Inclusive Description

INTRODUCTION

This is an evolving list of resources for archivists seeking guidance on how to describe collections in a more inclusive way. Inclusive description is description which recognizes that no archival function is neutral, including description, but that actions can be taken to remediate and avoid bias and harmful language in finding aids, catalog records, and other description. It is the hope of the Description Section that providing a centralized list of these resources will assist archivists in remediating and avoiding language which harms BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, working class people, and other marginalized groups of people.

The resources listed herein are crowd-sourced and, with the exception of the Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia Anti-Racist Description Resources and the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, are not formally endorsed by SAA or the Description Section. Please carefully consider the context of each of the following resources when deciding whether or not to implement ideas from them. While the Description Section Steering Committee will not include resources it determines to be harmful, we are not able to review all submitted resources in their entirety. We also recognize that we may overlook some problems due to our own implicit biases. Resources provided herein are shared with the intention of promoting respect for all people. Any content or information about resources provided herein that is perceived to malign any group, individual, or community, or that conflicts with the SAA Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics, should be brought to the attention of the Description Section Committee Chair for review and potential removal from the list. We welcome and appreciate your feedback.

Last update: May 9, 2024

RESOURCES

Descriptive Notes, the blog of the Description Section, presents an ongoing series of posts relating to inclusive and reparative archival description.

Case studies

• Video - Change the Subject - “A documentary about labels, libraries, and activism” (Jill E. Baron) - 2019

• Article - A Data-Driven Approach to Reparative Description at the University of Chicago (Ashley Gosselar) - 2022

• Video - Every Step You Take: Practical Steps for Inclusive & Reparative Description (Betts Coup) - 2021

• Article - An Exploration into Archival Descriptions of LGBTQ Materials (Erin Baucom) - 2018

• Working paper - Library of Congress Subject Headings Related to Indigenous Peoples: a Project Changing LCSH for use in a Canadian Archival Context (Christine Bone, Brett Lougheed) - 2017 and Changes to Library of Congress Subject Headings Related to Indigenous Peoples: for use in the AMA MAIN Database (Christine Bone, Brett Lougheed, Camille Callison, Janet La France, Terry Reilly) - 2017

• Article - Nineteenth-Century Depictions of Disabilities and Modern Metadata: A Consideration of Material in the P.T. Barnum Digital Collection (Megan R. Rinn) - 2018

• Article - The Platinum Rule Meets the Golden Minimum: Inclusive and Efficient Archival Description of Oral Histories (Weatherly A. Stephan) - 2021

• Article - Redescribing Japanese American Collections at UCLA, page 6 (Courtney Dean) - 2019

• Article - Remediating Euphemistic Language in Yale’s Collections Documenting Japanese American Incarceration, page 5 (Stephanie Bredbenner and Jessica Tai) - 2021

• Article - Reparative Description of Disability Collections (Annalisa Morretti) - 2021

• PDF - Reparative Processing of the Luis Alberto Sánchez papers: Engaging the Conflict between Archival Values and Minimal Processing Practices (Alexandra deGraffenreid) - 2021

Controlled vocabularies and glossaries

• Website - AustLang (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies) - 2023

• Website - Homosaurus, an International LGBTQ+ Linked Data Vocabulary (Digital Transgender Archive) - 2023

• Google Sheet - Native American Names Cross Reference (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) - 2016

Cultural protocols

• Website - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives and Information Services (Australian Library and Information Association) - 2012

• Website - Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (First Archivist Circle) - 2007 [Endorsed by SAA]

  • Video - Implementing the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials: Webinar Series and Resource Toolkit (SAA Native American Archives Section) - 2019-2020

  • Website - additional resources related to the Protocols (SAA Native American Archives Section) - 2019-2022

• Website - Traditional Knowledge and BioCultural Labels to assist in describing rights, access, and use of Indigenous cultural heritage materials (Local Contexts) - 2019

 Manuals and guidelines

• Website - Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia Anti-Racist Description Resources (Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia) - 2020 [Endorsed by SAA]

• Google Sheet - First Nations, Métis and Inuit - Indigenous Ontologies (National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance) - 2019

• PDF - A Guide to Conscious Editing at Wilson Special Collections Library (Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) - 2022

• Website - A Guide to Creating Inclusive and Reparative Archival Description (Tulane University Libraries) - 2024

• PDF - Guidelines for Addressing Bias in Archival Description and Catalog Records (The Orbis Cascade Alliance) - 2021

  • These guidelines will:

    • Provide information regarding current practices already being implemented by Alliance institutions.
    • Provide tiered recommendations for drafting general and specific statements regarding bias in description and harmful content in collections, including options for where to place these statements in the library catalog, archival finding aids, and other descriptive resources.
    • Provide links to examples of statements acknowledging bias and harmful language in catalog records and archival description from other institutions. 
    • Facilitate ongoing discussions around problematic content, description, and cataloging.  

