With the implementation of various DEI related initiatives within the library itself concerning hiring, programming, and collection development, focus is also being laid on the library’s catalog. Many institutions of all sizes are leading the charge to change subject terms that are problematic within their local communities. Projects originally started with “Illegal aliens” and are shifting to other term sets such as those related to Indigenous peoples, individuals with disabilities, various socio-economic conditions, as well as adding other terminology to improve inclusivity to other groups of people. These various terms are not always able to be changed within the Library of Congress Authority file, so workarounds are needed to meet the needs of the community. We can help!
Two main reasons: inclusivity and discoverability. Many LCSH terms are outdated and offensive and no longer reflect how communities consider themselves. Updating subject headings to positive language and preferred terms fosters inclusivity within your catalog and community. Since users don’t identify with these outdated terms searches with current language and topics will not be discovered. Revising these terms in your ILS ensures that your diverse holding is discoverable by your users, creating better access to your materials.
Prior to December 2021, one of the major sets of terms that institutions were addressing internally were ways that Noncitizens were being described. While the Library of Congress was finally able to make a change to describe Noncitizens in a less offensive way, however, some institutions do not fully approve the result. Some institutions are still incorporating their own local practice to remove the term ‘illegal’ from the remaining LC Headings. Backstage’s term list includes ‘Noncitizens’ for what was previously described as ‘Aliens,’ and ‘Undocumented immigrants’ for what was previously ‘Illegal aliens.’
There have been multiple requests across the country (and globally) to better represent Indigenous peoples as well. We understand that Library of Congress is beginning massive efforts to explore and understand what changes need to be made. In the meantime, libraries may start making their own changes to adjust terms such as Indians of North America and Carrier Indians to $a Indigenous peoples $z North America and $a Dakelh respectively.
There has been a sharp increase in interest in also incorporating terms for the LGBTQ+ community. LC’s authority file is quite limited when it comes to providing terms to better describe the community though improvements are slowly being introduced; Homosaurus is a vocabulary that is gaining popularity within the cataloging community to help improve discovery of pertinent collections.
Additionally, Cataloging Lab has other terms that individual libraries are submitting as being problematic. As time goes on, there will likely be more and more term-sets that institutions continue to change to better serve their patrons through inclusivity and more comprehensive search options.
If you’d like to see Backstage’s recommendations for Undocumented Immigrants, Indigenous peoples, Enslaved persons, or our Homosaurus crosswalk, please let us know! If you have a set of terms we haven’t covered that you’d like to implement, send us spreadsheets that are set-up in a similar fashion.
No! If a new term is ADDED to your record, you could code the field (or the indicators) in such a way to omit them for Authority Control processing. If you are REPLACING the original term with the use of a Local Authority Record, your authority control vendor will be sure to keep this “local” file as the first source for searching which will bypass any searching against LC. Additionally, these will also receive an indicator change to denote them as “local”.
This is our ultimate desire but we’re not quite there! With Backstage’s current Indigenous file, yes, you will receive updates that we create. Backstage is working on a process to be able to pull in the updates that LC issues while retaining your preferred terms within the Local authority.
This is the ideal. However, we have not been able to do the necessary outreach to change Tribal/Nation names as it is such a large project. That being said, we have incorporated terms that the X̲wi7X̲wa Library, Greater Victoria Public Library, and the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance have provided publicly. Attempts to reach out to other potentially authoritative lists are underway and terms will be updated as needed when changes are identified. We also welcome anyone to recommend changes based on their personal knowledge and interaction with their local Tribes/Nations. We have a Google Sheet that you can request access to in order to submit recommendations for changes.
Our work to create options for a more inclusive catalog began with the Peabody Essex Museum, who wanted to make changes to “Indigenous Peoples” terms.
Your library can send powerful messages about how you value readers as individuals, especially if your collection acknowledges and respects the diversity of your local community.
Hear a firsthand account of how a library can start building a more inclusive catalog that serves all users. Presented by Casey Cheney and Emily O'Neal.
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