee cookery
lndians of North America-Great Plains Cherokee dance
Narrower Term: Arapaho lndians Cherokee drawing
Narrower Term: Arikara lndians Cherokee incantations
Narrower Term: BruleG lndians Cherokee language
Narrower Term: Cheyenne lndians Cherokee law
Narrower Term: Comanche lndians Cherokee literature
Narrower Term: Crow lndians Cherokee magic
Narrower Term: Dakota lndians Cherokee mythology
Narrower Term: Dhegiha lndians Cherokee painting
Narrower Term: Hidatsa lndians Cherokee poetry
Narrower Term: Hunkpapa lndians Cherokee pottery
Narrower Term: Iowa lndians Cherokee weapons
Narrower Term: Kiowa lndians Cherokee women
Narrower Term: Mandan lndians Cherokee youth
Narrower Term: Mill Creek lndians
Narrower Term: Miniconjou lndians Each lndian tribe will not necessarily have all
Narrower Term: Oglala lndians these subject headings established for the tribe, and
Narrower Term: Omaha lndians other tribes may have subject headings established
Narrower Term: Oneota lndians (Great that are not on this list. It all depends on what books
Plains) have been wlitten and cataloged on the various as-
Narrower Term: Oohenonpa lndians pects of lndian culture. The headings are established
Narrower Term: Oto lndians as needed.
Narrower Term: Ponca lndians Note that the term lndian can also be used
Narrower Term: Sans Arc lndians as an adjective and refers to all lndian groups in gen-
Narrower Term: Santee lndians eral. Subject heading such as lndian
Narrower Term: Saone lndians mythology and lndian astronomy are broad in
Narrower Term: Sihasapa lndians scope because they refer to all lndian groups. These
Narrower Term: Siksika lndians terms can be subdivided geographically. That means
Narrower Term: Siouan lndians they can take a place name after them as a geo-
Narrower Term: Sisseton lndians graphical subject subdivision, like in this example:
Narrower Term: Teton lndians lndian astronomy-North America. Note that
Narrower Term: Yankton lndians the heading for this concept is not "lndians of North
America-Astronomy." Note that the adjective "lndic"
Of course it is possible to search each lndian is used for headings relating to the country India.
tribe directly; the method shown above is helpful Some examples include:
when a searcher does not know the tribes of a state lndic literature
or region or when one wants to get a list of tribes of Mythology, lndic
a particular area. It is possible that an lndian tribe or Science fiction, lndic
ethnic group exists for which there is no established Relief (Sculpture), lndic
subject heading; the available subject headings
40 Colorado Libraries V. 32, No. 4 2006These headings are in inverted form because they Asian Americans
are for ethnic groups that are outside the United Austrian Americans
States and are non-Indian, i.e. non-native American. Azorean Americans
The first example is not in inverted form because Bahamian Americans
literatures are an exception to the inverted rule. The BangladeshiAmericans
authority records have cross references for whatever Basque Americans
form is not the correct form, and they will lead to the BelarusianAmericans
authorized form. Belgian Americans
Note that Native Americans is a cross refer- Bengali Americans
ence under the heading Indians of North America. Black Seminoles
Also a common question at this point is, "What does Bosnian Americans
the Library of Congress call people from India?" The Brazilian Americans
answer is that they are called East Indians. British Americans
Bulgarian Americans
AFRICAN PEOPLES Cambodian Americans
Another place that has a great diversity of Canadian Americans
ethnic groups is Africa. Researchers can find lists Cape Verdean Americans
of the groups in a country or region by searching Caribbean Americans
Ethnologp[place] at the Library of Congress Carpatho-Rusyn Americans
Authorities web site, just as they do for ethnic groups Catalan Americans
in other countries. Most of the headings for individual Central American Americans
groups consist of the group's name followed by the Central European Americans
parenthetical gloss (African people) or a similar Chilean Americans
gloss. Here are a few examples: Chinese Americans
!Kung (African people) Colombian Americans
Wolof (African people) Costa Rican Americans
