Libraries across the nation created and launched many Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives in recent years. These initiatives have been applied in all areas of the library, including cataloging and technical services. Attend this conference to see these efforts moving from proposal to practice. This Amigos Library Services online conference will examine EDI in action today in cataloging and technical services.
For more information about this conference, contact Jodie Borgerding, borgerding@amigos.org or (972)340-2897.
Session Description: A panel of GLAMS professionals will share their experiences with crowd-sourced, self-organized groups that are working to create more inclusive and representative description and discovery spaces for their communities.
The Trans Metadata Collective's Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources (Adrian Williams) is the result of a year of work and collaboration by a group of dozens of catalogers, librarians, archivists, scholars, and information professionals with a concerted interest in improving the bibliographic description of trans and gender diverse people in GLAMS (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums, and Special Collections). The Collective's primary goal was to develop a set of best practices for the description, cataloging, and classification of information resources as well as the creation of metadata about trans and gender-diverse people, including authors and other creators.
Cataloging Lab (Violet Fox): In tandem with the work done by those in SACO Funnels, using the Cataloging Lab can help library workers better understand the research that is necessary to propose new or revised headings. Learn more about this wiki designed to make authority work more transparent and accessible to anyone who is interested.
Speaker Bio: Shay Beezley, Assistant Director of Metadata & Cataloging, leads a team of six full-time catalogers and four student employees in ensuring the discoverability of library resources at the University of Central Oklahoma's Chambers Library. Her professional interests include MARC data remediation, ethics in cataloging and classification, and providing access to special collections and regional resources. Additionally, she serves in various leadership capacities for the Oklahoma Library Association and the Ex Libris Users of North America. She received her MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Speaker Bio: Anona Earls is Librarian III/Coordinator of Deselection, Metadata & Cataloging at UCO Chambers Library. Her past eight years in this role has included original cataloging, supervising the library's interdepartmental deselection process, providing metadata expertise as a member of the library's Digital Initiatives Working Group, acting as collection development liaison for three academic departments, and supervising her department's student employees. Her professional interests within librarianship include cataloging, metadata, archives, and digital collections.
Speaker Bio: Lisa Thornton is the Acquisitions and Collections Librarian at Seton Hall University, NJ, where she oversees and manages all aspects of the life cycle of print and electronic library resources. Prior to assuming this role in the Fall of 2022, she was a Technical Services Librarian at a public library where she spearheaded multiple collection management projects including a re-classification of physical materials to improve inclusivity. Lisa is an active member of the New Jersey Library Association; she serves on the Professional Development Committee and is Past-President of the Technical Services and Collection Development Section.
Speaker Bio: Yuji Tosaka has worked as Cataloging/Metadata Librarian at The College of New Jersey since 2008. He also currently serves as the interim Head of Cataloging and Metadata. Yuji holds an MLIS degree from Kent State University, as well as a Ph.D. degree in history from The Ohio State University. Yuji has written and presented on various cataloging and metadata topics, such as professional continuing education, cataloging standards and practice, and the use and value of bibliographic data in library catalogs.
Specific examples include establishing a new pattern of subject headings for works of comics scholarship; proposing multiple subject headings to reflect the demographic diversity of superheroes; and proposing new comics genres, including genderqueer comics and manga (officially approved in November 2022!).
Speaker Bio: Allison Bailund is a cataloging and acquisitions specialist at San Diego State University. She's currently the co-chair of the ALA GNCRT (Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable) Metadata & Cataloging Committee, chair of the CSU (California State University) ULMS (Unified Library Management System) Inclusive Description Task Force and one of the inaugural coordinators for the Comics and Fiction NACO and SACO Funnel.
Speaker Bio: Meghan is a Children's Selector at Pioneer Library System. She has worked with Readers' Services since 2017. Meghan has her MLIS from the University of North Texas and her BS in Education from the University of Oklahoma. She has worked as a classroom teacher, a municipal librarian, and in collection development for a library system. Meghan has experience with children's collections, collection maintenance, intellectual freedom, and early literacy and school readiness initiatives.
Speaker Bio: Anne earned her MLIS from the University of Oklahoma in 1992 and has worked as a Selector for 28 years at the Pioneer Library System. She, along with her co-workers, has developed and presented trainings on Intellectual Freedom and Weeding Collections for PLS staff.
While there is no definitive way to identify all intellectual contributors with African and/or Latinx descent, there are encyclopedias such as the Latin American Index and the International Directory of Black Composers that facilitate these searches. Through these directories, student music library assistants searched the local catalog for works by these composers. Tagging these works with a collection title of Music by Black and Latinx Composers Collections has allowed users to search for music by these underrepresented composers within subsets of the collection. This URL shows a search capturing the collection title within the UT Collections catalog, tiny.utk.edu/4lDgm.
Speaker Bio: Kathryn Shepas joined the George F. DeVine Music Library team in 2017 as the music library's first Graduate Student Library Assistant for outreach and engagement events. In 2019, she was hired as a supervisor for the music library where she managed a team of ten undergraduate and graduate student library assistants (SLAs). When working with SLAs, she focused on developing their information literacy skills through experiential learning and active engagement to prepare students for future careers or degree pursuits. She has project management skills that have led her student team to complete a variety of projects including the demographics project we will be speaking about in this presentation. Shepas has recently accepted a faculty appointment at the University of Tennessee as the Student Success for User Experience Librarian. She proudly holds a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from West Virginia University and a Master of Music and Master of Science in Information Science from the University of Tennessee.
Speaker Bio: M. Nathalie Hristov has served as Associate Professor and Music Librarian at the University of Tennessee since 2005. Since 2009, Professor Hristov also serves as Exhibits Coordinator for the University of Tennessee Ready for the World Music Series. Her research on marketing music library services has been presented at national and international conferences including the national conference of the Music Library Association, and the International Association of Music Libraries. Her written works have been published by peer-reviewed journals, which include Music and Reference Services Quarterly, Technical Services Quarterly, Science and Technology Libraries, the Journal of Creative Library Practice, and Tennessee Libraries. She is also on the board and has served as Secretary of HoLa Hora Latina, a non-profit organization that promotes Hispanic culture and heritage throughout East Tennessee.