Today is National Indigenous Peoples Day, and we thought it was a fitting time to let you know of one of the ways we are working towards decolonizing our practices. Here at KPU Library, we strive to "Indigenize Library Practices and Inspire Reciprocal Reconciliatory Relationships" (KPU Library Strategic Plan 2021-2023, Goal 3). We wanted to let our community know that we recently completed a large project to help decolonize the name and subject terms used in our catalogue for Indigenous Peoples and topics in Canada.
What does this mean? Well, in short, it means that we've updated our catalogue--and the terms you can use to search for Indigenous material--to reflect more appropriate terminology and names relating to Indigenous topics. The first phase of the project saw us change the headings for the names of First Nations in BC in our catalogue to reflect the preferred terms by Indigenous nations themselves (for example, the heading ‘Kwakiutl Indians’ changed to ‘Kwakwaka'wakw’.) The second phase of the project involved modifying subject headings used for Indigenous Peoples in Canada from outdated terms (such as ‘Native peoples’ and ‘Indians of North America – Canada’ to ‘Indigenous Peoples’ and ‘First Nations – Canada’.
This process involved modifying over 4600 bibliographic records related to Indigenous studies in Canada and represents many hours of detailed hard work and diligence.
The project has been informed by the work of others, including colleagues at Libraries and Archives Canada, the Manitoba Archival Information Network, UBC’s X̱wi7x̱wa Library, and the Greater Victoria Public Library. This is an ongoing project and there is more work to be done, but this is a significant step towards Indigenizing our library practices.
Want more information on resources for Indigenous Studies? Check out our Indigenous Studies Subject Guide, written by Rachel Chong, Indigenous & Anthropology Liaison Librarian.
Questions? Ask Us
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