Problematic subject headings: making our catalogue more equitable, diverse and inclusive at the University of Bristol

Abstract

Subject headings have increasingly been the focus of attention from students, researchers and librarians, particularly in relation to headings which causes distress and offence. By using the Locally Preferred Subjects feature of OCLC’s Worldshare Management Services library services platform currently in use at the University of Bristol, we were able to plan and implement a procedure to analyse and replace where necessary harmful subject headings. We describe the workflows and processes associated with this project, focusing on the technical and organisational challenges that we encountered and the solutions we found, and how we will maintain and progress the project in future.

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