The following post is one in a regular series on issues of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility, compiled by Jay Weitz.
Land Acknowledgement and Indigenous Metadata Resources
The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ACDEI) has issued a thoughtful document, Land Acknowledgement and Indigenous Metadata Resources. Neither comprehensive nor exhaustive, it is intended to be “a list of resources to aid PCC members in developing greater awareness of Indigenous peoples and an understanding of the issues involved in making land acknowledgement statements, as well as Indigenous issues within metadata contexts.” It further encourages “the establishment of mutually beneficial relationships with local Indigenous peoples” as well as a corresponding recognition that such relationship building is a time and energy demand on those communities.
Culturally respectful subject headings
Richard Sapon-White, Emeritus Assistant Professor at Oregon State University (OCLC Symbol: ORE); Pamela Louderback, Library Director at the Broken Arrow Campus of Northeastern State University (OCLC Symbol: OKN) in Oklahoma; and Sara Levinson, Latin American and Iberian Languages Cataloger at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (OCLC Symbol: NOC), have written and published Creating Subject Headings for Indigenous Topics: A Culturally Respectful Guide, freely available to all. The manual provides some general background information; the basics of proposing new, and revising existing, subject headings; suggestions for communicating with tribal nations; sample authority records; and considerably more. Levinson coordinates the Latin American and Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Funnel Project (LAIPA) of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO). “We hope that this manual will provide guidance for Indigenous librarians and members of tribal nations as to how to have their voices heard, as well as guidance to non-Indigenous librarians on how to go about gathering information in a respectful and culturally sensitive manner,” writes Sapon-White in the introduction. “While this first edition cannot resolve all terminological issues, we do hope that it is a beginning, with future versions providing greater adherence to principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
Sexual and health information in libraries
Libraries have long served as reliable sources for healthcare information, a role that has become more important than ever considering today’s political climate. Episode 82 of the American Libraries podcast “Call Number” is devoted in part to “Sexual and Reproductive Health Information.” Barbara Alvarez, author of The Library’s Guide to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information, featured in the 2023 March 21 and 2023 April 18 posts of Advancing IDEAs, advises libraries on how to provide better services and information. The episode then moves on to Beth Myers, Director of Special Collections at Smith College (OCLC Symbol: SNN) in Northampton, Massachusetts. Among other things, Myers talks about the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History, which documents the struggle for sexual and reproductive justice, and how other institutions can do the same.
Ming Qing Women’s Writings digital archive
More than four hundred collections of writings by women, comprising over 70,000 scanned images, make up the online Ming Qing Women’s Writings digital archive of McGill University (OCLC Symbol: LGG). On May 17, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, Dr. Grace S. Fong, Professor of Chinese Literature at McGill and director of the project, will talk about the archive, its future, and its multidisciplinary nature in the CALA Speaker Series: Ming Qing Women’s Writing, presented by the Chinese American Librarians Association. Online since 2005 and covering the period of late imperial China from 1368 to 1911, the archive also features links for each writer to the Harvard University (OCLC Symbol: HUL) China Biographical Database.
Libraries in Latin America
Libraries in Latin America face some of the same challenges as libraries in the United States do, but within their own specific contexts and leading to their own conclusions and solutions. On May 19, 2023, 10:00 a.m. Eastern time, join the ALA International Relations Round Table Webinar Series for “Changes and Challenges in Libraries in Latin America.” Former ALA President Carol Brey, Director of the Quality of Life Department in the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA, will moderate. Panelists will include Pedro Lutz, Director of Inter-Institutional Projects and Libraries at the Centro Colombo Americano in Bogota, Colombia; Jesús Amado, Cultural Director of Centro Venezolano Americano del Zulia (CEVAZ), Biblioteca “Luis Guillermo Pineda” in Maracaibo, Venezuela; and Francisco Javier Bolaños of the Fundacion Bibliotec in Cali, Colombia.
Illinois lawmakers pass anti-banning policy
On May 3, 2023, the Illinois Senate passed and sent on to Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker for his signature, HB2789, amending the Illinois Library Systems Act, which had passed the Illinois House during March. Part of the new language states: “In order to be eligible for State grants, a library or library system shall adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights that indicates materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval or, in the alternative, develop a written statement prohibiting the practice of banning books or other materials within the library or library system.” Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias spearheaded this “counter-movement to growing efforts to restrict books on topics such as race, gender and sexuality in schools and libraries across the United States,” according to the Associated Press, “Illinois lawmakers push back on library book bans.” In his statement entitled “First-in-the-Nation Legislation to Prevent Book Bans Approved by General Assembly,” Giannoulias writes, “The concept of banning books contradicts the very essence of what our country stands for. It also defies what education is all about: teaching our children to think for themselves. This landmark legislation is a triumph for our democracy, a win for First Amendment Rights, and a great victory for future generations.”
