Reviews

The Power to Name: Locating the Limits of Subject Representation in Libraries by Hope A. Olson

viccro's review

5.0

This is a really well thought out book that is unfortunately just as relevant today as the day it was written. Unlike Berman's Prejudices and Antipathies, most of the concerns that Hope Olson brings up have not yet been addressed by the Library of Congress. In large part this is because she does not critique individual subject headings as much as the structure that they exist within...a much more systemic issue that would take significant change to remedy.
Given all the research that Olson does into other fields for this book, I find it really interesting that she never uses the word "intersectionality", which had been coined by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989, years before this book was written.

autumn_alwaysreadingseason's review

3.0

A classic in cataloging literature, Olson uses a feminist perspective to critique foundational texts and standards in the profession. She closely reads Cutter and Dewey, looking at their shortcomings: the construction of a universal language, hierarchical relationships, and in Cutter's case the singular public. She then uses examples cataloged by LC to illustrate her points, showing how the systems alienate topics considered to be "other" to specific areas or, conversely, how these subjects are dispersed through the use of classification. Either way, it limits retrieval of those resources.

However, it is a little dated. I'm sure that there are new technologies and theories that could apply to Olson's argument today.