This paper explores some theoretical approaches that might inform the call to decolonise the library. It explores theories of coloniality and decoloniality and related concepts including epistemic totality, Eurocentrism and pluriversity. It then discusses how these theories have informed knowledge production, but also how they can inform decolonising practices in the academic library.

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Decolonising the library: a theoretical exploration

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) has formal relationships with the Library of Congress (LC), Share-VDE, and Linked Data for Production Phase 2 (LD4P2) for work on Bibliographic Framewor...

MARC to BIBFRAME: Converting the PCC to Linked Data

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released the “94 Calls to Action,” which asked educational and memory institutions to address their relationship with the Indigenous Peoples in what is now known as Canada.1 One of many steps toward repairing past injustice and moving toward reconciliation was the creation of a course at the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS). The course, LIS 598: Indigenous Library and Information Studies in a Canadian Context, was the first three-credit graduate course in Canada about Indigenous librarianship taught from Indigenous perspectives by Indigenous instructors. This essay highlights the growth and development of this course since its pilot in fall 2018, providing insights into Indigenous pedagogies and more broadly into the developing field of Indigenous library and information studies. Indigenous library and information studies2 emerged as a distinct field of practice on an international scale in the late twentieth century.3 The key principles of the field are to provide culturally relevant services, collections, and programming. Above all, it applies to the field of library and information studies (LIS) Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. Marlene Brant Castellano has identified five characteristics of Indigenous Ways of Knowing, called Indigenous Knowledges.4 Indigenous Knowledges, Castellano says, are personal, orally transmitted, experiential, holistic, and narrative.5 Indigenous Ways of Being greatly inform Indigenous Knowledge production and are often defined through a lens of relationality or how we connect to our human and more-than-human relations. Indigenous approaches to knowledge are not always reflected in the LIS field. In fact, Indigenous LIS practitioners frequently run into challenges regarding ethics, access, and equity, among others. Most of these challenges revolve around Indigenous cultural and intellectual sovereignty, the principle under which Indigenous Peoples control their own libraries and memory institutions.6 Indigenous LIS is rooted in established practices that Indigenous Peoples employ to create, transmit, and preserve their wisdom and skills. These practices affirm that Indigenous communities remain as sovereign entities, in control of their own Knowledges.7 Th is ms s. is pe er rev iew ed , c op y e dit ed , a nd ac ce pte d f or pu bli ca tio n, po rta l 2 1.2 . Relationality in the Classroom: Teaching Indigenous LIS in a Canadian Context 206 This essay explores the initiative at the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies in Edmonton to create and pilot its first Indigenous-led threecredit course. This exploration will begin with contextual background to provide a sense of the field in what is now known as Canada. Next, it will discuss the history of the course, the specific pedagogies employed, and how students received it. The authors hope that this exploration will spark broader conversations around decolonizing8 and indigenizing9 the LIS curriculum. Indigenous LIS in a Canadian Context There are few self-identified Indigenous librarians. In 2004, Deborah Lee found 25 with a master of library and information studies (MLIS) in the land now known as Canada.10 By 2019, this number had grown to 19.11 Indigenous librarians face barriers throughout their careers. Even before entering the profession, Indigenous students can experience resistance. Some students, for example, have family obligations that prevent them from moving away from home. Most Indigenous library students are the only ones from their background in their cohort and so may face a lack of cultural understanding from the department and other students. Both situations separate Indigenous students from their support systems and may prevent them from pursuing a career in information studies.12 After graduation, practicing Indigenous librarians face precarious employment, lack of promotion within the profession, burnout, and outright racism. The LIS curriculum fails to reflect Indigenous perspectives. Currently there are eight library programs in what is now known as Canada accredited by the American Library Association (ALA),13 each with varying degrees of Indigenous content in its course offerings.14 There is a shortage of Indigenous academics teaching within MLIS programs, and there are even fewer tenured faculty members. To fill this gap, academic institutions sometimes employ Indigenous information professionals as lecturers or sessional instructors, an academic rank in what is now known as Canada for contract faculty who hold fullor part-time teaching positions. The scarcity of representation in the LIS field means that Indigenous students may not see themselves within their chosen university programs or the profession more widely. Nicola Andrews and Jessica Humphries call for Indigenous Knowledges to be a required component of all LIS curricula, which should offer multiple, in-depth courses that teach the Knowledges of Indigenous communities.15 The Knowledges covered should be determined by local Indigenous communities through meaningful consultation and held in the same regard as Western knowledge. Including Indigenous perspectives benefits all students, providing representation and broad exposure to Indigenous worldviews. Indigenous LIS is rooted in established practices that Indigenous Peoples employ to create, transmit, and preserve their wisdom and skills. Including Indigenous perspectives benefits all students, providing representation and broad exposure to Indigenous worldviews. Th is ms s. is pe er rev iew ed , c op y e dit ed , a nd ac ce pte d f or pu bli ca tio n, po rta l 2 1.2 . Tanya Ball and Kayla Lar-Son 207 The presence of Indigenous professionals in LIS is crucial because they are the experts in their own Knowledges. Even with the best intentions and training, those who lack a background in Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being run the risk of appropriating and misrepresenting Indigenous voices. The hiring of Indigenous LIS professionals ensures that Indigenous Peoples remain the keepers of their own Knowledges. Beginnings of a Course on Indigenous LIS In the fall of 2017, the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) at the University of Alberta began to explore gaps in its recruitment of Indigenous students, its incorporation of Indigenous Knowledges and perspectives into the curriculum, and its adherence to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in regard to Indigenous education.16 This process revealed the necessity for an Indigenous LIS course. Previously, SLIS offered courses with some Indigenous content, but none focused solely on Indigenous LIS in a Canadian context. After careful consideration, Toni Samek, then the chair of SLIS, asked the authors of this article, two self-identified Métis librarians, to develop and instruct such a course. Initially, the term Métis was defined as a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ancestry. Over generations, however, the Métis have grown to refer to a distinct cultural group with extended kinship relations. Having Métis librarians teaching this course offers students the opportunity to learn from different experiences and perspectives. The authors grew up in different parts of the country: Tanya Ball’s family comes from a Métis community in Manitoba called St. Ambroise, whereas Kayla Lar-Son’s family is primarily from central Alberta. The two instructors have different Knowledges that reflect their origins. It is important for students to realize that while both are Métis, they are not the same. This recognition combats the pan-Indigenous stereotype that is often present in academia and Canadian society in general. Before developing this course, the authors consulted with Indigenous community members and students from SLIS. This consultation came in the form of keeoukaywin, a Cree word for visiting, which involves redefining our kinship relations. As Janice Cindy Gaudet explains, For Indigenous peoples, visiting creates and fortifies connections that unify and build community from the ground up. It is how humour, silence, news, concerns, pain, knowledge, ideas, and arguments are disseminated at a grassroots/ground level. Visiting may seem on the surface to be a passive and apolitical activity, but it is, in fact, political, re-centring authority in a way of relating that is itself rooted in a cultural, spiritual, and social context.17 Visiting supports intergenerational, intercultural learning. It is a kind of knowledge transfer that has been practiced by Indigenous women since time immemorial. Visiting is how Indigenous Peoples tell stories, which remind them who they are and how they are connected to their human and nonhuman relations. Through visiting, the authors found Visiting is how Indigenous Peoples tell stories, which remind them who they are and how they are connected to their human and nonhuman relations. Th is ms s. is pe er rev iew ed , c op y e dit ed , a nd ac ce pte d f or pu bli ca tio n, po rta l 2 1.2 . Relationality in the Classroom: Teaching Indigenous LIS in a Canadian Context 208 answers to the following questions: What do librarians need to know about Indigenous Peoples and Knowledges? What do you think or see missing in libraries when it comes to Indigenous Peoples and Knowledges? With community consultation, the authors drafted a syllabus and course outline to present to the SLIS curriculum committee. The committee unanimously approved the course as a special topic titled LIS 598: Indigenous Library and Information Studies in a Canadian Context, piloted in fall 2018. The course has now been taught twice in person, in fall 2018 and fall 2019, and twice online in spring and summer 2020 and fall 2020 due to COVID-19. It is popular with students, reaching maximum capacity each semester. Enrollment ranges from 14 to 20. In 2020, SLIS permanently admitted the course into its cur