After comic book challenges
On May 17, 2023, at 5 p.m. Eastern time, ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table (GNCRT) will present the third and final free webinar in its #LibcomixOnline series, “Preparing for and Addressing Challenges to Comics and Graphic Novels: What to do After You’ve Fought A Challenge.” Amie Wright, who was the first president of GNCRT, is currently Chair of its Preparing for and Addressing Challenges to Comics in the Library Committee, and is a PhD candidate in history at Carleton University (OCLC Symbol: CEF) in Ottawa, Canada; and Gabriel Lopez, Research and Instruction Librarian at Our Lady of the Lake University (OCLC Symbol: SAT) in San Antonio, Texas, will co-moderate. Award winning cartoonist Trung Le Nguyen, author of the graphic novel The Magic Fish; and Tia Moore, Reference Librarian Assistant at Bartholomew County Public Library (OCLC Symbol: INB) in Indiana, will speak “about the impact of challenges they’ve faced, lessons learned and how that learning affects how they move forward.”
Coretta Scott King Awards John Steptoe New Talent winners
On what would have been her 96th birthday, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table (CSKBART) will present the 2023 winners of the John Steptoe New Talent awards, author Jas Hammonds for We Deserve Monuments, and illustrator Janelle Washington for Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement. On May 25, 2023, 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, Hammonds and Washington will talk about their lives and share their award-winning books in the free CSKBART Webinar with John Steptoe Winners. We Deserve Monuments, about seventeen-year-old Avery dealing with a move from D.C. to rural Georgia, is Hammonds’ first novel. Angela Joy’s Choosing Brave, illustrated by Washington, is a biography of Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who refocused her grief into deep advocacy for both personal and wider racial justice.
Prison Libraries Act of 2023
On April 25, 2023, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO-5th) introduced the Prison Libraries Act of 2023, which would create a program within the U.S. Department of Justice (OCLC Symbol: DOJ) “to provide library services to incarcerated individuals to advance reintegration efforts, reduce recidivism and increase educational opportunities.” ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada welcomed the effort as an opportunity to increase “equitable access to information for everyone.” Among the services that could be provided if the bill is enacted would be education and job training, civic engagement programs, restorative justice programs, health and wellness activities, financial literacy, and cooperation with local public libraries.
“Picturing Palestine”
Although National Arab American Heritage Month was April, it is not too late to note that the Early Childhood Programs and Services Committee of ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) highlighted eight picture books about Palestinian Arabs, “Picturing Palestine.” The blog post by Nomi Hague, Youth Services Librarian at Rhode Island’s Cranston Public Library (OCLC Symbol: RH6), also links to related pieces about the refugee experience for young readers and about Palestine and Palestinians for older readers.
Prior to his retirement in 2023, Jay was a Senior Consulting Database Specialist in the Membership and Research Division of OCLC, Jay has long been involved in WorldCat bibliographic quality control and record matching, OCLC-MARC validation, the Member Merge Project, the Virtual AskQC Office Hours, and the maintenance of OCLC’s Bibliographic Formats and Standards. He created the seven-session “Cataloging Defensively” series of presentations. For many years, he coordinated OCLC’s Enhance Program. He serves as OCLC liaison to numerous organizations, including the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG), Online Audiovisual Catalogers (OLAC), the Cataloging and Metadata Committee (CMC) of the Music Library Association (MLA), the MARC Advisory Committee (MAC), and the Standing Committee on Standards of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). He also sits on the Bibliography Standing Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), represents the IFLA Cataloguing Standing Committee on the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA) of the American Library Association (ALA), and is Secretary of IFLA’s Permanent UNIMARC Committee.
Before coming to OCLC in 1982, Jay was a cataloger at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. He is the author of Cataloger’s Judgment (2004), both editions of Music Coding and Tagging (1990 and 2001), and the cataloging Q&A columns of the MOUG Newsletter and the OLAC Newsletter. Since 1992, catalogers throughout North America and Japan have been subjected to dozens of his workshops. He was the recipient of the MOUG Distinguished Service Award in 2004, OLAC’s Nancy B. Olson Award in 2005, and the Music Library Association’s lifetime achievement award and highest honor, the MLA Citation in 2019.