Sanford Berman and Hope Olson have been very influential in their criticisms of subject

cataloging. Provide some specific examples of subject headings or topics that Berman
and Olson mention as being problematic. What solutions do they suggest? Have some of
the issues they raised been addressed?
What are some of Barbara Tillett’s responses to criticisms of LCSH?
Please cite the required readings for this week in your answer.

In the case of Berman, he lists a number of that can not be found in most library
catalogs, most of which are focused on racism, sexism, or homophobia. Some of the
subject headings that he lists are fear of immigrants, drag queens, gynocide, and violence
against poor people. Most of Berman's issues with LCSH is that items are commonly
under-cataloged, and because LCSH change so little, it results in big issues for libraries of
all types. One of the biggest issues he has with LCSH is that subject headings tend to not
include information on ethnic or gender identity backgrounds, with the two examples he
lists being the lack of subject headings for Joan Hewett's book Getting Elected: The Diary
of a Campaign, and Rita Reed's book Growing up Gay: The Sorrows and Joys Gay and
Lesbian Adolescence (Berman, 50). Berman's suggestion to fix these issues are to simply
include subject headings relating to these topics, such as Chicana Politicians-Los Angelas
California in the case of Joan Hewett. At least from my own experience with cataloging, I
do think that some of these issues have been addressed, at least in more recent
publications. I know that typically when I pull a record to copy for our own library that
they have numerous subject headings relating to the topics that Berman takes issue with
being lacking. I am sure that older records for older books, however, are not up to par
and probably need to be fixed. 
In the case of Olson, she takes more issue with the way controlled vocabulary works and
the flaws with it rather than focus on specific subject headings in particular. Specifically,
she mentions that by LCSH being so limiting, it creates a hierarchy that can send users in
a direction that they do not desire, rather than what they are looking for. In her example,
she mentions how the term 'women' can prevent users from finding more specific terms,
such as 'abused women' or 'aged women': "For 'women' so many other headings begin
with the word 'women' that a general reference points catalogers and users in that
direction, rather than supplying a specific reference" (Olson, 645).  Unlike the case with
Berman, I do not think that this issue has been resolved. I have always felt that whenever
I search for something in our database, I have struggled to find more specific topics and
always get brought to more general topics instead. I definitely think that subject
headings need to become less broad so that users are able to find items that they are
looking for, rather than more broad terms. 
In Barbara Tillett's case, she argues that updating LSCH relies heavily on the librarians
that are cataloging to make suggestions, seeming to imply that if librarians do not make
the suggestions, updates will not be made. For a specific example, she mentions how
the European War, 1914-1918 subject heading changed to World War, 1914-1918 until
1981, and states that this is mainly due to the fact that the process in the 60s was
clunky, and once libraries stoped using the card system they were able to make changes
more efficiently. She even makes a gab at Berman at one point, saying: "What Mr.
Berman may see as his “reform” movement, we see as the normal process of maintaining
a controlled vocabulary. Every day we address new and changed headings coming from
our catalogers and our SACO Program partners and others worldwide, who use the same
procedures as our own Library of Congress staff" (Litwin). Personally, I find most of her
arguments rather lacking. While I do understand that before computers were a thing it
was difficult to update these subject headings, but I don't think there is as much of an
excuse anymore. I could see subject headings be something that could be updated at the
very least semi weekly (mostly as to not overwhelm catalogers), and that changes for
more of the problematic subject headings that Berman and Olson mention should be
worked on more.