Mission
The African American Studies Librarians Interest Group (AASLIG) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) broadly addresses the research and services associated with identifying, preserving and disseminating information on the study of African American history, culture and life. Working collaboratively with the Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloging, it has created a committee to provide input and guidance on terminology that accurately reflects the African American experience. It is critically important that scholars and researchers have relevant accessibility to subject classifications for information and resources in the field.
Purpose
The funnel project is concentrating on the creation of new subject headings and the changing or updating of old subject headings relating to the African American experience. Through this project participants of the funnel will focus on providing and improving access to African American resources. To date, a variety of headings have been proposed such as: African American---Reparations and African American social reformers. Subject changes have also been proposed and accepted which include changing the heading Afro-American to African American.
Interest in becoming a participant in the funnel project should be addressed to: Tahirah Akbar-Williams (Interim), takbarwi@umd.edu.
Incorporating documents, AFAS/AASLIG Funnel Project History (Word : 14KB)
Please refer to https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/saco/aframerfun.html for more information.
Recommendations for Preservation
a) ALA items- President Notes, AFAS Documents, etc.
b) AASLIG Newsletters
a) White papers produced internally
b) Meeting Notes/Agenda items
c) Recordings
a) PCC Newsletter
b) LOC Cataloging Newsline
Links for further clarification to Preservation Recommendation (all of these are materials I found and cobbled together to better understand the history of the SACO African American Funnel and its impact) .
LOC Cataloging Newsline Links:
Validates at least one subject heading change
Origins-Africana Subject Funnel
SACO-Related Articles:
LOC Cataloging Newsline Archive
We will need to search from roughly 2000-2012 to see if there are any other mentions of changes made by the African American Funnel Project.
This implies that there were at least three subject changes that the Funnel group implemented, so far I have only been able to validate the last one: Afro-American to African American (2000).
After some back and forth with Paul Frank, LOC rep. they were able to pull works using the code InWlP-BC, which is proposal submissions keyed into Purdue Black Cultural Center Library. I was able to validate three more submissions under this code. But frankly I doubt the integrity of the search conducted. The email didn’t mention how the search was constructed in terms of year.
ACRL Board of Directors Diversity Taskforce Whitepaper (2007)
Purdue Announcement for the Black Cultural Center Liaison
Indiana Black Librarians Group
Dorothy Ann Washington Writings:
(see note 6, pg. 4)
(Papers from her time in Uganda-Box 11), International Relations Office
Chair(Interim)
Tahirah Akbar-Williams, MLS, MA
College of Education & African American Studies
McKeldin Library, 7649 Library Lane
Office # 4235
College Park, MD 20742-7011
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Co-Chair
Deborah Tomaras
Metadata and Resource Management Libraria
James A. Cannavino Library
Marist College
3399 North Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
she/her/hers
Coordinator
Aaron M. Wilson
Importance of SACO Funnel: The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) established individual groups composed of catalogers and subject specialist, called funnels, whose primary goal is the creation of new subject headings for areas and ethnicities of particular interest. The Funnels represent the Library of Congress’s attempt to bring diversity to the world of cataloging. Individuals serving on a funnel group generate and consult on the creation of new subject headings relative to their area of focus. In this case, the African American Funnel group works to create new or modify existing subject headings pertinent to the African American experience (historical, cultural, linguistic, etc.). The person selected to serve in this role would be having direct national level impact on the access and discoverability of African American scholarship and artifacts.
Position Description for Chair: The chair for the SACO African American Funnel Group should have subject knowledge of issues pertinent to the African American experience and current practices within the field of African American Studies. The core of the position deals with the following aspects:
Position Description of Co-Chair: The co-chair for the SACO African American Funnel Group should have expertise in cataloging, as well as access and experience with Classification web. As a cataloger-this person will be charged with ensuring the completeness of any subject heading proposals put forth by the group. The cataloger will also be tasked with supporting the group in the following ways:
Position Description for Coordinator: The coordinator is responsible for handling the scheduling of the meetings, sending out agenda items or materials beforehand to prepare for internal discussion. In addition, the coordinator has the role of ensuring the meeting stays on task and that all agenda items are discussed in the planned timeframe.
