Rachel K. Fischer (rfischer@ccslib.org) is the Member Services Librarian for Technical Services at Cooperative Computer Services (CCS). She has an MLIS from Dominican University and an MSM from Minot State University. Rachel has published articles in Public Library Quarterly, Library Hi Tech, Reference and User Services Quarterly, and Library Journal.
This article is an expanded version of a presentation that was previously presented at the Core Cataloging & Classification Research Interest Group Meeting, Virtual Interest Group Week, July 28, 2021.
This article summarizes the work done as part of a project to improve subject description of an LGBTQ + collection in the ONE Archives, part of the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries. The project involved adding local subject headings to augment existing Library of Congress Subject Headings. The article describes the steps that the project team took, along with the methods that were rejected. The paper discusses reasons why the team chose their course of action.
University of Central Oklahoma’s Max Chambers Library is committed to serving underrepresented communities. One way this is accomplished is through the professional catalogers' dedication to accurately and respectfully describing materials relating to underrepresented communities. They are actively taking steps to ameliorate these problematic practices that directly affect the Central community's access to library resources. In addition to retrospective projects, the library’s Systems division is working on creating a culture that supports inclusive metadata practices, both within the library and regionally in Oklahoma—which presents its own challenges in a deeply conservative state. Join us to learn about our initiatives and where we hope to take them next.
Building upon the legacy of Gay and Lesbian Library Service (1990, "invaluable"--Library Journal; "recommended"--Booklist), this current anthology brings the discussion into a 21st century context by broadening the community base served and by examining the role of the Internet and Web 2.0 in libraries and archives. Many chapters include personal accounts of individuals' experiences to illustrate the importance of library services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer/questioning users. Specific topics include: library services provided to LGBTIQ youth; collection assessment and the process of gauging user satisfaction; the classification of LGBTIQ resources in the Dewey Decimal Classification system; attempts to restrict access to LGBTIQ resources through challenges, censorship, and Internet filtering; and workplace concerns of LGBTIQ library workers.
Libraries and archives have long been rich sites of exploration for LGBTQ+ people in search of self-understanding, identification, shared experience, and community. Yet the information infrastructures that guide every quest for queer and trans information remain silently powerful mediators of our research processes. Through an extended discussion of the Homosaurus, an international LGBTQ linked data vocabulary that the authors helped to develop, this article explores how queer information activism can confront the impoverished tools available for describing queer and trans resources. By focusing on both “corrective” and “analytic” strategies, the authors argue that the Homosaurus must work to expand the queer and trans terminology available for subject description while still challenging the structure and process of classificatory systems as always in tension with our queer aspirations.