Table of Contents
Statement of commitment to redress
Descriptive Language as teachable moment
Statement of problem
We understand that there is power in language and the use of it to name and label people, ideas, and events. At Foley Library, we assert that there is a systemic problem in the historical and current use implementation of official controlled vocabularies that continue to use language to describe people, ideas, and events in ways that are inconsistent with our university’s mission and “commitment to dignity of the human person, social justice, diversity, intercultural competence, global engagement, solidarity with the poor and vulnerable, and care for the planet.”
In the field of libraries and information science, a foundational component of material identification and retrieval is the use of controlled vocabularies, specifically Subject Headings and the Centralized Authorities, which pre-determine their uniform application. These controlled vocabularies have been developed for over a century and are vital to the stable organization, discovery, and retrieval of information resources; however, the updating of these terms has been slow, bureaucratic, challenging, and impacted by biased practices in the profession. Additionally, modern use of linked data systems offers further challenges in implementing retroactive changes and updates to subject headings across library catalogs.
Apart from controlled vocabularies and subject headings, an item’s record in our library catalog may also contain author supplied descriptive keywords, abstracts, titles and subtitles, any of which may express deprecating, biased, or even harmful language. However, the priority for stabilizing the organization of information requires that libraries do not alter the publication metadata of an item. Additionally, protections for intellectual property and intellectual freedom require that author-generated language is not altered at the point of addition to a library collection.
Therefore, within a focus to the subject headings and other descriptive metadata selected and applied by library professionals, we recognize that at any given moment, there may be records in our catalog with language rooted in systems of oppression that conflict with our mission and values, including but not limited to: racism, misogyny, white supremacy, ableism, classism, religious prejudice, and homophobia. As an institution, we at Foley Library commit to redressing those instances of bias in library-supplied descriptive metadata where it is in our authority to do so.
Statement of commitment to redress
At Foley Library, we commit to honoring the dignity of human persons in all elements of their being and experience. As such, we pledge to continuously review, assess, and critically evaluate the terminology and language used in manufacturing the library-controlled fields of metadata in the records that describe our items. We will review these language choices in context with the ongoing developments of understanding the nuance of human experience in our society and will work to actively minimize the harm that our language choices have on people’s experience of racism, misogyny, white supremacy, ableism, classism, religious prejudice, homophobia, and othering.
We commit to listening to our campus community for feedback on this work and offer proactive methods for gathering such feedback.
Framework for path forward
All subject terminology is constantly under a review process. A recent example includes the work at 91勛圖厙 University Libraries to present a technical overlay of language around “illegal aliens” presenting a preferred terminology of “undocumented immigrants” while the Library of Congress Subject Headings(LCSH) underwent a formal review to update the terms.
Additionally, during cataloging of item records, Foley Library catalogers refer to not only LCSH controlled vocabulary but also consult thesauri of other organizations and communities, for example the “Homosaurus” from IHLIA LGBTI Heritage and the “World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples” from Minority Rights Group.
Finally, Foley Library catalogers remain active in multiple communities in order to stay abreast of conversations related to progressive updating of descriptive language in library records.
Descriptive Language as a teachable moment
Metadata is data about data. For each item in a library’s collection, the item itself is considered data, and the elements of applied description about the item are metadata. When reviewing an item’s record in the library collections the metadata presented allows for human and machine identification and provides a preview of topics, themes, or other content.
As mentioned above, some of this metadata is directly generated by the author and the publisher while other metadata labels are curated by information professionals. Across all of these elements, choices are made at the point of application, and the language presented in any metadata field offers an opportunity for critical analysis of the choices made in the process.
Contextual factors such as point in time, predominating language and culture, and political structures can impact the choices made. Additionally, conscious or unconscious bias, hegemony, or even propaganda may be reflected in the selection of metadata. Examination of the metadata for items can be an important component of studying the item itself, and considering controlled vocabularies offers an opportunity for critical awareness of intentional systemic language application. In addition, from a historic research perspective there are times when tracing the use of language that is outdated and potentially offensive allows the historic record of developments in society to become clearer. Finally, metadata about technical structures of items can reveal or occlude aspects of the item itself that are not immediately visible in the digitized format.
We view the exploration of and discourse around descriptive language as a critical part of the educational process. The search process is one in which researchers strategically explore widely across many information resources, including the metadata, and subsequently revise their exploration through an iterative process of inquiry. The instruction program at Foley Library is guided by the ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education which advocates threshold concepts, such as Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a Process, and Searching as Strategic Exploration, as integral to the formation of researchers and scholars. We address metadata as an instructional topic in order to support students’ understanding of how descriptive language functions as a mirror and to develop critical awareness of the application and presentation of author created, librarian described, and technical systems metadata.
Invitation for feedback/communication
Foley Library takes our commitment seriously. If you have a concern or other feedback on terminology you encounter, please feel welcome to use the form below to submit.
Feedback submitted via the form below is routinely monitored and then aggregated once per year for review by a designated working group of library employees. This review may not yield a direct change as suggested by the submitter, since integrated systems and interoperable metadata require some consensus and stability of terms. Changes made to the descriptive language are tracked internally and updated for public view on this page.
Professional ethics grounding