Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Challenging legacies Arlis 13 May 2022.pdf
Similar to Challenging legacies Arlis 13 May 2022.pdf (20)
More from KatieBlackford
More from KatieBlackford (6)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Challenging legacies Arlis 13 May 2022.pdf
- 1. Challenging legacies: cataloguing, metadata, and the British Library Race Equality Action Plan Alan Danskin Collection Metadata Standards Manager S&V Forum 29 April 2022 ARLIS: Cat & Class ethics series 13th May 2022
- 2. 2 bl.uk Metadata Structured data about data Library catalogues are one kind of metadata Metadata should enable access to our collections for research, inspiration and enjoyment Metadata should not be a barrier to access
- 3. 3 bl.uk Overview British Library Anti-Racism Project 2021 Race Equality Action Plan 2022-2025 Implementation planning and objectives Benchmarking Links Questions
- 4. 4 bl.uk Anti-Racism Project (ARP) Designed as bottom-up, staff led, project Subgroups • Audiences • Behaviour values & Experiences • Cataloguing & Metadata (CAM) • Collections & Content • Data Research and Insights • People & HR Policy • Leaders and Coordinators In July 2020, following the brutal murder of George Floyd and the global protests against racism that resulted, the Anti- Racism Project (ARP), a pan-Library working group was set up. “The Project “will make recommendations both in terms of immediate actions and longer term proposals that we will integrate into our strategy and our culture, to make us a truly anti-racist organisation, in a wide-ranging and sustainable way.” Liz Jolly, Chief Librarian
- 5. 5 bl.uk Cataloguing & Metadata Subgroup: Purpose • To understand and expose the extent and impact of discrimination and bias in the Library's cataloguing practices and metadata. • To facilitate the development and enhancement of descriptions, interpretations and presentations of collection items • To collaborate with colleagues involved in these areas of the Library, and to learn from best practice beyond the Library, to make recommendations to enhance the safety, inclusivity and accessibility of the Library’s collections for all potential users.
- 6. 6 bl.uk 3 Broad objectives: • Metadata • Access & Discovery • Policy & principles 10 Recommendations submitted to ARP (September 2021) Outcomes Making the case for resources: “Communicate the centrality of cataloguing and metadata to the production of knowledge and to the presentation of cultural heritage for our diverse communities “ “Provide greater resource to cataloguing and metadata teams through the creation of new projects and posts and greater resource to Technology to support our infrastructure.”
- 7. Race Equality Action Plan REAP is a three year project It will deliver institutional change across the Library “We have listened to many voices that were previously unheard, and have had challenging conversations about the experiences of staff and users that highlight things that urgently need to change.” Roly Keating, Chief Executive of the British Library
- 8. Outcomes from ARP Cataloguing & Metadata subgroup The recommendations of the CAM sub-group are incorporated in the Race Equality Action Plan published in January 2022 “A fundamental requirement is that the Library’s senior management and structures take ownership of the Subgroups’ recommendations and deliver real change” - Phil Spence, Chief Operating Officer
- 9. 9 bl.uk Metadata • We will establish a comprehensive glossary of inclusive terminology to support a multifaceted collections audit. • We will create a flexible approach for treating problematic terminology that ensures descriptions are contextualised and accurate, and that ensures users are able to experience the catalogue and website safely, warning them where necessary of the potential for discriminatory and harmful content
- 10. 10 bl.uk Access and Discovery We will develop more flexible subject terminologies and discovery approaches • to bypass outdated and inappropriate language; • to surface under-described and undiscoverable collections; • to respect access protocols of culturally sensitive heritage. • We will improve discovery of marginalised experiences in the collection through the creation of guides, finding aids, blogs, social media, as well as increased, targeted, and fuller cataloguing.
- 11. 11 bl.uk Policy & Principles We will: • establish ethical principles for cataloguing and metadata • ensure that staff tasked to work on sensitive material receive adequate knowledge, training, and emotional support. • provide regular and mandatory training to all staff on best practice.
