Max Chambers Library Event Details

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Metadata Justice in Oklahoma Libraries & Archives Symposium

Now in its 4th year, the Metadata Justice in Oklahoma Libraries & Archives Symposium provides a space for folks to share their ideas and to create a support network for those interested in metadata justice work in our state's libraries and archives.

Date:: Thu, Jul 17th 2025
Time:: 9:00am - 12:00pm
Categories:: Meetings & Conferences

9:00-9:05am

Introduction and Welcome

9:05-9:35am

Discussion Session: Perspectives on SACO Work in Uncertain Times
Michelle Cronquist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Allison Bailund, San Diego State University; Chereeka Garner, University of Central Florida; Beck Schaefer, York University; Deborah Tomaras, Marist University

In recent years, SACO funnels have worked to make LCSH and other Library of Congress controlled vocabularies more inclusive through adding new subject headings and updating existing ones. We have had some successes (and some failures) in making the case for these changes to the Library of Congress, but now we’re facing an uncertain landscape with a crackdown on so-called DEI work. A group of SACO funnel leaders from the African American, Comics & Fiction, and Gender & Sexuality funnels, representing a range of different types of institutions in various U.S. states and Canada, will discuss what this work looks like in the current political reality.

9:45-10:00am

Lightning Round: The Importance of Community: Planning a Reparative Description Symposium in Your State
Nicole Smeltekop, Oklahoma State University

On April 1, 2025, MSU Libraries hosted the Symposium on Reparative Description in Library Catalogs. This event was attended by 80 cultural heritage workers from across the state and beyond (including Ohio, Indiana, and Canada!) and from a range of institutional types such as academic, community college, public, government, archives, K-12 school, library school students, faculty, and vendors. With no experience running a symposium (but plenty of enthusiasm!), the planning team was thrilled with the response of our colleagues across the state and types of institutions!

10:10-10:40am

Discussion Session: Partners and Neighbors: Reparative and Inclusive Description Projects and Partnerships at the University of Arkansas
Katrina Windon, Joshua Youngblood, and Adam Heien, University of Arkansas Libraries

Across the border from Oklahoma, Arkansas shares many stories, histories, and issues with our neighbors, including archival collections related to indigenous peoples, race riots, and other topics that have been represented in legacy archival description in ways that no longer meet the needs of our users or of the documented communities. In 2020, along with many other institutions, the University of Arkansas Special Collections began reparative description efforts to improve legacy finding aids, starting with professional development and education, moving onto a pilot project, and eventually establishing a commitment to ongoing work in this area. These efforts have also yielded dividends in inter-institutional collaborations, such as digital humanities projects where collections that have undergone reparative description are integrated with similar selections from other regional libraries, archives, and museums, including those that may not have had the resources to engage in reparative description work yet. Presenters will discuss the practical aspects of the work done so far, including the implementation of specific projects related to Japanese American incarceration during WWII, to enslaved persons, and to indigenous persons and nations; the development of policy frameworks; and assessment mechanisms used. We will also address adapting to the challenges of engaging in this essential work while situated in institutions or regions facing challenges to metadata justice efforts.

10:50-11:05am

Lightning Round: Repairing the Catalog: Using Reparative Description for Indigenous Subjects
Erica Moore, Cameron University Library

I was really inspired by The Tribal Nations in Oklahoma Metadata presentation during the 2023 Metadata Justice in Oklahoma Libraries and Archives Symposium. I was inspired to add proper tribal names to all records with “Five Civilized Tribes” as a subject heading. But then, as I read more about subject headings, I realized that Indians of North America was a problematic heading, and I wanted to help mitigate the harm that that subject might do. So, I began adding subject headings “Indigenous people of North America” to all records in Cameron University Library's catalog with Indians as a subject heading. And then, during the 2024 Metadata Justice Symposium, I was inspired by the Searching the Past, Finding the Present: Identifying Contemporary Tribal Communities in Gilcrease Museum's Rare Books Collection presentation, and I went back to the beginning and started all over again, with a more detailed and nuanced spreadsheet. I will explain my process, showing before and after records in the ILS and OPAC, and explaining my spreadsheet. I will explain how I created an alternate vocabulary to use in place of subject headings with "Indian" -- I'm adding Indigenous people to the subjects of each record in the catalog with "Indians" as a subject heading, and then I've been adding the correct tribal names for any tribal nation specified in the subjects (like, Navajo Indians, gets subject headings: Diné Indians (Navajo) ; Navajo Nation) I will ask for feedback on how to continue the work after the project itself is done. How do I "train" anyone following me to keep up the practice?

11:15-11:45am

Discussion Session: The Zine Subject Thesaurus: Reflecting Radical Culture in Controlled Vocabulary
Violet Fox, Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University

Radical materials in libraries and archives are frequently not appropriately described in our catalogs, as prevailing cataloging standards and structures do not reflect the anti-establishment values of those who create these resources. Attendees at this session will learn about the Zine Subject Thesaurus, a vocabulary created and thoughtfully maintained by a collective of zinesters and LIS workers specifically for the description of zines and other radical materials. The presentation will describe the options that this subject thesaurus provides for more robust discoverability of non-traditional library and archival resources, with a particular emphasis on how accurate description of radical materials supports respectful inclusion of works by marginalized creators. Participants will have the opportunity to navigate the thesaurus and select terms that accurately reflect the subjects of sample zines. Library and archives workers will learn how they can adopt terms from the Zine Thesaurus and contribute to making the terminology more adaptive to the materials in their collections.