Subject Heading Enhancement: A Reparative and Inclusive Practice at the University of Virginia Library

For several decades, librarians have raised awareness of and pushed for changes to outdated, biased and problematic Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) terminology. However, the process to change a LCSH is complex and offensive language is still being used in resource descriptions in library catalogs. At the University of Virginia Library, we have decided to dedicate our efforts to remediating biased and harmful language in subject headings in our catalog to ensure a welcoming and inclusive experience for all users. Inspired by other institutions’ endeavors to perform reparative metadata work, a cross-department team in the library was convened to collaboratively create a plan to update the subject headings, aiming to rectify misrepresentation or lack of representation for use in University of Virginia Library descriptive practice. This book chapter will cover the creation of this team, introduce its charge, demonstrate its workflows, and discuss its impact. The goal is to share the details of this process, from outreach considerations to the technical needs to make these changes to the documentation we have created to guide this group forward.

From Billey, Amber, Elizabeth Nelson, and Rebecca Uhl, eds. Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2024.