Sanford Berman

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Sanford Berman (b. October 6, 1933) is an outspoken, radical librarian (cataloger) known for promoting alternative viewpoints in librarianship and acting as a pro-active information conduit to other librarians around the world, mostly via public speaking, voluminous correspondence, and unsolicited "care packages" delivered via the U.S. Postal Service.

Berman was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended University of California at Los Angeles, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science with minors in Sociology, Anthropology and English, and received the Phi Beta Kappa from the national scholastic honour society. After acquiring an M.S. in Library Science from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Berman began work as a librarian. He worked for the U.S. Army Special Services Libraries, West Germany (1962-1966) where he helped edit an underground press G.I. magazine titled 'Yin/Yang'; Schiller College, Kleiningerheim, West Germany (1966-1967) ; University of California at Los Angeles Research Library (1967-1968), where he rescued back runs of 'I.F. Stone's Weekly' from the garbage ; University of Zambia Library, Lusaka, Zambia (1968-1970) ; Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University Library, Kampala, Uganda (1971-1972) ; and Hennepin County Library, Minnesota (1973-1999).

[edit] Alternative Subject Headings

The spark of Berman's cataloging revolution was the inclusion in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) of the term kaffir, which he came across while working in Zambia : "Berman was told by offended black fellow-workers that calling someone a kafir was similar to being called a nigger in America" (Pendergrast).

This motivated him to systematically address subject heading bias in his work at Hennepin County Library and in writing "Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People" The work, published in two editions, examines racism, sexism, Christocentrism, and other biases inherent in the LCSH. Berman is also known for his role in encouraging the Library of Congress to drop such archaic headings as WATER CLOSET in favor of common terminology. (When Berman learned, in a public venue, that WATER CLOSET would be changed to TOILET, he responded, "I'm absolutely 'flushed' with pride.")

With other Minnesota librarians, as well as nationally and internationally, Berman is known for promoting activist librarianship in which personal ideals entailing social justice are part and parcel of professional work. Thanks to this advocacy the American Library Association's official policy recognizes librarians' key role in addressing social ills.

With Librarian James P. Danky, Berman has been the editor for Alternative Library Literature, (1982-2001) a biennial compilation of alternative essays on librarianship from a wide variety of other sources. Berman's other titles include "The Joy of Cataloging" and "Worth Noting."

He is the founder of the American Library Association's Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force, a division of The Social Responsibilities Round Table which he also co-founded. During recent years he has written and lectured on the failure of ALA and American libraries to help the poor and homeless. In June 2005 he gave the Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture at the annual ALA conference, dedicated to the founder of OLOS.

During the last six months of 2005, working with the assistance of Steve Fesenmaier, Berman convinced the Library of Congress to create many new subject headings including - "American Dream," "Plutocracy," "West Virginia Mine Wars, 1897-1921" "The Battle of Blair Mountain, 1921," and several others.

He continues to mail more than 100 pieces on a weekly basis, continuing to educate and entertain his friends and colleagues worldwide.