Relationality in the Classroom: Teaching Indigenous LIS in a Canadian Context.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report on residential schools has increased mainstream attention to institutional archives and their handling of records concerning Indigenous and other marginalized communities. In addressing the larger systemic issues with the institution, archivists can focus decolonization efforts on daily processes such as description. This paper looks at how archivists have begun to adapt their description practices in light of these efforts, and the forms that this revised and reimagined description takes, both in archival institutions’ physical and digital holdings as well as in community-based, alternative projects. Communities have often been at the forefront of these efforts, as advisors in institutional practices and as leaders of community-based projects, and archivists can and continue to learn from their example in working towards decolonization and reconciliation.
 
Keywords: 
archives, description, decolonization, TRC, community archives

https://theijournal.ca/index.php/ijournal/article/download/32554/25023

Decolonization in the Archives: At the Item Level

Subject access in Canada, whether through subject headings, classification, thesauri or other structures, is dominated by systems originally created in the United States. Building on a 2019 literature review that identified current subject access systems and developing projects in the Canadian context, this paper will explore the patterns of divergence and convergence between systems and across borders. As subject access systems from the United States do not meet all the needs of Canadian scholarship, next steps include considering how these gaps and distortions impact Canadian scholarship and what institutions in Canada are doing to create systems consistent with their values.
L'acces par sujet au Canada, que ce soit par le biais de vedettes-matiere, de classifications, de thesaurus ou d'autres structures, est domine par des systemes crees a l'origine aux Etats-Unis. S'appuyant sur une analyse documentaire de 2019 qui a identifie les systemes d'acces par sujet actuels et le developpement de projets dans le contexte canadien, ce Le document explorera les modeles de divergence et de convergence entre les systemes et au-dela des frontieres. Etant donne que les systemes d'acces par sujet des Etats-Unis ne repondent pas a tous les besoins de la recherche canadiennes, les prochaines etapes consistent a examiner l'impact de ces lacunes et distorsions sur la recherche canadiennes et les efforts des institutions canadiennes visant a creer des systemes coherents avec leurs valeurs.