Xhosa (African people) Croatian Americans
Baka (West African people) Cuban Americans
Czech Americans
Unlike ethnic groups in the United States and Danish Americans
Indian tribes, LCSH does not use the adjectival form Dominican Americans
of these names. Instead. they use the inverted form. Dutch Americans
Here are some examples: East European Americans
Beadwork, Xhosa East Indian Americans
Art, Zulu EcuadorianAmericans
Mythology, Baka Egyptian Americans
Eritrean Americans
ETHNIC GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES Estonian Americans
Because the United States is a country of im- Ethiopian Americans
migrants most of the names of the ethnic groups here European Americans
include the name of the country of origin, followed by Filipino Americans
Americans. To demonstrate this great diversity we Finnish Americans
list below all the ethnic groups one retrieves when Flemish Americans
doing a search of Ethnology-United States at the French Americans
Library of Congress Authorities web site. Frisian Americans
Gambian Americans
Ethnology-United States Georgian Americans
German Americans
--See also: Afghan Americans Ghanaian Americans
African Americans Greek Americans
Afrikaner Americans Grenadian Americans
Albanian Americans Guatemalan Americans
Alsatian Americans Gujarati Americans
Americans Guyanese Americans
Arab Americans Haitian Americans
Argentine Americans Hispanic Americans
Armenian Americans Hmong Americans
V. 32, No. 4 2006 rado Libraries
Colo~Honduran Americans South Asian Americans
Hungarian Americans Southeast Asian Americans
Icelandic Americans Spanish Americans
lndochinese Americans Sri Lankan Americans
Indonesian Americans Sudanese Americans
Iranian Americans Swabian Americans
Irish Americans Swedish Americans
Italian Americans Swiss Americans
lvoirian Americans Syrian Americans
Jamaican Americans Taiwanese Americans
Japanese Americans Thai Americans
Korean Americans Tibetan Americans
Kurdish Americans Tongan Americans
Laotian Americans Turkish Americans
Latvian Americans Ukrainian Americans
Lebanese Americans Vietnamese Americans
Liberian Americans Walloon Americans
Liechtenstein Americans WASPs (Persons)
Lithuanian Americans Welsh Americans
Luxembourg Americans West Indian Americans
Macedonian Americans Yao Americans (Asian Americans)
Maltese Americans Yemeni Americans
Maratha Americans Yoruba Americans
Mexican Americans Yugoslav Americans
Minorcan Americans
Montenegrin Americans Although this list looks pretty comprehensive,
Nicaraguan Americans there are plenty of additional ethnic groups in the
Nigerian Americans United States that are not listed here. For example.
Norwegian Americans there is not a listing for 'Zambian Americans." Cer-
Pacific Islander Americans tainly the group exists, but there has not been a need
Pakistani Americans to create a subject heading for the group because no
Palatine Americans book in the Library of Congress is about this group.
Palestinian Americans Moreover, the list does not include ethnic groups that
Panamanian Americans belong only to a specific part of the United States,
Panjabi Americans such as Melungeons, Appalachians (People), and
Peruvian Americans New Englanders.
Polish Americans
Portuguese Americans OTHER ETHNOLOGY AND DIVERSITY RELATED
Romanian Americans SUBJECT HEADINGS
Russian Americans This section concludes by listing some terms
Ruthenian Americans and subject headings related to ethnic groups and
Rwandan Americans making some brief comments:
Salvadoran Americans Diversity: There is no such subject heading.
Sami Americans However, Ethnic diversity is a cross reference on the
Samoan Americans record for Pluralism (Social sciences). Also Ethnic
Scandinavian Americans diversity policy is a cross reference on the record for
Scottish Americans Multiculturalism. However there is a subject head-
Serbian Americans ing for Diversity in the workplace.
Sierra Leonean Americans Ethnic studies: There is no such subject
Sikh Americans heading. Use instead either Ethnology-Study and
Slavic Americans Teaching or Minorities-Study and teaching.
Slovak Americans Be aware of the subject headings Indigenous
Slovenian Americans peoples, Ethnic relations, Race relations, Ethnic
Somali Americans groups, Whites, and Minorities.
