Contents
- Overview statement
- Interim guidelines
- General policy for creating subject proposals for Indigenous peoples
- Types of people groups
- Requirements for headings and other aspects of a subject authority record
- Instructions for assigning subject heading Indigenous peoples
- Related concerns
Overview statement
The Library of Congress recognizes that many of its subject headings for Indigenous peoples living within the United States and bordering countries are either incorrect or offensive. In 2023, the Library announced its intention to launch the Indigenous Headings Project (IHP) to correct these headings to reflect the language used by Indigenous communities. The Project began in 2024. It is currently being led by a Cataloging Policy Specialist in the Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division.
The Project Lead is committed to outreach to Native American stakeholders to gather their input and identify more accurate terminology. A Consultants Group has been created to guide and inform the Project Lead on changes needed for subject headings and what those changes should be. The Indigenous Headings Consultants Group includes Indigenous colleagues in the library, archive, and museum fields, as well as those who support Indigenous patrons and/or manage collections of Indigenous materials. Additional research may gather information from organizations that have already changed Indigenous terms from LC subject headings to currently terminology. For more information about the Project’s goals and its members please go to the Indigenous Headings Project page.
Interim guidelines
Background
These guidelines for creating subject authority records and for the application of the subject headings to resources are iterative. As changes to headings are made, the guidelines may be updated to clarify or explain changes that have been made.
The Library’s guiding principle is to ensure consultation with the described community. However, we recognize that that is not always feasible and may depend on where the people group lives, their governmental status, what languages they know, and how easy or difficult they are to contact.
Name Authority File vs. Subject Authority File
It is important to recognize the difference between the existence of an ethnic group and a tribal nation with a recognized governmental status. Corporate bodies with a recognized governmental status belong in the name authority file (NAF). Ethnic groups can be proposed in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) or Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT). Citizen groups belonging to individual tribal nations can be proposed in LCDGT. These guidelines apply to both LCSH and LCDGT. Proposers should know that LCDGT also offers a way to code the ethnic identity of peoples/groups (072 eth) as well as their national/regional identity (072 nat).
General policy for creating subject proposals for Indigenous peoples
The immediate priority of the Library of Congress will be Indigenous peoples that live in the United States. The standard of evidence for consultation will be the highest for these groups. The Library will be more flexible with requirements for people groups outside of North America because of the variability of governmental status and language differences that impede direct communication.
The goal of this research is to demonstrate that the name chosen for the heading is the name preferred by the people group themselves. If this can be clearly demonstrated, then the research will be considered satisfactory.
For tribal members
If you are a US tribal group member who would like to update the subject heading representing the people of your tribal community, please contact PTCP directly at [email protected].
Key research principles
The following are the sources of evidence the Library will look for in evaluating proposals, in descending order of preference.
- Prefer resource(s) created by the group, whether that be online or in a physical book.
This is especially true of tribal nations with federal-level or state-level recognition in the United States. Most of these tribal nations will have an official, authoritative website that will satisfy research requirements.For all other people groups, including international people groups, make a good faith effort to locate an official website or other published materials created by the group. - Attempt direct contact with the group.
If the people group in question does not have an authoritative website or published materials, attempt to contact the group. Prefer a tribal governmental group, tribal elder, or tribal historic preservation office, if possible. Even in cases where an authoritative website or other resource does exist, direct contact can be made for points of clarification. If direct contact is impossible, document any efforts in a 675. - Use secondary resources.
In cases where there are no resources created by the group and contact is impossible, rely on authoritative secondary sources, as you would when proposing any other heading. This will be the only way to research ancestral people groups. When possible, prefer secondary resources citing direct contact with the group. - Follow standard practice to always document your research.
If research resulted in information that informed the form of the heading, document that research in a 670 field including direct contact with a tribal group. If research resulted in no information, document the research in a 675 field. For these proposals, err on the side of too much information. If a cataloger does not have access to the ClassWeb Plus proposal system, use this form and submit your proposal to [email protected].
