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General overview and LCSH
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is the main thesaurus for subject access in bibliographic records used by most libraries. It is very comprehensive and is continually being updated and added too. Unfortunately, it not always updated quickly or sufficiently to remove outdated, offensive, or problematic terms. There are also political influences and concerns surrounding the updating/changing of some terms that may leave a term unchanged or lead to a change that is not the most appropriate terminology for descriptive access. There are several ways to deal with the issues presented by LCSH terms that are discussed in the sections below, such as use of established alternative vocabularies, proposing changes or new headings to the LCSH, and local catalog views for established terms in limited cases.
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---Also consider adding issues of LC headings when they are changed but still are under terms that are offensive/wrong due to the LC Classification scheme and subject trees. Example Sadomasochism is under the broader term Psychosexual disorders, so while that term is not added to a record by a cataloger, currently Primo is "enhancing" records in Hollis to display "other search terms" based on the subject trees and will show "Psychosexual disorders." See this record in Hollis as an example: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990077274030203941/catalog Not sure how to fit this in here, it is more of something to be aware of since researchers will be seeing these things in Hollis. This is probably a useful enhancement in a lot of cases, it just happens to be an issue with some terms though.---
Submitting LCSH terms for revision
Within Harvard Library the SACO Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Anti-Racism Task Group (SACO DIBAR Task Group) "is charged with reviewing controlled terms governed by the Library of Congress Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO) for possible revision in light of EDIBA principles." Their wiki page tracks headings under consideration and includes a form for staff to submit terms for the group to review. They ask for the following information with each submission: the existing term, a proposed preferred term, the MMS ID of the corresponding bibliographic record in Alma, and references to any related sources and/or justification/reasoning for the change.
There are also some long standing groups working with the Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) to make the LCSH more inclusive and comprehensive in areas that need more terms for fuller access.
African American Subject Funnel Project (@SACO): https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/saco/aframerfun.html
Information on the history of the funnel: https://drive.google.com/file/d/179ZDjC-E7Bey5W282HaGKDHMkttfLFQC/view
Action for local changes at Harvard Library
To deal with LC's reluctance to change subject headings related to undocumented immigrants, the Harvard Library "Change the Subject" Task Group implemented a local solution in January 2021 to remap any headings with "aliens" to display as "noncitizens" and the heading "illegal aliens" to display as "undocumented immigrants." This solution was reversed in 2022 after LC changed the heading involved. However, remapping – where we can display more inclusive terms to the public while allowing for LCSH to live in the background – could be a potential temporary solution to future problematic headings. Information on Harvard's work with subject headings related to undocumented immigrants and its implementation can be found here: Best practice for LCSH headings that use "illegal" or "alien" to refer to people
Alternative vocabularies and thesauri
(LTS has updated HOLLIS to display (also HOLLIS now displays (indexed and faceted) subject headings from the African Studies Thesaurus, Homosaurus, and First Nations House of Learning.)
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While the available LC term of Autobiographies provides a very general description and should be included in the record, the Homosaurus term is more specific and provides visibility of LGBTQ+ materials in the catalog for users to discovery.
First Nations House of Learning 650_7 $$a First nations. $$2 fnhl
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This appears to not actually be available for use beyond UBC Xwi7xwa library currently. You may see these headings on bibs in Connexion, but for now won't be able to add them to records yourself. See https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277022370_Indigenization_of_Knowledge_Organization_at_the_Xwi7xwa_Library for more details on this vocabulary.
Submitting terms for review
Within Harvard Library the SACO Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Anti-Racism Task Group (SACO DIBAR Task Group) "is charged with reviewing controlled terms governed by the Library of Congress Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO) for possible revision in light of EDIBA principles." Their wiki page tracks headings under consideration and includes a form for staff to submit terms for the group to review. They ask for the following information with each submission: the existing term, a proposed preferred term, the MMS ID of the corresponding bibliographic record in Alma, and references to any related sources and/or justification/reasoning for the change.
There are also some long standing groups working with the Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) to make the LCSH more inclusive and comprehensive in areas that need more terms for fuller access.
African American Subject Funnel Project (@SACO): https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/saco/aframerfun.html
Information on the history of the funnel: https://drive.google.com/file/d/179ZDjC-E7Bey5W282HaGKDHMkttfLFQC/view
Possible actions Harvard Library has utilized for local changes
To deal with LC's reluctance to change subject headings related to undocumented immigrants, the Harvard Library "Change the Subject" Task Group implemented a local solution in January 2021 to remap any headings with "aliens" to display as "noncitizens" and the heading "illegal aliens" to display as "undocumented immigrants." This solution was reversed in 2022 after LC changed the heading involved. However, remapping – where we can display more inclusive terms to the public while allowing for LCSH to live in the background – could be a potential temporary solution to future problematic headings. Information on Harvard's work with subject headings related to undocumented immigrants and its implementation can be found here: Best practice for LCSH headings that use "illegal" or "alien" to refer to people
Relevant articles
The language of cataloguing: deconstructing and decolonizing systems of organization in libraries: https://ojs.library.dal.ca/djim/article/view/7853
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