Per my manager's suggestion, I summarized a recent event and posted the summary on Around the Water Cooler, a posting board on our intranet. Below is the full content.
Background
In January 20, 2025, U.S. president Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14172. To respond, the Library of Congress (LC) published LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS TENTATIVE MONTHLY LIST 12 LCSH 2 (February 13, 2025). The two proposed geographic names changes are Gulf of Mexico, and Mount Denali. Heated debates and responses have appeared in AUTOCAT, an international electronic discussion list devoted to the cataloging and authority control community. We at CMS have selected a few representative responses and resources for your reference. Thank you.
Deadlines for Public Comments: 2/18/2025
Proposed LCSH change from Mexico, Gulf of to America, Gulf of. Comments are due TODAY. Send all comments on this list to the Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division - Email: listcomments@loc.gov by Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
Proposed LCSH change from Denali, Mount (Alaska) to McKinley, Mount (Alaska). Comments are due TODAY. Send all comments on this list to the Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division - Email: listcomments@loc.gov by Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
Response from PTCP (Policy, Training & Cooperative Programs Division, LC): 2/19/2025
PTCP acknowledges the communications that the Library has received in response to tentative monthly list 12 LCSH 2 (list 2412a). The Library of Congress defers to the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) for place names contained within our controlled vocabularies and classification. For more information, please see our Subject Headings Manual sheet H 690 Formulating Geographic Headings [https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeSHM/H0690.pdf] and visit the BGN webpage [https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names]
Judith P. Cannan
Chief, Policy, Training & Cooperative Programs Division
ABA Directorate, LCSG
Library of Congress, Washington D.C. 20540
Response from SAC (Subject Analysis Committee, American Library Association): 2/20/2025
To: Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division (PTCP), Library of Congress
We are writing to express our strong opposition to the proposed name changes of Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali on Tentative Monthly List 12 LCSH 2 (February 13, 2025), as well as the manner in which this list has been shared to the cataloging community.
The changes are not based on literary warrant, but political concerns. One of the names, Gulf of America, is less than a month old at time of proposal, while the previous name has been in use for centuries. The abrupt creation and implementation of this name change, as well as the unclear nature of its scope create uncertainty for catalogers applying geographic terms. The one-to-one name change is also inaccurate, as Executive Order 14172 states that name is meant to refer to “the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba,” which is not the extent of the Gulf of Mexico.
The name Mount Denali has been used by Indigenous communities for centuries. Changing the name to Mount McKinley contradicts the “nothing about us without us” policy adopted by the Library of Congress respecting Indigenous peoples and place names. According to the Library of Congress’s Interim guidelines for Indigenous heading proposals, “the Library’s guiding principle is to ensure consultation with the described community” to ensure that “the name chosen for [a] heading is the name preferred by the group of people themselves.” As reported by the Guardian, Indigenous Alaskans are dismayed by Trump's renaming and were opposed to the change according to Native News Online.
The change also comes as a departure from Library of Congress precedent in not recognizing politically-motivated geographic name changes, such as “Biafra, Bight of” (instead of “Bonny, Bight of”). The extensive number of geographical names on the list only serve to show the extent of the issue with changing the heading, both in terms of common use and clarity of scope. This change will have negative impacts on our catalogs and create problems for library users, particularly in libraries that do not have the staffing or ability to implement local changes.
Furthermore, it is extraordinary for a change to be made this quickly, with one of the citations in the change proposal dated the day the list was circulated, and that being the only day that comments will be received on this portion of the list. This goes against the considered nature of the way changes and additions should be made in a widely shared controlled vocabulary, particularly one that is used internationally. The short time frame precludes consultation or comment both from international bodies such as the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), and from non-United States based institutions which use LCSH and where no executive order has been issued to change these well-known geographic locations.
The changes proposed on Tentative List 2412a are not motivated by, nor do they provide, improved accuracy, accessibility or discoverability for library patrons, either within the US or in libraries worldwide. As a group interested in the improvement of subject analysis, we oppose the implementation of these changes.
Sincerely,
Subject Analysis Committee of the American Library Association
Additional Resources
Executive Order 14172—Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202500139/pdf/DCPD-202500139.pdf
Gulf of Mexico
https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-Mexico-Gulf-of-America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Mexico
Mount Denali
