Everywhere and Nowhere:

Finding My People in the Library

Teresa Helena Moreno

Assistant Professor

University of Illinois Chicago

Framing

Location and geospatial politics between Mexico and the US

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The term chicana

How The Story Starts

Canciones de mi Padre (1987)

Linda Ronstadt

Borderlands / La Frontera

Luisa Espinel

“Mexico--Popular Music”

Linda Ronstadt

Sandy Berman

Subject Heading Critiques:

One of the OGs

But what if we are asking the wrong question?

The US Library of Congress Classification System is meant for the use of the US Congress, but we use it for other purposes.

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Outside of Congress, it is used in academic libraries in not only the US but globally, including the UK, Canada, Germany, and many other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Understanding the System

Because the Library of Congress has specific collections goals in mind, this will skew subject headings.

Literary Warrant

• The LCSH was never intended to be built to serve libraries other than the Library of Congress

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• LCSH reflect what LoC deems collectable--it does not collect all info/vetting process

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• As a state agency, LoC is also a copyright deposit in several specific fields, which means automatic adoption (political, military, law)

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• Scholars have articulated that this creates a Western and dominant lens which creates bias LCSH.

The Library of Congress

Impact on Literary Warrant

Introducing: Ted Cruz!

Letter from US Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Braun (R-IN) demanding that Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden maintain use of the subject heading “alien” in lieu of the proposed change to “noncitizen.”

Critical Inquiry

The hard truth: the US Library of Congress is working exactly as intended!

Imperialism and Empire

Imperialism is the practice, theory or attitude of maintaining or extending power, particularly through expansionism, employing hard power, but also soft power, establishing or maintaining a hegemony and a more or less formal empire.

Ashcroft, Bill, et al. “Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts.” Routledge eBooks, 2007, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203933473.

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“Dictionary.com | Meanings and Definitions of English Words.” Dictionary.com, 14 Apr. 2025, www.dictionary.com/browse/imperialism.

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Imperialism | Definition, History, Examples, and Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Apr. 2025, www.britannica.com/topic/imperialism.

The method of establishing, maintaining, and growing political and economic control outward over other people and countries through the use of information and information practices.

Information Imperialism

Ubiquity of Library of Congress

For example: interventions done by the current US presidential administration to censor particular terms in government-funded research publications.

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How does our relationship shift then to how we organize information?

The System Is a Reflection of the Government at the Time

People Are the Real Cultural Preservationists

An original manuscript of the Canciones de mi Padre book of songs from the US/Mexico borderland by Luisa Espinel.

Thank you!