Friends and Foes

It is difficult to maintain a neutral opinion about Sandy Berman and his work advocating for more sensitive and timely subject headings.

As one admirer put it:

"Sandy has that kind of effect. Either you embrace him as a perennial Don Quixote railing the nameless bureaucrats at LC or ALA, or you see him as a malcontent always causing trouble in libraryland" (Dodge & DeSirey, 1995, p. 48)
-- Daniel C. Tsang, Librarian and Gay & Lesbian advocate.

Berman has many admirers and glowing comments about his empathy and tireless efforts in questioning LC subject headings are easy to find.

From those who have worked for him:

"At long last I had become a member of the 'Sandynistas' - a guerrilla cataloger. And I am still in awe of what he and his staff were doing. With Sandy's encouragement … I have accomplished things I never thought I could do. With Sandy, the inspiration is yours if you want it. There are no limits, only those you impose upon yourself" (Dodge & DeSirey, 1995, p. 4)
-- Jan DeSiry, Cataloger at Hennepin County Library

And those who have been inspired by him:

"Sandy Berman's understanding of the processes through which people find information, his awareness of the biases and inadequacies of LC cataloging, and his dogged determination to make library materials accessible to library users have served as a model for librarians dedicated to making the richness of even the smallest collections serve the broadest spectrum of potential users" (Dodge & DeSirey, 1995, p. 35).
-- Elaine Harger, Co-founder of the Progressive Librarians' Guild

On his battles with the Library of Congress, Subject Cataloging Division:

"He has a ready sense of humor he uses like a stiletto to deflate overblown, pompous formulations. And while he has taken on opponents as varied as Idi Amin, creationism, and the EPA, his primary target for twenty years now has been the Library of Congress, Subject Cataloging Division" (Dodge & DeSirey, 1995, p. 12)
-- Mark Pendergrast

LC has not been particularly vocal in its opposition to Berman's requests for changes to subject headings, but Mary Kay Pietris, Chief of the Subject Cataloging Division from 1978 to 1992, has said:

"I am not steel-willed; I'm a pussycat. Sandy's the one who's steel willed. Actually, Sandy's a very nice person. We just have fundamental disagreements."

In explaining LC's reluctance to change subject headings unless absolutely necessary, Pietris explained the labour-intensive process of making a change prior to computerization:

"Let me give you an example. When we decided to take the hyphen out of folklore, it meant 6000 bibliographic records had to be changed. No, we're not computerized so that we can easily make the change: it meant writing it on every piece of paper. Is it worth making changes at the Library of Congress level and causing split files? Why bother making the change?"

But even Pietris acknowledges the influence of Berman's work:

"We know he's out there. If we are dealing with a non-scientific, social, 'with it' heading, we ask 'How did Hennepin County do it?' Since I got my MLS in 1965, Sandy Berman has been a large part of my professional life" (Dodge & DeSirey, 1995, p. 19)

Unfortunately, Berman's outspokenness led to a formal reprimand in 1999:

Berman's supervisors felt that his criticism of AACR2 was "both inappropriate as well as divisive as we move toward a full implementation of OCLC and the adoption of AACR2 cataloging rules" (Berry & Rogers, 1999, p. 13)
-- Charles Brown, HCL Director and Elizabeth Feinberg, Assistant Division Manager

Whatever your opinion of Sanford Berman, it is hard to deny that he has had a significant impact on librarianship.

"His thoughtful, irascible, and idealistic message heartily supports us all - each and every one. Three cheers for Sandy, who may not be every consumer's preference, but is a national phenomenon which makes me, for one, proud to be a librarian" (Dodge & DeSirey, 1995, p. 2)
-- Bill Katz

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