Table of Contents
LGBTQ+ Identities, Language and the Library Catalog / Brian Dobreski, Heather Moulaison-Sandy, and Karen Snow.
Cataloging Norms Interest Group presentation at Core Interest Group Week 2023
Records in the library catalog often contain terminology representing identities, especially those of authors, audiences, and subjects. Accurately and sensitively capturing the identities of individuals or groups of people using controlled vocabularies can be fraught with difficulty, however, leading catalogers to assign subject terminology that may be harmful, offensive, and/or incorrect. A recent study conducted by the presenters sought to further explore the pitfalls and potentials for controlled vocabularies in representing a diverse and often marginalized group of identities, those of LGBTQ+ individuals and groups. This study examined the coverage and overlap of LGBTQ+ identity terms in three controlled vocabularies: Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT), and Homosaurus, a new linked data vocabulary of LGBTQ + terminology designed to represent identities and concepts from the perspective of this community. This presentation will provide the results of that study, as well as preliminary data of a follow-up study that includes interview data with members of the LGBTQ+ community about the language they use to find LGBTQ+ resources in library catalogs.
Recording (add timestamp)
Slides (downloadable from Core Cataloging Norms Interest Group Connect site)
Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources / The Trans Metadata Collective. (June 2022)
This document is the result of a year of work and collaboration by the Trans Metadata Collective, a group of dozens of cataloguers, librarians, archivists, scholars, and information professionals with a concerted interest in improving the description and classification of trans and gender diverse people in GLAMS (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and Special Collections). The Collective’s primary goal was to develop a set of best practices for the description, cataloging, and classification of information resources as well as the creation of metadata about trans and gender diverse people, including authors and other creators.
Our Metadata, Ourselves: The Trans Metadata Collective / Bri Watson & Jackson Huang. Trans Metadata Collective. (2023 NETSL Annual Spring Conference)
The Trans Metadata Collective is a group of dozens of cataloguers, librarians, archivists, scholars, and information professionals with a concerted interest in improving the description and classification of trans and gender diverse people, subjects, and resources in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums, and Special Collections (GLAMS) and other information systems. The Collective’s primary goal was to develop a set of concrete, actionable best practices, which was collaboratively authored, reviewed, and released by a smaller subset of the collective as *Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources*
Sex Negativity & Anti-Queerness in Library of Congress Classification: History, Structure, & System / Rhonda Kauffman, Tiffany Henry, Anatasia Chu. (2023 NETSL Annual Spring Conference)
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.
Using the Homosaurus in a Public Library Consortium: A Case Study / Rachel K. Fisher in Library Resources & Technical Services. Vol. 67, no. 1 PAYWALL
This case study provides an overview of how Cooperative Computer Services (CCS), a public library consortium in Illinois, made the case to allow the Homosaurus in the CCS catalog, gained approval from the member libraries, and crafted a cataloging manual section. Other libraries can follow the recommendations in this article on how to properly make the case for the approval of a policy to allow an alternative controlled vocabulary in their catalog.