[DCRM-L] statements on harmful language or catalog remediation

[Ann K.D. Myers]

Francis,

Stanford's statement can be found here: https://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-our-collections/stanford-special-collections-and-university-archives-statement-potentially

and includes the following, which is almost but not quite about transcription:

  *   We carefully consider potentially offensive or harmful language in our own descriptions, as well as in the materials we are describing.

  *   We do not censor the materials in our care, but when they touch on potentially harmful subjects or use potentially harmful language, we work to provide historical context.

  *   We aim to clarify when language is provided from another source, including description or folder titles provided by the donor, creator, collector, vendor, or another source, via use of quotation marks around the language, and/or providing additional context.

We have been discussing ways to incorporate this or other statements within our catalog interface. We are particularly interested in providing some additional context to digital objects that contain potentially offensive imagery. In our current display, the images appear on the screen before users see any of the metadata about the images, so we've been exploring whether there's a way to add a banner message or something. I think currently we are leaning towards some kind of link to our statement and/or related policy at the top of every catalog record, so that we do not get into the business of judging when warnings are warranted or not on a case by case basis. But we have not implemented anything yet.

Very interested to see others' solutions! Thanks for bringing this up.

--Ann


Ann K.D. Myers

Rare Books Cataloger

Stanford Libraries

Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives

415 Broadway, Floor 1, 8406

Redwood City, CA 94063

650-723-0123

akdmyers at stanford.edu

she/her/hers

________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> on behalf of Lapka, Francis <francis.lapka at yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2020 10:42 AM
To: 'dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu' <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: [DCRM-L] statements on harmful language or catalog remediation


A colleague has brought my attention to this admirable statement on cataloging<https://clarklibrary.ucla.edu/research/statementoncataloging/> at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. I believe this is the central idea (but I encourage folks to read the entirety):



The Clark Library is revising our cataloging practices, checking records for accuracy and to eliminate, whenever possible, language that is biased or racist. We are updating metadata especially in instances when the historical narrative needs to be challenged or when greater social context needs to be included.



I believe a lot of institution are drafting similar language. At Yale, we have (so far) a Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description<https://guides.library.yale.edu/specialcollections/statementondescription>, which includes mention of our efforts in reparative work.



In light of statements such as this, I wonder:



  1.  Has anyone undertaken a statement that acknowledges the difficulty presented by harmful language in transcribed fields, especially in historical special collections material?



  1.  The statements that I’ve encountered so far all exist outside of the catalog proper. Are there any such statements within a catalog interface, e.g. in a footer or other boilerplate? Has anyone considered adding explanatory statements directly to a catalog record that has particularly harmful language (presumably transcribed)?



Francis





Francis Lapka

Senior Catalogue Librarian

Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts

Yale Center for British Art

203-432-9672  ·  francis.lapka at yale.edu<mailto:francis.lapka at yale.edu>




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