The Politics of Standard Selection Guides: The Case of the "Public Library Catalog"

Abstract

Using the "Public Library Catalog (PLC)" as an example, we show how a well-respected collection development tool contains ideological frames. Graduate students at a library science program at a North American university were asked, as part of a class assignment, to evaluate PLC recommendations for subject areas in which they had background knowledge. The PLC often makes recommendations that have an imbalance of perspectives (for example, missing theoretical perspectives, overemphasis of a particular facet or theory within a field, missing voices), lack authority, do not have a close match between recommended title and topic area, do not provide a comprehensive framework for the subject area, and are problematic in terms of their usability (for example, lack of balance between scholarly and popular titles, datedness, and format).