To organize information, librarians create structures. These structures
grow from a logic that goes back at least as far as Aristotle.
It is the basis of classification as we practice it, and thesauri and
subject headings have developed from it. Feminist critiques of logic
suggest that logic is gendered in nature. This article will explore
how these critiques play out in contemporary standards for the organization
of information. Our widely used classification schemes
embody principles such as hierarchical force that conform to traditional/
Aristotelian logic. Our subject heading strings follow a linear
path of subdivision. Our thesauri break down subjects into discrete
concepts. In thesauri and subject heading lists we privilege hierarchical
relationships, reflected in the syndetic structure of broader
and narrower terms, over all other relationships. Are our classificatory
and syndetic structures gendered? Are there other options?
Carol Gilligan’s In a Different Voice (1982), Women’s Ways of Knowing
(Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986), and more recent
related research suggest a different type of structure for women’s
knowledge grounded in “connected knowing.” This article explores
current and potential elements of connected knowing in subject
access with a focus on the relationships, both paradigmatic and syntagmatic,
between concepts.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/4586
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