As an important part of a society that should be welcoming to all, libraries have been seeking ways to ensure their catalogs reflect principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this presentation, I will share what we are doing at LCI to improve our cataloging metadata and achieve two DEI goals: (1) Replace outdated, inappropriate, offensive, or insensitive subject headings while ensuring that resources in our catalog remain searchable and discoverable; (2) Add current, appropriate, and inclusive subject headings if missing, allowing resources on these subjects to be more discoverable.
Drawing from a published article by the presenters (June 2022), this presentation digs into sex negativity and anti-queerness in Library of Congress Classification schedule HQ, “The Family. Marriage. Women.” It explores how the presenters identified these issues in the underlying structure of the schedule and its history, using some key illuminating examples.
Cornell University Library formed an Inclusive Descriptive Practice Task Force in 2021, dedicated to examining metadata practices and identifying methods to acknowledge the subjective nature of cataloging and archival descriptive practices. This session will give an overview of the formation, structure, and outputs of some of the subgroups in this task force, including examples of unexpected challenges and some successes thus far.
Temple University Libraries values diversity in its collections and wanted to develop tools and cataloging practices to better identify and collect award-winning works by or about underrepresented groups. Join this session to learn how subject selectors and cataloging librarians worked together, with DEI principles in mind, to curate and improve discoverability of books and highlight diverse voices in a collection.
