Understanding Metadata for Access to and Promotion of Diverse Library Resources
While diversity is a core value of American librarianship, no systematic and scalable tools currently exist to promote diverse reading materials by and about marginalized populations. The project uses a research through design approach to investigate how systematic tools like library catalogs can advocate for diverse materials, encourage exposure of such materials to a broader audience, and prevent the unintentional erasure of such materials in library collections and explore what metadata elements, values, and organizational structures are necessary to achieve these goals. Using a critical design approach, we created a library catalog that advocates for diversity and exposes library users and readers to resources from populations traditionally marginalized in literature and publishing by designing a system where the default is no longer the white heteronormative male author. Such a system offers the possibility to raise awareness of diverse library materials; expose readers to new and different resources, ideas and cultures; alter reading habits; and ultimately provide more equitable representation by preventing the inadvertent and unintentional erasure of diverse library materials.
View the video prototype:
Related Publications and Presentations:
- Clarke, R.I., and Schoonmaker, S. (2020). “The Critical Catalog: Social Justice, Tricksterism, and Library Information Systems.” In Proceedings of ACM SIG CHI 2020, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 25-30.
- Clarke, R.I., and Schoonmaker, S. (2019) “Metadata for Diversity: Identification and Implications of Potential Access Points for Diverse Library Resources.” Journal of Documentation 76 (1): 173-196.
- Winner of the 2020 ALCTS Outstanding Publication Award
- Winner of the 2020 Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research
- Clarke, R.I., & Schoonmaker, S. H. (2019). “Metadata for Diversity: A Field Scan of Current Trends in Describing Library Resources.” Presented at iConference 2019, Washington, D.C., March 31–April 3.
- Clarke, R.I., and Schoonmaker, S. (2018). “The Critical Catalog: Giving Voice to Diverse Library Materials through Provocative Design.” Advances in Classification Research Online 29 (1), 23-26.
- Best Paper Proposal Award Winner, 2018 ASIS&T SIG/CR Workshop.
Related news stories about this project from the Syracuse iSchool:
- Concept to Design Library ‘Critical Catalog’ Earns ASIS&T Best Paper Proposal Award
- Stretching Library Catalog Metadata for Community Diversity Needs
- Rachel Ivy Clarke and Alumna Sayward Schoonmaker Win ALCTS Outstanding Publication Award
Huge thanks to Sayward Schoonmaker for her collaborative work on this project!
This project was funded by the 2018 OCLC/ALISE Library & Information Science Research Grant Program (LISRGP).