CFP: Ethical Questions in Name Authority Control

Call for chapter proposals
Working Title: Ethical Questions in Name Authority Control
Editor: Jane Sandberg
Submission Deadline: October 20, 2017
Publisher: Library Juice Press

Book description
Catalogers hold very specific types of power when they describe people, families, and corporate bodies. When creating a personal name authority record, for example, catalogers determine the authorized name by which an individual will be known, then identify a few characteristics of the individual that distinguish them from others, while balancing their judgment with respect for the individual’s self-concept. This is a powerful position, and that power must be exercised ethically.

As name authority control moves toward an identity management model, catalogers are taking on new roles, authority data is used in innovative ways, and libraries increasingly interact with non-library datasets and name disambiguation algorithms. During this transition, it is imperative that the library community reflect on the ethical questions that arise from its historical and emerging practices.

The present volume raises many of these questions in the hope of building toward a framework for the ethical practice of name authority control. This framework would include — at minimum — the following concepts:

Respect for the people described in authority systems, including deceased people
Fulfillment of name authority control objectives for names from a variety of cultural naming traditions and personal histories
Local community needs
Acknowledgment of historical and contemporary injustices
Consideration of potential future uses of authority data
Ethical employment practices

This collection will explore and develop this framework through theoretical and practice-based essays, stories, content analyses, and other methods. As it explores ethical questions in a variety of settings, this book will deepen readers’ understanding of names, identities, and library catalogs. The chapters from this volume are intended to spark conversations among librarians, archivists, library technologists, library administrators, and library and information science students.

Possible topics include but are not limited to the following:

Ethical dimensions of an identity management approach to authority control (e.g. how should catalogers approach linking to flawed name authority data?)
Responses to the PCC Ad Hoc Task Group on Gender in Name Authority Records recommendations
Representations of people with Arabic, CJK, and Indigenous names in Google Scholar, ISNI, ORCID, Scopus, and online repositories
Applying contemporary gender and demographic terms to non-contemporary people
Describing people using demographic terms taken from thesauri other than LCSH or LC Demographic Group Terms (e.g. First Nations House of Learning thesaurus, Homosaurus)
Barriers (technological, structural, etc.) to ethical name authority control
Assumptions and flaws in name disambiguation and clustering algorithms
Author privacy concerns
Online name authority files in the context of right-to-be-forgotten laws
Decolonizing name authority files
Ethical dimensions of corporate and family name authority control
Creating authority data in conjunction with the people and groups they describe
Emotional labor in name authority work
Connections between hiring and employment practices and name authority work
Ethical name authority questions in consortial environments
Effective advocacy for ethical name authority control and identity management practices

Timeline

Abstract submission deadline: October 20, 2017
Notification/Feedback regarding submission: December 1, 2017
First drafts due: April 13, 2018
Final drafts due: June 8, 2018
Final manuscript due to publisher: July, 2018

Submissions
Please email abstracts of up to 500 words to sandbej [at] linnbenton [dot] edu.

Abstracts should briefly describe your topic and how your chapter will help to build a framework of ethical name authority control practice. You are welcome to submit multiple abstracts about different possible topics. If your submission is tentatively accepted, the editor may request modifications. Material cannot be previously published.

Final chapters will be in the 2000-5000 word range. The volume will contain perspectives from a range of NACO and non-NACO libraries. Abstracts that explore the ethical dimensions of name authority work in tribal libraries, HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, community colleges, public libraries, archives, school libraries, special libraries, and libraries outside the United States are particularly encouraged.

Please direct any questions to Jane Sandberg (sandbej [at] linnbenton [dot] edu).

About the Editor
Jane Sandberg received her MLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the Electronic Resources Librarian at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon, where she coordinates library cataloging and systems. Her research interests include linked data approaches to name authority control, queer and trans local histories, open source software in rural communities, and historical dimensions of online transgender activism.