DEI in Metadata Overview

SWAN’s DEI in Metadata Working Group discussed and made decisions on issues relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion as it pertained to SWAN’s bibliographic catalog and discovery services. The group consisted of member volunteers and was led by SWAN’s Bibliographic Services manager, who was also responsible for implementation of the group’s decisions. This group no longer meets, but the description of their charge is retained below. We plan to revisit this topic in the future following recommendations of the DEI in Metadata Networking Group of Illinois when they become available.

Membership

The group is made up of SWAN member staff volunteers. There are no requirements other than holding a staff position at a SWAN member library. Many of our volunteers work in cataloging and technical services, but detailed cataloging knowledge is not necessary to be a valuable contributor to the group.

The group meets monthly via Zoom. Meeting are listed in L2: SWAN DEI in Metadata Working Group meetings. Meetings are open for all SWAN member staff. You may sit in as a listener or contribute on a meeting-by-meeting basis as well.

Goals

The group’s goal is to respond to and change terminology in our catalog that relates to minority and marginalized groups and is either offensive, outdated, or otherwise failing to ideally serve our diverse patrons. We aim to make our catalog and discovery services respectful to all people while enhancing discoverability of SWAN materials by promoting modern language and tailoring metadata to the language and search practices used by our patrons.

Some of our activities

  • Existing subject headings – Examining language from SWAN’s primary subject and genre controlled vocabularies, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT). Suggesting alternative or supplementary terms.
  • New subject headings – Recommending alternative subject vocabularies that can help SWAN cataloging staff provide more refined access to collections.
  • Names – Ensuring personal and corporate name access points are aligned with the identities of the people they describe.

Methodology

Other libraries, consortia, working groups, and professional organizations have been discussing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.[di3]  In particular, the SWAN DEI working group is tracking the progress of the DEI in Metadata Networking Group. This is a discussion group in Illinois that was founded to fill a perceived gap in the conversation.

The DEI in Metadata Networking Group has created several of its own working groups that will research and make recommendations on specific DEI topic areas such as immigration, LGBTQ+ people, native and Indigenous populations, and accessibility. Together, the working groups are building a toolkit of references, resources, and recommendations for libraries who wish to start their own local DEI projects. Several SWAN staff are involved in the Networking Group and its topical working groups.

The SWAN DEI working group has decided to align its work with the statewide group’s toolkit development to ease the burden of research, outreach, and decision-making that would otherwise fall on SWAN and member staff. As a result, the group’s progress has slowed in 2022, but we will have a much better foundation for confidently aligning our work with industry trends.

Although we will interpret the recommendations of other groups, SWAN’s DEI in Metadata Working Group makes the final choices for our metadata.

Leadership and more information

The chair of SWAN’s DEI in Metadata Working Group was the SWAN Assistant Director, Scott Brandwein. If you want more information or wish to become a part of the discussion, send an e-mail to scott@swanlibraries.net.