As stated in our Vision, Mission and Values, UCSB Library is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all individuals are treated with dignity and fairness. Our staff uphold this commitment by continuously evaluating and improving our descriptive practices to reflect evolving perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Furthermore, we aim to use inclusive, anti-racist, non-derogatory language when describing library resources.
We acknowledge that descriptive standards and historical language in library catalogs can reflect and perpetuate biases, including racism, sexism, colonial perspectives, and other forms of discrimination. Due to the systems and conventions established over time, these biases may appear in subject headings, archival descriptions, and metadata.
Our goal is to provide accurate descriptions while ensuring users have the context to understand potentially offensive language in a critical and informed way. Therefore, some harmful language will continue to appear in our catalog due to direct transcription of original titles and historical terminology.
We are actively working to update and improve our descriptions, but given the size of our collection, some outdated or harmful language may still be present. We welcome feedback from our users to help identify and recommend changes. If you encounter language that you perceive to be derogatory or outdated in UCSB Library’s catalog, finding aids, or related materials, please share your concerns through our feedback form.
This statement was developed by the UCSB Library Inclusive Language in Library Metadata Task Force and adapted from statements created by:
- University of Michigan
- University of Maryland Libraries
- UCLA Library
- Emory University