- 13. Pilot project Collection Metadata in Collaboration with Collections and Curation Proof of concept – end to end • Sustainable workflows for equitable and inclusive collection description and discovery • Review language used in metadata and interpretation • Expanded glossary of potentially offensive terms, contextual guidance, and inclusive alternatives • Methodology for auditing indigenous cultural heritage and culturally sensitive material research provenance • Develop and publish guidance for Library users and training for staff • Co-collect with community groups • Experiment with eternal advisors/board
- 14. Resourcing New (fixed term) posts • Metadata lead and Metadata coordinator roles • Curatorial role Support • Collection Metadata Analyst • Metadata Quality & Assurance team • Curators
- 15. 15 bl.uk CM1.1 Establish a comprehensive glossary of problematic and inclusive terminology as a reference for the cataloguing of culturally sensitive material Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0 Carissa Chew – Inclusive terminology: guide & glossary for the cultural heritage sector. May, 2021
- 16. 16 bl.uk 170 million items and counting… Audit of the collection and metadata is a huge undertaking Cannot be completed within REAP timeframe Proof of Concept Pilot Project • Select representative collections • Apply appropriate methodologies • Develop sustainable workflows CM1.2 Establish a multifaceted approach to auditing the collections for racist descriptions through resourced projects and business as usual work in cataloguing & curation teams Selection criteria • Covers major cataloguing systems: Aleph, IAMS, SAMI • Includes different content and media types • Relates to communities in UK and countries abroad • Includes different languages/scripts • Can build on existing glossary • Complex provenance issues • Large enough to be meaningful; small enough to be achievable Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0
- 17. 17 bl.uk Developed from Carissa Chew’s work at National library of Scotland Supplemented by work carried out within the British Library Enriched by pilot project Machine actionability Requirements for vocabulary management CM1.3 Establish a flexible schema for treating problematic terminology that considers terms in context, while not inhibiting the accurate identification of items Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0 slave(s) - enslaved persons
- 18. CM 4.0 Implement guidance by which users are made aware of terms or images in the Library’s [content or metadata ] that may cause offence or distress True echoes project Content Guidance Steering Group is looking at the principles and strategy underpinning content guidance. CAM proposed 3 levels • General + context • Collection level • Item level Warnings, Advice, or Guidelines? Redactions? Revisions? Warning: descriptions in the British Library’s catalogues reproduce original terms found in historical publications and archival documents, including some terms which are now considered discriminatory, harmful, or offensive. See our Statement on Language in British Library Catalogues. Illustrative text proposed by CAM
- 19. 19 bl.uk Subject indexing is expensive Shared vocabularies distribute costs But one size does not fit all Pace of change New Technology CM5.0 Develop more flexible subject approaches Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0 • Alternative vocabularies • Supplement • Replace
- 20. 20 bl.uk CM8.0 Establish ethical principles for cataloguing and metadata from which to update and maintain policies and procedures Embedding ethical metadata principles and practice Standards development Choice of standards and vocabularies Choice of suppliers Scoping of projects Collection Description Subject Analysis CAM task group reviewed guidance from professional bodies IFLA, ICA, CILIP, MA Cataloguing Ethics Steering Committee Provisional mapping to BL values Turning principles into actions and behaviours Practical examples of good practice
- 21. 21 bl.uk CM3.1 Create a more accessible and transparent feedback process to encourage users to report harmful material 3.2 Develop processes to enable continuous collaboration with stakeholder communities, while respecting our partners’ time and labour. Engaging with our audiences Signposting Single gateway The pilot project will include engagement with stakeholders Build on existing relationships and create new ones. It is the Library’s responsibility to serve all its audiences
- 22. 22 bl.uk 6.0 Develop the means to search the collections by language, especially lesser known languages and to search in original script 7.0 Work with indigenous communities and experts to establish appropriate access and description protocols for material of relevance to indigenous cultural heritage Engaging with our audiences Build on success of Languid project Supersede or supplement transliteration with original script True Echoes is an exemplar CARE Principles for indigenous data governance Guidance
- 23. Reimagine Descriptive Workflows: A Community- Informed Agenda for Reparative and Inclusive Descriptive Practice (oclc.org) “The goal is to break down current systems and to rebuild our workflows and our profession in a way that minimizes harm and also honors and includes.” “It is…constructed to instruct and chart a path toward reparative and inclusive description. “ “Nobody should be compelled to use a slur to search a catalogue.”
- 24. OCLC Framework of guidance Organizational shifts: Changes at the institutional and organizational level in terms of restructuring priorities, budgets, and staffing that require investment from leadership. Operational workflows: Changes needed in day-to-day practice. These changes require support from institutional policy, priorities, and funding. Organizational leadership needs to support mid-level managers and practitioners in implementation. Professional and personal development: Investment in education and mind- shift. This work is for everyone in the organization, regardless of role, and must be ongoing.
- 25. Organizational Shifts Operational workflows Professional and personal development Budgets, priorities, staffing Changes day to day practice Investment in education and “mind- shift” for everyone. CM2.0, CM9.0 CM1-CM10, CC1, CC2.3.3 CM1.4, CM8.0, CM10 Acknowledge to amend Prioritize a human centred approach create systems of support CM1.1-1.3, CM 4, CM5.0. CM6.0, CC2.1.2; CC2.3.6 CC2.4.3 CM1.4, CM6.0, CC2.1.2, CC2.1.4 CM1.4 Commit to the long game Support new values Organizational, professional, and personal accountability CM6.0, CM8.0 CM8.0; BL Values; REAP Slow down to move it forward CM1.4 Promote respectful, reciprocal, community co- design CM3.1, CM 3.2, CM4.0, CM7.0, CC2.1.4 hold generous spaces
- 26. Concluding remarks The purpose of our catalogue is to make public collections more accessible to those who want to use them for research, inspiration, or enjoyment We are in the early stages of a programme with the object of removing barriers to access This presentation only addressed cataloguing, metadata and collections • Work on the other aspects is proceeding in parallel with the cataloguing and metadata work described here.
- 27. 27 bl.uk Links Enacting change – rolling out our Race Equality Action Plan - Living Knowledge blog https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2022/01/enacting-change-rolling-out-our-race-equality-action-plan.html Inclusive Terminology Guide Glossary - Carissa Chew - NLS - 1.0.pdf - Google Drive https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C3fjqUi0nmAjhghzAO2FXxUbdbqX0fJo/view Reimagine Descriptive Workflows: A Community-Informed Agenda for Reparative and Inclusive Descriptive Practice (oclc.org) https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/publications/2022/oclcresearch-reimagine-descriptive-workflows- a4.pdf
- 28. 28 bl.uk Links Languid Project Victoria Morris (2020) Automated Language Identification of Bibliographic Resources, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 58:1, 1-27, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2019.1700201 https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2019.1700201 (CCQ) Article | Automated Language Identification of Bibliographic Resources | ID: 6c99ffcb-0003-477d-8a58-64cf8c45ecf5 | Hyku (British Library Research Repository) GIDA CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance — Global Indigenous Data Alliance (gida-global.org)