Washington Hotline


C&RL News June 2016 306

Emily Sheketoff is executive director of the ALA 
Washington Office, email: esheketoff@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eEmily Sheketoff

Administrative action lands Library of 
Congress in “immigration” imbroglio
Until recently, it might have been hard to 
imagine any matter that could conceivably 
be taken up in Washington less likely to 
spark political controversy than the choice 
of subject headings used by the Library of 
Congress (LC) in cataloging materials. That 
all changed in late March of this year when 
LC routinely proposed updating nearly 
100 outmoded subject headings. Two such 
changes would replace the subject heading 
aliens with noncitizens and illegal aliens 
with two headings: noncitizens or unau-
thorized immigration. 

Within weeks, Representative Diane 
Black (R-TN6) introduced a bill that would 
bar LC from making those specific changes. 
No reason was given, but the bill’s title 
provided a clue. H.R. 4926, the “Stopping 
Partisan Policy at the Library of Congress 
Act,” had 20 cosponsors upon introduction 
and 35 at this writing, all members of the 
majority. 

The bill also has the backing of the Fed-
eration for American Immigration Reform 
(FAIR), which described LC’s heading change 
proposals as “blatant capitulation to political 
correctness” and “pandering to pro-amnesty 
groups.” (Similar, but not identical, changes 
previously had been requested by Dart-
mouth College and were endorsed formally 
by ALA early in 2016.)

On April 17, four days after H.R. 4926’s 
introduction, the Legislative Branch Subcom-
mittee of the House Appropriations Com-
mittee adopted this language in the official 
report accompanying the bill in effect coun-
termanding LC’s professional judgments: 
“To the extent practicable, the Committee 

instructs the Library to maintain certain sub-
ject headings that reflect terminology used in 
title 8, United States Code.” In other words, 
illegal aliens and other disputed headings 
stay on the books unless LC opts to ignore 
the express wishes of its funders. 

On April 28, the presidents of ALA and 
ALCTS (ALA’s division of members expert in 
cataloging and classification) wrote jointly to 
the members of the full House Appropria-
tions Committee asking that they remove the 
Subcommittee report’s instruction to LC from 
the bill when they consider it. Specifically, 
they argued:

• LC’s process in this case was rigor-
ous, transparent, and consistent with the 
highest standards of professional catalog-
ing practice;

• decisions to update a subject heading 
are based on many considerations, including 
literary warrant: the frequency with which a 
term is or is not used in print and other dy-
namic resources that, by their nature, change 
with and reflect current social structures and 
norms (citing, for example, the Associated 
Press’ recent decision to cease using the 
phrase illegal alien); 

• LC reasonably and properly concluded 
in this instance that, when used in reference 
to people, the long-used terms illegal and 
alien have in recent decades acquired de-
rogatory connotations, become pejorative, 
and been associated with nativist and racist 
sentiments; and 

• LC’s proposed changes are fully con-
sistent with accepted professional cataloging 
standards and practices. In fact, they con-
cluded, a compelling case can be made that 
the proposed changes are required by them.

Whether these scholarly arguments pre-
vail in the current political climate remains to 
be seen. We will continue to monitor action 
on the bill.