• Wiki - Guidelines for Inclusive and Conscientious Description (Center for the History of Medicine at the Francis A. Countway Library of Harvard Medical School) - 2020

• PDF - Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources (Trans Metadata Collective) - 2022

• Website - Reparative Archival Description Working Group (Yale University Reparative Archival Description Working Group) - 2023

• PDF - TRLN Exhibition Language Guidelines: A Working Document for Academic Library Exhibit Professionals (Triangle Research Libraries Network) - 2022

• Google Doc - Writing about Slavery/Teaching About Slavery: This Might Help (P. Gabrielle Foreman, et al.) - 2023

Research and theory (articles, academic papers, etc.)

• Article - Critical Archival Studies: An Introduction (Michelle Caswell, Ricardo Punzalan, T-Kay Sangwand) - 2017

• Article - Decolonization in the Archives: at the item level (Sam Frederick) - 2019

• Article - The House Archives Built (Dorothy Berry) - 2022

• Slide deck - Identifying and Dismantling White Supremacy in the Archives: An Incomplete List of White Privileges in Archives and Action Items for Dismantling Them (Grace Brilmeyer) - 2016 

• Video - Implementing Reparative Description for Indigenous Collections (Rose Buchanan, Selena Ortega-Chiolero, Nathan Sowry, Eric Hung, Monique Tyndall, Rachel Menyuk, Diana Marsh) - 2021

• Article - Moving Toward a Reparative Archive: A Roadmap for a Holistic Approach to Disrupting Homogenous Histories in Academic Repositories and Creating Inclusive Spaces for Marginalized Voices (Lae'l Hughes-Watkins) - 2018

• Article - Cultural Humility as a Framework for Anti-Oppressive Archival Description (Jessica Tai) - 2021

• Website - RadTech Meets RadArch: Towards A New Principle for Archives and Archival Description (Jarrett M. Drake) - 2016

• Video - Redescription as Restorative Justice (Tonia Sutherland) - 2020

• Article - Reimagine Descriptive Workflows: A Community-informed Agenda for Reparative and Inclusive Descriptive Practice (Rachel L. Frick and Merrilee Proffitt) - 2022

• Article - Retelling as Resistance: Towards the Implementation of Community-Centered Frameworks in the Redescription of Photographic Archives Documenting Marginalized Communities, page 12 (Jessica Tai) - 2018

• Article – “The Right to Know”: Decolonizing Native American Archives (Jennifer R. O'Neal) - 2015

• Slide deck - Toward Culturally Competent (Re)Description of Marginalized Histories (Annie Tang, Dorothy Berry, Kelly Bolding, and Rachel E. Winston) - 2018

• Article - A Weapon and a Tool: Decolonizing Description and Embracing Redescription as Liberatory Archival Praxis (Tonia Sutherland and Alyssa Purcell) - 2021

• Book chapter - What’s in a Name? Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia and the Impact of Names and Name Authorities in Archival Description (Alexis A. Antracoli and Katy Rawdon) from Ethical Questions in Name Authority Control - 2019

Resource lists 

• Google Sheet - DEI Controlled Vocabs Resource List (Rebecca Fraimow, May Haduong, and Chloe McLaren for the AMIA Cataloging and Metadata Committee) - 2020

• Website - free resources about bias and metadata (Sharon Mizota) - 2023

• Google Sheet - Inclusive Description Resource Guide (Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State) - 2023

Sample statements about harmful language in archival description 

• Website - List of statements on bias in library and archives description (Cataloging Lab) - 2023

• Website - SCRC statement on potentially harmful language in archival description and cataloging (Temple University Library Special Collections Research Center) - 2018  

  • Temple's statement is included as a foundational resource for inclusive description that many other institutions used in developing their own guidelines and statements. 

Style guides

• Website - Conscious Style Guide (Karen Yin) - 2024

• Website - Disability Language Style Guide (National Center on Disability and Journalism) - 2021

• Website - The Diversity Style Guide (Rachele Kanigel, editor) - 2024

• PDF - Inclusive Description Style Guide (Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State) - 2021 

Home | Annual Reports | Standing Rules | Description Expo | Descriptive Notes | Minutes | Reports & Presentations | Section Leadership