This page provides links to articles, best practices, vocabularies, guidelines, and other resources that offer guidance for incorporating inclusive metadata practices.
"Metadata creators must possess awareness of their own worldviews, and work at identifying where those views exclude other human experiences ..."
"Inclusive Description is description which recognizes that no archival function is neutral, including description, but that actions can be taken to remediate and avoid bias and harmful language in finding aids, catalog records, and other description."
--Society of American Archivists (n.d.)
Local Contexts: Tools for Supporting Indigenous Rights and Interests in Collections. In this webinar, which was hosted by the DPLA Rights Statements Working Group, the Local Contexts team will introduce the Labels and Notices and how they can be used to support Indigenous rights and interests in collections and data.Every Indigenous community has cultural and biological knowledge within educational systems, archives, libraries, and museums that they do not own, do not control, and cannot govern circulation over. Local Contexts is a global nonprofit organization that was founded to address the needs of Indigenous communities and local organizations who wanted a practical method to deal with the range of intellectual property issues that arise in relation to managing cultural heritage materials. The Local Contexts Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Labels and Notices are tools for Indigenous communities and collections- and research-based institutions to support Indigenous cultural authority and data sovereignty. Other DPLA webinars can be found at https://pro.dp.la/events/workshops.
Special Projects in Reparative and Inclusive Description. In this workshop of the DPLA Reparative and Inclusive Description series, presenters share how they approached description projects for special collections at their universities. Projects include: reparative description for Nazi publications identified in the collection, expanding access to electronic agricultural extension reports through non-English language subject headings, and applying content statements and strategies for graphic images/thumbnails. Other DPLA webinars can be found at https://pro.dp.la/events/workshops.
Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Metadata. Capturing information about gender and sexuality in descriptive metadata often surfaces questions and unique considerations about how to effectively maximize exposure of diverse collections without mislabeling or putting members of vulnerable communities at increased risk. At this presentation, attendees will hear a variety of perspectives on strategies for how to approach the capture of this information, as well as how to implement existing resources to help enhance collection metadata. Other DPLA webinars can be found at https://pro.dp.la/events/workshops.
Aske, K., & Giardinetti, M. (2023). (Mis)Matching Metadata: Improving Accessibility in Digital Visual Archives through the EyCon Project. ACM JOURNAL ON COMPUTING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE, 16(4).
Beckman, L., Eaton, L., Ferguson, Y., Heilbrun, D., Lavender, R., Mackenzie, T., & Schubel, D. (2022). "Ethical and Anti-Oppressive Metadata: A Collaboration Between Catalogers and Archivists at George Mason University Libraries". Collaborative Librarianship, 13(1), Article 5.
Boczar, Jason, Bonita Pollock, Xiying Mi, and Amanda Yeslibas. 2021. “Bridging the Gap: Using Linked Data to Improve Discoverability and Diversity in Digital Collections.” Information Technology & Libraries 40 (4): 1–15. https://doi:10.6017/ital.v40i4.13063.
(2018). Library of Congress Subject Headings Related to Indigenous Peoples: Changing LCSH for Use in a Canadian Archival Context, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 56:1, 83-95, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2017.1382641
Campbell, Heather M., Christopher S. Dieckman, Wesley Teal, and Harriet E. Wintermute. (2022). “Improving Subject Headings for Iowa Indigenous Peoples.” Library Resources & Technical Services 66 (1) https://doi:10.5860/lrts.66n1.48.
Caswell, M., Migoni, A.A, Geraci, N., and Cifor, M. (2016). "'To Be Able to Imagine Otherwise': Community Archives and the Importance of Representation." Archives and Records (special issue on public history): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/23257962.2016.1260445
Chen, S. (2014). A holistic perspective on indigenous digital libraries in Taiwan. Presentation at 2014 IFLA World Library and Information Congress.
Chigwada, J., & Ngulube, P. (2024). Librarians’ role in the preservation and dissemination of indigenous knowledge. IFLA Journal, 50(2), 242-246. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352231217270
Cifor, M. & Rawson, K.J. (2022). "Mediating Queer and Trans Pasts: The Homosaurus as Queer Information Activism", Information, Communication & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2072753
Deng, S., & Davidian, C. (2021). Embracing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Library Cataloging. Technical Services Quarterly, 38(3), 315–320.
Drabinski, E. (2013). Queering the catalog: Queer theory and the politics of correction. Library Quarterly I(2), 94-111.
Ewalt, J. M. (2019). Towards inclusive description: Reparations through community-driven metadata, New England Archivists Newsletter, 46:2, https://ecommons.udayton.edu/imri_faculty_publications/41/
Grogg, J. & Rosen, H. (2020). "Accessibility for Digital Materials". Serials Review, 46(2), 73-75, DOI: 10.1080/00987913.2020.1782653
Hardesty, J. L., & Nolan, A. (2021). Mitigating Bias in Metadata: A Use Case Using Homosaurus Linked Data. Information Technology & Libraries, 40(3), 1–14.
