Access and User Services Department
What’s in a name?
If we’re talking about the name of a Library of Congress subject heading, the answer is: Lots. America’s de facto national library’s naming conventions drive how books are classified in nearly 13,000 libraries. As a result, these subject headings impact how many people think about and search for information about a topic, even if these headings reflect historical biases or inaccuracies.
For example, take “illegal alien,” a phrase that the Library of Congress used for decades to describe undocumented immigrants. A group of Dartmouth students undertook a national effort in the 2010s to advocate that this terminology, reflecting anti-immigration sentiments, be changed.
This effort is compellingly chronicled in the documentary Change the Subject, which is being screened by the Auraria Library at 2 p.m. Oct. 20 and 3:30 p.m. Oct. 21.
The film will be presented by the library’s Local Subject Headings task force, which is working to make library catalog language more inclusive. “This film is a good introduction to the practice of describing library resources and the harm that can come from the words that librarians chose in the process,” said discovery systems and metadata department head Kelsey Brett, who chairs the task force.
Following each screening of the 54-minute film in Auraria Library Classroom 116, faculty and staff engaged with this effort will provide project updates and seek input from the Auraria Campus community.
The current task force is an outgrowth of an Auraria Library Classification Contextualization task force that has reviewed and taken steps to address biases in library catalog terminology. More on its work can be found on this page.
