“Cataloging Must Change!” and Indexer Consistency Studies: Misreading the Evidence at Our Peril
Thomas Mann · Cataloging & Classification Quarterly · 1997
An article published in 1991 “Cataloging Must Change!” by Dorothy Gregor and Carol Mandel, has popularized the belief that there is only “ten to 20 percent” agreement among subject catalogers in assigning LC subject headings. Because of this alleged lack of consistency, the article suggests, catalogers “can be more accepting of variations in subject choices” in copy cataloging. This inference, however, is based on a serious misreading of previous studies of indexer consistency. The “ten to 20 percent” agreement figure actually derives from studies of people trying to guess the same natural language key words, precisely in the absence of vocabulary control mechanisms such as thesauri or Library of Congress Subject Headings. The sources cited by Gregor and Mandel fail to support their conclusion; in fact, some of the sources directly contradict it. A naive acceptance by the library profession of the “ten to 20 percent” claim can only have negative consequences for the quality of subject cataloging created, and accepted, throughout the country.