The Library Special Collection Research Center will host a screening of the documentary Change the Subject on Wednesday, September 20. The film tells the story of a group of students at Dartmouth College, whose effort to change an anti-immigrant sentiment in their library catalog took them all the way to the halls of Congress. “Change the Subject” shows how an instance of campus activism entered the national spotlight, and how a library cataloging term became a flashpoint in the national immigration debate.

While researching immigration, a Dartmouth College student kept encountering the term “Illegal aliens” as a library subject heading. As a person who had grown up undocumented in Georgia, she was disturbed by this institutional subject heading, which is considered a slur. So she did something about it: she and other students joined librarians in petitioning the Library of Congress to change its terminology. Change the Subject tells the story of these students’ journey, and also considers the ways that language is often weaponized to divide and dehumanize people.

Change the Subject will be shown in Fresno State Library room 2206 (second floor, south wing) from Noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 20. Admission is free. For more information on the film or to request special accommodation, please email scrc@mail.fresnostate.edu.