Types of people groups
- Federally recognized tribes in the United States
- State recognized tribes in the United States
- Tribes lacking federal or state recognition in the United States
- North American peoples that are not exclusively located in the United States
- International people groups
- Ancestral people groups
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Legal vs. ethnic identities in the United States
For federally recognized tribal nations in the United States, there are two identities that must be considered: a legal entity as a citizen of a tribal nation, and an ethnic identity as a member of a people group. It is important to recognize that a single ethnic group may belong to multiple tribal nations, and a single tribal nation may include multiple ethnic groups - North American peoples not exclusively located in the US
North America includes the United States, Mexico, and Canada. This means that there are some North American people groups who exist across international borders. - International ethnic groups
Considering the extreme variability of governmental status for many people groups and the many languages that impede direct communication, the Library’s requirements for proposing headings for international ethnic groups are much more flexible.
Follow the standard approach given under the general policy if possible, but the Library recognizes that secondary sources may be the only ones accessible. As much as possible, prefer resources based on direct contact, then official governmental resources, then standard research. - Ancestral groups
There are people groups that we know existed, but no longer have a current living member. We recognize that we cannot call them by their preferred name when we have no way to discover it. Therefore, we need to rely on authoritative research, as with any other heading. - Form of name
The former practice for tribal groups in the United States was to formulate the authorized subject heading with the format [Tribal name] Indians. The new practice is to allow the preferred form to be decided by the tribal group, as indicated by the research requirements described above. The heading does not need to follow a particular form. It may be based on the form of name of the tribal government, it may be the tribal name alone, it may be the tribal name with qualifier, it may still include the term Indians, etc. There is no required structure.
When direct contact is impossible, the tribal name alone or the tribal name with qualifier, if needed to break conflict, will be the preferred form, based on research.
Requirements for headings and other aspects of a subject authority record
In proposing or editing a proposal, there are multiple types of changes that occur.
- LCSH
The highest amount of documentation is needed when establishing or changing a heading. The heading should reflect the preferred autonym.
- LCDGT
When establishing new or revised headings for ethnic groups of North America in LCDGT, the qualifier (North American people) is used. - NAF
When establishing a new or revised heading for a governmental entity of an Indigenous group, follow the research standards given above. - Used For (UF) references, Broader Terms (BT), and Related Terms (RT)
When any change is made to a subject authority record for an Indigenous group, the Library generally expects the proposer to evaluate all parts of the subject authority record. The proposer is expected to do the following tasks:- Verify that the cross-references are supported.
- Verify that the broader terms are correct.
- If proposing a new or changed heading, the proposer should also evaluate the UFs.
- If proposing a new or changed UF, the proposer must also research the heading.
Instructions for assigning the subject heading Indigenous peoples
General Rule
The former subject heading Indians has been cancelled and will no longer be used. Instead, catalogers should use the term Indigenous peoples. For works on Indigenous peoples in particular localities, the heading should be subdivided geographically. Before its cancellation, the subject heading Indians was scoped to cover the Indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere. The heading Indigenous peoples—America should now be used to convey this meaning.
Example
Works about Indigenous people living in the suburbs in Western Hemisphere used to be assigned: Suburban Indians.
These works will now be assigned Suburban Indigenous peoples—America
Example
Works about Indigenous peoples in the Western Hemispheres who are disabled used to be assigned: Indians with disabilities
Such works will now be assigned Indigenous people with disabilities—America
Example
Works about Black people's relationships with Indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere used to be assigined: Black peopole—Relations with Indians.
Such works will now be assigned Black people—America—Relations with Indigenous peoples.
Subject headings that cannot be geographically subdivided to indicate the geographic location of the Indigenous people should be post-coordinated with a second subject heading to bring out the geographic location of the Indigenous peoples.
Related concerns
During this time of transition, the work will undoubtedly change some headings. However, the Library must balance the workload carefully. As a result, when headings are changed for Indigenous peoples, the bibliographic file maintenance in the Library of Congress catalog will be held until workload considerations permit.
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