Rethinking Metadata’s Value and How It Is Evaluated

Shortcomings of Bibliographic Description in Service of Indigenous Peoples in Canada

“…While there are ongoing efforts to challenge and undo the Western bias in the cataloguing community (Moulaison Sandy & Bossaller, 2017), significant challenges remain. A major challenge to generating motivation to Indigenize catalogues is the cost efficiencies created by interoperability (Jaffe, 2020). Nonetheless, cataloguers must consider the ethical motivation to do this work (Jaffe, 2020;Reijerkerk, 2020).…”

“…A major challenge to generating motivation to Indigenize catalogues is the cost efficiencies created by interoperability (Jaffe, 2020). Nonetheless, cataloguers must consider the ethical motivation to do this work (Jaffe, 2020;Reijerkerk, 2020). Other challenges include the lack of money and time for community consultation, the lack of meaningful relationships between libraries and Indigenous communities (Reijerkerk, 2020), the legacy records that are inaccurately described (Hobart, 2020;Kleiber et al, 2018), and the seemingly unmoving forces of the standards that govern cataloguing practice.…”

“…Cataloguers in what is now known as Canada have several metadata standards that guide their work: Resource Description and Access (RDA), Library of Congress Classification (LCC), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Canadian Subject Headings (CSH), and Répertoire de vedettes-matière, in addition to any local policies the cataloguing department of a library may choose to enforce. Adhering to these standards is intended to ensure interoperability between library catalogues and minimize duplication of work (Jaffe, 2020). The structures and contents of these standards have a strong bias towards a Western worldview that leaves little room for alternative and equally valid perspectives (Moulaison Sandy & Bossaller, 2017).…”

“…This embedded ignorance of other ways of knowing the world enacts harm against Indigenous library users. The work of the modern cataloguer should extend beyond mechanical adherence to established standards; the work should include critical evaluation of the ethics of the harm cataloguing standards cause marginalized users (Jaffe, 2020). Much work has already been done to analyze and evaluate the shortcomings of the traditional library catalogue for capturing and displaying information related to Indigenous Peoples.…”

“…Respecting and supporting Indigenous sovereignty in metadata is an ethical imperative (Jaffe, 2020;Reijerkerk, 2020). In current practice, interoperability is strongly favoured at the expense of ethical metadata and customization to best serve local users: "[cataloguers] are now most often instructed to not … [customize and enhance records] so as to not compromise the quality, i.e., the interoperability and reusability of the records they create, or to expend more resources than are necessary" (Jaffe, 2020, p. 437).…”