Indigenizing Citations at Camosun

Library users and staff may encounter harmful or problematic terminology in their library’s catalogue. Libraries have been complicit in perpetuating a knowledge organization system reflective of a colonial worldview and maintaining colonial approaches to descriptive practice. Libraries using Sitka Evergreen’s Integrated Library System (such as the Camosun Library) have been using controlled, standardized vocabulary derived from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to describe and provide subject-based catalogue access to library collections. LCSH terminology used to describe library materials on topics of Indigenous Peoples and cultures have long been recognized as biased, outdated, offensive, and in need of updating to align more closely with preferred terminology, language in use, and providing improved subject-based access to library materials on these topics. 

A shift from reliance upon LCSH for describing library materials on Indigenous topics offers libraries an opportunity to challenge and decenter the cognitive imperialism inherent in LCSH and standardized descriptive practices in order to provide respectful and equitable access to collections. 

As a library member of a consortium, we are committed to:

• Ongoing learning with humility from professional resources and projects to inform approaches and to improve descriptive practices.
• Centring care and awareness for library user communities in the ways we approach descriptive practices. 
• Welcoming diverse perspectives by engaging and consulting library user communities.
• Perceiving the catalogue as a “living” resource to be maintained and updated with evolving changes to subject-based terminology and descriptive practices.
• Removing inaccurate, outdated, biased, and offensive subject-based terminology to be replaced with updated subject-based terminology that aims to accurately describe library materials and provide subject-based access with consideration to equitable and inclusive access and retrieval of library materials on Indigenous topics.
• Engaging with professional development opportunities and resources to inform approaches and to continually improve descriptive practices.
• Acknowledging the intersectionality of this work, and the harmful effects of LCSH terminology upon diverse groups of library user communities. Future phases of this work will consider and update subject-based terminology for describing materials on topics such as, IBPOC, women, 2SLGBTQ+, neurodiverse people, and people with disabilities.

Please let us know if you have questions. Contact us at libraryresearch@camosun.ca. 

Like most post-secondary libraries, the Camosun Library uses international standards for classifying and describing information. The majority of the publications and databases for which it provides access also use these same standards. Libraries use subject headings as words to describe and organize things and ideas. When you search the library databases, your keywords are checked against and for related subject headings.

Library categorization systems influence the information we access and the ways we think about words and their meanings. Vocabularies and classification systems are designed to make information accessible to library users. However, many Western information categorization and organization systems are rooted in colonial practices, express Western world views, and uphold values of white supremacy. 

Who determines what subject headings are used is also very political. Much of the library and publishing world relies on the American Library of Congress system of cataloguing. The Library of Congress’s subject headings and vocabulary perpetuates many colonial ideas. Many of its terms are outdated, racist, or derogatory and have not been updated. This is especially true when referencing specific Indigenous communities or groups. Names that were created for Indigenous groups by cultural outsiders may still be in use. 

If you are searching for information on an Indigenous topic, you may need to search a number of terms – many of which may seem outdated or inappropriate – to find information. Two subject terms used frequently in our Library catalogue are "Native Peoples – Canada" and "Indians of North America". These are standard terms used in most academic libraries, even though they don't accurately reflect the current language used to describe Indigenous peoples in Canada today.

Below are some of the terms used to describe resources related to Indigenous topics:

• Indigenous peoples*
• Native peoples*
• Indians of North America
• Native American
• Aboriginal
• Métis
• Inuit 
• First Nations
• American Indians

If you're looking for information on a specific people, search for that group: Haida, Salish, Métis, etc.

Be careful about alternate spellings: for example, Nisga or Niska or Nisga'a. Find the most resources by searching for all the different spellings together using "or": Niska OR Nisga OR Nisga'a

*Note: You will notice the lower-case "p" in "peoples" in these subject terms. These Library of Congress (LOC) subject terms have not been capitalized to demonstrate respect as we have formulated in Camosun  Style Guide. While many libraries are working to update and change LOC terms, the Library of Congress itself is slow to change and has not yet addressed capitalization as a means of indigenization and/or respectful description.

More Than Personal Communication Citation templates for Elders and Knowledge Keepers, August 4, 2020
Presenter, Lorisia MacLeod (James Smith Cree Nation).
Webinar hosted by the Maskwacis Cultural College.
Running time: 29 minutes.

* Authentic Indigenous Voices