Sorbian Americans The world's largest landmass, Asia, has not
South African Americans been treated very much in this article. However, the
South American Americans subject headings for ethnic groups for this part of the
Colorado Libraries V. 32. No. 4 2006world are very straightforward and can be found at COMPARATIVE HOLDINGS
the Library of Congress web site by searching Eth- This section provides a quantitative analysis
nology-+place] where "place" is a country or region of the holdings of the Library of Congress Cata-
or by searching the ethnic group names directly. log ~http://catalog.loc.gov/~, the OhioLink catalog
Note that Asians is a valid subject heading. , and the Prospector
There is a general subject heading for Aboriginal for works about
Australians. Individual groups of aboriginal Austra- ethnology or ethnic groups. The subject headings in
lians are established following this pattern used for Figure 1 are taken from the examples we use in this
this group: Yankunytjatjara (Australian people). article. This non-scientific look is only done to give a
There has been no coverage of headings for Jews rough idea of what is held in Colorado libraries and
in this article because in LCSH they are considered how these holdings compare to the holdings in two
adherents to a religion rather than an ethnic group. other online catalogs. The OhioLink catalog is select-
Note also the subject headings Racially mixed ed because it is similar to Prospector in some ways.
people, Racially mixed children, Creoles, and It is a union catalog for a single state and is also
Eurasians. an Innovative Interfaces catalog. The other catalog
selected is the Library of Congress online catalog.
SUWECT
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( African American art
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85 I
African American Methodists 35 41 7
African American preaching 22 37 11
African Americans 1392 2528 1212
African Americans-Brazil 0 1 1
Art, Zulu 2 3 2
Black English 104 207 107
Black race 214 399 178
Blacks-Brazil 152 123 82
Blacks-United States 1 6 1
Buraku people 108 34 13
Cherokee language 1 4 2
Cheyenne Indians 43 83 136
Creoles 17 39 29
Ethnology-Poland 56 36 11
Ethnology-Study and Teaching 22 28 19
Hispanic American consumers 17 18 20
Indians of North America-Colorado 16 32 140
Jicarilla Indians 5 7 13
Korean Americans 18 37 11
Latin Americans 2 9 12
Latin Americans--United States 20 26 30
Mexican American Folk Art 1 2 2
Mohawk Indians 25 49 22
Peruvian Americans 1 1 0
Ute Indians 37 39 167
Xhosa (African people) 28 37 19
Figure 1. Quantitative holdings analysis based on selected subject headings found in three online catalogs:
Library of Congress, OhioLink, and Prospector. The data were gathered in September 2006.
V. 32. No. 4 2006 Colorado Libraries 43Only hits for the exact subject headings listed below NOTES:
are counted. That is to say, records that contained
the subject heading in question with additional 'Lois Olsrud, "Difficulties of Subject Access
subject subdivisions are not counted. For example, for Information about Minority Groups," The Acquisi-
there are counted hits for Art, Zulu but not for tions Librarian 9/10 (1993): 47-60.
Art, Zulu--Bibliography. The searches retrieved 2KarenA. Nuckolls, 'Subject Access to Diver-
records for materials in all formats, except periodi- sity Materials: The Library of Congress Subject Head-
cals, which were not included because they have the ing Shortfall," The Reference Librarian 45/46 (1994):
subdivision Periodicals. 241-251.
Figure 1 shows that Prospector holdings 3Gretchen Walsh. "'Can We Get 'There from
compare favorably with the holdings of the two other Here?': Negotiating the Washouts, Cave-Ins. Dead
catalogs. Moreover, it shows that the holdings in Ends, and Other Hazards on the Road to Research
all three catalogs for works about ethnic groups are on Africa," The Reference Librarian 87/88 (2004): 5-
strong, based on these representative subject head- 96.
ings. 4SanfordBerman, 'Things are Seldom What
They Seem: Finding Multicultural Materials in Library
CONCLUSION Catalogs," Alternative Library Literature 1990-1991
Access to library materials about ethnic (1992): 132-136.
groups is facilitated by a controlled vocabulary such %anford Berman, "Stop Playing Hide-and-
as the Library of Congress subject headings. There Seek with Ethnic Materials," Wilson library bulletin
are many thousands of different ethnic groups and 52, no. 9 (May 1978): 691,719.
native peoples, and many of these groups and 6Formore information on the African Ameri-
peoples have been called by different names over can Subject Funnel Project, visit http:l/www.loc.govl
time, so using a controlled vocabulary with cross catdir/pcc/sacolaframerfun.html (accessed Septem-
references from variant forms of names is crucial to ber 23, 2006).
providing access to these materials. The complex-
ity of ethnic groups and ethnology is reflected in the
subject headings used for these groups and their
study, but the material presented here can serve as
a basic introduction to conducting research in ethnic
studies and can help make this research easier and
more straightforward.
I I
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