Affective Presence: The Metonymical Catalogue / Cara Krmpotich and Alexander Somerville
Drawing on exploratory research of online ethnographic records for particular types of Aboriginal bags in North America, we confront the absence of affective knowledge in museum catalogues and documentation. Although curatorial, ethnographic, and Aboriginal understandings of these items teem with affect, we find affect to be almost wholly lacking from available online records. We ask…
Read MoreThe Treatment of the American Indian in the Library of Congress E-F Schedule / Thomas Yen-Ran Yeh and Eugene T. Frosio
This historical reading from 1971 critiques the Library of Congress Classification system’s treatment of indigenous peoples, highlighting issues such as segregating American Indians from the United States, arranging American Indian history with bias, and representing American Indians as “savages.” Yeh offers proposals for improving the classification system, which is followed by comments and rebuttal from…
Read MoreX̱wi7x̱wa Library: Indigenous Knowledge Organization
The University of British Columbia has created the Indigenous Knowledge Organization. The X̱wi7x̱wa Library strives to respect the First Nations-preferred names and spellings of nations. X̱wi7x̱wa is developing an authority list of First Nations Names. All X̱wi7x̱wa materials are catalogued on the UBC Library Catalogue. [zotpress items=”{1341761:56STP8Z3}” style=”chicago-author-date”]
Read MoreIndigitization Toolkit: Toolkit for the Digitization of First Nations Knowledge
The purpose of the Indigitization Toolkit is to provide a reference document as well as a series of templates for BC First Nations communities interested in undertaking digitization projects. The Indigitization toolkit also fits into a broader goal to provide support to First Nations communities in the management of their information. [zotpress items=”{1341761:44HD4W8M}” style=”chicago-author-date”]
Read More“Lo-Fi to Hi-Fi”: A New Metadata Approach in the Third World with the eGranary Digital Library / Deborah Maron, Cliff Missen, and Jane Greenberg
Digital information can bridge age-old gaps in access to information in traditionally underserved areas of the world. However, for those unfamiliar with abundant e-resources, their early exposure to the digital world can be like “drinking from a fire hose.” For these audiences, abundant metadata and findability, along with easy-to-use interfaces, are key to their early…
Read MoreDewey deracialized: A critical race-theoretic perspective / Jonathan Furner
Critical race theory is introduced as a potentially useful approach to the evaluation of bibliographic classification schemes. An overview is presented of the essential elements of critical race theory, including clarifications of the meanings of some important terms such as “race” and “social justice.” On the basis of a review of existing conceptions of the…
Read MoreBias in subject access standards: A content analysis of the critical literature / Hope Olson and Rose Schlegl
This paper reports the results of a content analysis of the literature on biases in classification and subject headings. This study gathers 93 works documenting biases of gender, sexuality, race, age, ability, ethnicity, nationality, language, and religion with the goals of: 1) identifying existing research and experience on subject access for marginalized groups and marginalized…
Read MoreAnother Word for ‘Illegal Alien’ at the Library of Congress: Contentious / Jasmine Aguilera
Melissa Padilla joined with Dartmouth students at the Coalition for Immigration Reform, Equality and Dreamers, and they have spent more than two years petitioning the Library of Congress to remove “illegal alien” from its subject headings. [zotpress items=”{1341761:MVVAZTX7}” style=”chicago-author-date”]
Read MoreAccidental Discovery, Intentional Inquiry: Leveraging Linked Data to Uncover the Women of Jazz / Christina Patuelli, Karen Hwang, Matthew Miller
In this article we discuss the heuristic capabilities that the process of generating, processing, and integrating cultural heritage linked data may afford, including its potential for enhancing arts and humanities research. More specifically, we report on our current work on detecting and assigning gender properties to person entities and semantically enriching a set of Linked…
Read MoreTo Hell With Good Intentions: Linked Data, Community and the Power to Name / Mark A. Matienzo
Matienzo explores the argument that metadata, archiving, and linked data are never neutral; naming holds power and can reinforce problematic narratives about gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and more. He specifically challenges the myth about linked data as completely accessible and democratic; linked data can harm the communities which are mis- or under-represented, especially because corporations…
Read More