Start Date
12-8-2021 12:50 PM
End Date
12-8-2021 1:25 PM
Description
Abstract
Continuing to build on relationships formed between Out On The Shelves and the University of British Columbia School of Information, we are seeking to explore radical possibilities for cataloguing queer works for queer audiences. As an independent, volunteer-run library, Out On The Shelves has opportunities to depart from traditional cataloguing practices and experiment with approaches impossible or undesirable in other settings. In this lightning talk, we outline a proposed creator consultation project to explore how creator and character identities might be represented in item records. Out On the Shelves prioritizes the “the voices of LGBT2QIA+ individuals writing, creating, and reflecting their own experiences” and at the heart of this project is an understanding that users of the library often seek books by or featuring people like them. However, there are inherent limitations and dangers of building this information into a traditional library cataloguing process. We engage with broad concerns in queer theory and social justice librarianship to reconsider the item record and the controlled vocabulary—is a creator’s identity constant or can it shift over time and in relation to different works? whose place is it to assert a creator’s identity and decide how it is phrased? how can control of terms and term relationships respect a creator’s expressions while meeting the discoverability and access needs of users? This spring, we piloted an interview protocol that seeks to give living creators of works at Out On The Shelves informed choices on how their works are described in the library catalogue, with a focus on identity terms for themselves and the characters in their works. Our next steps are to refine this interview approach and to engage with creators of different, overlapping identities and different types of works in the collection. With a broad set of creator perspectives, we will turn to re-cataloguing their works and will develop channels for living creators to continue to have input into the language and representation of their works in the library’s descriptive systems. This collaborative work between library workers and creators will lead to further work reconciling the outcomes of this process with the needs of users and the representation of the rest of the collection. We will discuss the challenges (and joy) of this approach and welcome discussion of how to move forward and queer the cataloguing process.
Lightning Talk #4 (5 min): Our Own Labels: LGBT2QIA+ Representation in Catalogue Records
Abstract
Continuing to build on relationships formed between Out On The Shelves and the University of British Columbia School of Information, we are seeking to explore radical possibilities for cataloguing queer works for queer audiences. As an independent, volunteer-run library, Out On The Shelves has opportunities to depart from traditional cataloguing practices and experiment with approaches impossible or undesirable in other settings. In this lightning talk, we outline a proposed creator consultation project to explore how creator and character identities might be represented in item records. Out On the Shelves prioritizes the “the voices of LGBT2QIA+ individuals writing, creating, and reflecting their own experiences” and at the heart of this project is an understanding that users of the library often seek books by or featuring people like them. However, there are inherent limitations and dangers of building this information into a traditional library cataloguing process. We engage with broad concerns in queer theory and social justice librarianship to reconsider the item record and the controlled vocabulary—is a creator’s identity constant or can it shift over time and in relation to different works? whose place is it to assert a creator’s identity and decide how it is phrased? how can control of terms and term relationships respect a creator’s expressions while meeting the discoverability and access needs of users? This spring, we piloted an interview protocol that seeks to give living creators of works at Out On The Shelves informed choices on how their works are described in the library catalogue, with a focus on identity terms for themselves and the characters in their works. Our next steps are to refine this interview approach and to engage with creators of different, overlapping identities and different types of works in the collection. With a broad set of creator perspectives, we will turn to re-cataloguing their works and will develop channels for living creators to continue to have input into the language and representation of their works in the library’s descriptive systems. This collaborative work between library workers and creators will lead to further work reconciling the outcomes of this process with the needs of users and the representation of the rest of the collection. We will discuss the challenges (and joy) of this approach and welcome discussion of how to move forward and queer the cataloguing process.
