UMass Amherst Libraries strive to create an inclusive, accessible and equitable environment for all of our users; however, you may come across harmful or offensive language in our catalog. We acknowledge that users may find language in some of our resource descriptions that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise derogatory and offensive. This language may be present in book titles and subtitles, summaries and subject headings, among other places.
Harmful or offensive language may appear for a variety of reasons:
- We use Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), which enables standardized searching of resources across our catalog at UMass and throughout the Five Colleges. These subject headings are controlled by the Library of Congress and may contain offensive or outdated terms that cannot be changed by us. We support efforts to change outdated or offensive terminology via the Library of Congress's revision process.
- Many of our catalog records were created in years or decades past. Description standards have changed over time. Our goal is to create inclusive and respectful descriptions for resources in our library catalog. We are committed to addressing issues in older records when possible.
- Resources may retain their original description to ensure that ideas, attitudes and viewpoints are not erased from the historical record. Materials may contain a creator's own biases and prejudices.
- Some derogatory terms used to describe oppressed peoples have been reclaimed and used by creators from those communities. In other instances, terms used by the communities themselves may have fallen out of use or out of favor.
- Some records are maintained by commercial vendors or other outside agencies and cannot be changed by us.
Library descriptions and the people that create them are not neutral. Respectfully maintaining and updating resource descriptions is an ongoing process. We acknowledge that we may be describing communities of which we are not a part, and we may not always make the right decisions. We are reviewing current practices and will be implementing processes to address harmful or offensive language going forward.
If you encounter harmful or offensive language in our library catalog, please report it to us at MetadataHelp@umass.libanswers.com. We welcome your feedback.
This draft statement may change over time with feedback from within our community. It was last updated on November 22, 2024.
