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Wild in the Stacks
Radical librarian Sanford Berman advocates for alternative media, library users’ rights, and information access.
By Chris Dodge, Utne Reader
July/August 2002 Issue
Meet Sanford Berman, who since the late 1960s has written, spoken, and acted on his belief that librarians have social responsibilities and that public libraries can be liberating. In a profession sometimes known for dispassionate wallflowers, Berman has outspokenly opposed injustices, both in library practices and in the world at large.
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Retired, but far from retiring, the 68-year-old Berman spent 26 years as head cataloger at Hennepin County Library in suburban Minneapolis. There he and his "Sandynistas" helped make library materials more accessible by changing arcane and otherwise dysfunctional rules, terminology, and practices. Nationally, Berman continues to argue for policy changes, seeking to make libraries easier to use and for institutional engagement in addressing social problems such as homelessness.
Berman’s book Prejudices and Antipathies (Scarecrow, 1971; McFarland, 1993) criticized standard Library of Congress subject headings for their inherent biases—including erotophobia and ethnocentrism—as well as for their outdated or convoluted terminology. Thanks to Berman’s lobbying, the Library of Congress made such changes as "Water-closets" to "Toilets" in the late ’70s ("I’m absolutely flushed with pride," he responded when told this) but many of his criticisms still hold true.
Part of what makes Berman special is his large spirit and generosity. Besides his own writing, he has inspired and midwived books by others, on topics from comics librarianship to library service to poor people. Saying, "I can’t have information I know would be of interest to someone and not share it," Berman practices what he preaches. Fellow librarian Bill Katz calls him "a modern-day eccentric who, without the slightest hesitation, refuses to be anybody but himself."
Berman recently completed work on the 10th—and final—edition of Alternative Library Literature (McFarland), a biennial anthology he has co-edited with James Danky, newspapers/periodicals librarian at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
He recently spoke with Utne Reader librarian Chris Dodge from his home in Edina, Minnesota.
Which publications do you read regularly?
Local Twin Cities publications like the alternative weeklies Pulse and City Pages, and various-frequency local newsletters and tabloids: the Women Against Military Madness newsletter, Native American monthly The Circle, the Minnesota Women’s Press, the St. Stephen’s Shelter newsletter Open House, the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action newsletter Currents, free thought and atheist newsletters, and a load of other stuff, including Nonviolent Activist; the Long Haul from Vancouver, one of the foremost anti-poverty tabloids; Welfare Mother’s Voice (shortly to change its name to Mother Warriors Voice); Survival News out of Boston; and Street Spirit from San Francisco. The latter four represent authentic voices of people who are having a hard time economically.
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