Haugen, M., & Billey, A. (2020). Building a More Diverse and Inclusive Cataloging Cooperative. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 58(3/4), 382–396.
Holloway, S. W., Kaiser, J., & Flota, B. (2022). Re-imagining (black) comic book cataloguing: increasing accessibility through metadata at one university library. Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics, 13(6), 884–914.
Kaplan, E. (2000). "We Are What We Collect, We Collect What We Are: Archives and the Construction of Identity," American Archivist 63, pp. 126-151. https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc.63.1.h554377531233l05
(2022). "Term Circles: Using Linked Data as a Tool to Mitigate Colonial Subject Bias," Journal of Library Metadata, 22:1-2, 105-133, : 10.1080/19386389.2022.2051980
Liew, C. L. (2005). Cross-cultural design and usability of a digital library supporting access to Maori cultural heritage resources. In Design and usability of digital libraries: Case studies in the Asia Pacific (pp. 285-297). Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.
Littletree, S., & Metoyer, C. A. (2015). Knowledge organization from an indigenous perspective: The Mashantucket Pequot Thesaurus of American Indian Terminology Project. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 53(5-6), 640-657. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2015.1010113
Luke, S., Pezzoni, S. & Russell, W. (2022). “Towards More Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive Representation in Metadata and Digitization: A Case Study". The Serials Librarian, 82:1-4, pp.55-62, https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2022.2040241
Madden, L. (2020). A New Direction for Library Technical Services: Using Metadata Skills to Improve User Accessibility. Serials Review, 46(2), 143–146.
Maron, D., Missen, C., & Greenberg, J. (2014). “Lo-fi to hi-fi”: A new metadata approach in the third world with the eGranary Digital Library. Presentation from the International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications. Retrieved from http://dcpapers.dublincore.org/pubs/article/view/3713
Meyer, B. (2022). Review of Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources. Visual Resources Association Bulletin, 49(2), 1.
Olson, H. A. (2007). How we construct subjects: A feminist analysis. Library Trends 56(2), 509-541.
Rinn, Meghan R. (2018) Nineteenth-Century Depictions of Disabilities and Modern Metadata: A Consideration of Material in the P. T. Barnum Digital Collection, Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 5, Article 1. Available at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol5/iss1/1
Sahadath, C. (2013). Classifying the margins: Using alternative classification systems to empower diverse and marginalized users. Feliciter 59(3) 15-17.
Serrao, J. (2019). Connecting Collections with Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive Metadata, presented at the South Carolina Archival Association Annual Meeting in Newberry, South Carolina held October 25, 2019. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/lib_pres/179/
Walker, W. & Keenan, T. (2015). "Do You Hear What I See? Assessing Accessibility of Digital Commons and CONTENTdm". Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 27(2), pp. 69-87
Wood, S., Carbone, K., Cifor, M., Gilliland, A., & Punzalan, R. (2014). Mobilizing records: re-framing archival description to support human rights. Archival Science 14(3-4), 397-419. doi: 10.1007/s10502-014-9233-1
Irene Yi, Amelia Lake, Juhyae Kim, Kassandra Haakman, Jeremiah Jewell, Sarah Babinski, & Claire Bowern. (2022). Accessibility, Discoverability, and Functionality: An Audit of and Recommendations for Digital Language Archives. Journal of Open Humanities Data, 8.
Ethical Questions in Name Authority Control by 
Social Justice Design and Implementation in Library and Information Science by Archives for Black Lives (A4BLiP)
Bias and Inclusivity in Metadata: Awareness and Approaches (Juliet Hardesty, 2019, webinar)
Creating metadata for equity, diversity, and inclusion (Smith-Yoshimura, 2018)
Guidelines for Inclusive and Conscientious Description (Lellman, Charlotte, et al., May 2020, Harvard University)
Inclusive Description (Society of American Archivists)
Inclusive Language (18F, U.S. General Services Administration)
Inclusive Metadata & Conscious Editing Resources (Sunshine State Digital Network Metadata Working Group)
Indigenous/LC/Wikidata Project (reconciling LCSH terms)
It's All In The Details: Implementing Inclusive Metadata — 2021 OA Week (Wintermute, 2021, Iowa State University)
Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources (The Trans Metadata Collective)
Metadata for Everyone: Inclusive Description at the Duke University Libraries (blog post)
Moving Forward With Equitable Metadata: Changing Exclusive Terminology (Digital NC blog post)
Searching for Black women in the archives: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (Audrey Altman, 2021)
Traditional Knowledge Labels (for Indigenous communities)
We Can Do Better: Making Our Metadata More Equitable (Digital NC blog post)