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The Landscape of Contemporary Canadian Subject Access

Appropriate subject access and descriptive practices within library and information science are social justice issues Standards that are well established and commonly used in academic libraries in Canada and elsewhere, including Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Library of Congress Classification (LCC), continue to perpetuate colonial biases toward Indigenous peoples In the fall of 2016, the University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) established a Decolonizing Description Working Group (DDWG) to investigate, define, and propose a plan of action for how descriptive metadata practices could more accurately, appropriately, and respectfully represent Indigenous peoples and contexts The DDWG is currently beginning the implementation of recommendations approved by UAL’s strategic leadership team In this paper we describe the genesis of the DDWG within the broader context of the libraries’ and the university’s responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action; outline the group’s activities and recommendations; and describe initial steps toward the implementation of those recommendations, with a focus on engaging local Indigenous communities We reflect on the potential impact of revised descriptive practices in removing many of the barriers that Indigenous communities and individuals face in finding and accessing library materials relevant to their cultures and histories

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Rethinking Representation: Indigenous Peoples and Contexts at the University of Alberta Libraries

The University of Alberta Libraries is actively ramping up for linked data implementation through local experimentation, research and external partnerships. Though BIBFRAME is still in development, several transformation tools have already been created, and with many libraries planning for a future move to linked data it would seem timely to compare approaches to moving legacy MARC data to BIBFRAME. Setting aside the question of whether BIBFRAME should be the vehicle for libraries to move to linked data, this investigation is aimed at comparing two approaches to converting MARC to BIBFRAME 2.0:

1.	University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) locally developed process based on the Library of Congress MARC to BIBFRAME XSLT: An XSLT 1.0 application aimed at converting MARC to RDF/XML released in March 2017.
2.	Casalini SHARE Virtual Discovery Environment: A project by Casalini Libri and @Cult to develop a linked data discovery environment, including a conversion tool for MARC to BIBFRAME 2.0 RDF.

Who Will be Our bf: Comparing techniques for conversion from MARC to BIBFRAME

https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/91ab16fe-5a03-4c10-b051-29c7caf0b57f/view/b7364561-c2c0-4e39-a597-0e5fc217d4e4/Decolonizing_Description_Netspeed_2017.pdf

Decolonizing Description: Changing Metadata in Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Post-secondary educational institutions figure large in the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) for the important role they can, and must, play in advancing reconciliation in Canada. For as Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Commission, reminds us, the educational system has contributed to the negative relationship between Indigenous and nonIndigenous peoples in Canada, and it is the educational system that will help us change that relationship (2015). Libraries, as sites of learning in and of themselves as well as key units within post-secondary institutions, have a responsibility and opportunity to contribute to reconciliation through collaborations and partnerships but also, and perhaps more importantly, through their own initiatives. The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (2016) recognizes this role, and has created a Truth and Reconciliation Committee to “promote initiatives in all types of libraries to advance reconciliation by supporting the TRC Calls to Action and to promote collaboration in these issues across the Canadian library communities” (p. 1). The University of Alberta, like many institutions, has taken up the Commission’s Calls to Action. The recently approved institutional strategic plan, For the Public Good (2016), affirms that the University is “committed to respectful relations with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples” (p. 8), and includes as an objective to “develop, in consultation and collaboration with internal and external community stakeholders, a thoughtful, respectful, meaningful, and sustainable response to the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada” (p. 8). While the University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) has a long history of engaging with Indigenous individuals and communities in partnerships, service provision, and professional placements, we recognized one foundational aspect of our work which had yet to be fully interrogated with regard to improving service to our Indigenous users: our descriptive practices for all of our collections, including those locally digitized. Like most large academic libraries in North America, UAL currently relies heavily on Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Library of Congress Classification (LCC) for subject access to both our print and digital collections. While the use of LC standards comes with many Unsettling Our Practices The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 2(1-2), 2018 ISSN 2574-3430, publish.lib.umd.edu/IJIDI/ recognized advantages, it understandably causes challenges in terms of adequate and appropriate representation of the Canadian context. Increasingly, descriptive metadata is the first, most frequent, and in some cases the only interaction point between us and our users (Schaffner, 2009). And so it is vital that all of our users can see themselves appropriately and respectfully represented in our metadata records. The fact that this is not always the case, particularly with the use of standard vocabularies in describing Indigenous peoples, is certainly well documented (Duarte & Belarde-Lewis, 2015; Moulaison & Bossaller, 2016; Tomren, 2003). In the fall of 2016, UAL struck a Decolonizing Description Working Group to investigate, define, and propose a plan of action for how we could more accurately, appropriately, and respectfully represent Indigenous peoples and contexts through our descriptive metadata practices. The group included members from technical and public service, as well as UAL’s coordinator of Indigenous initiatives and an Indigenous intern (MLIS student). Over the course of its term (approximately seven months), the group undertook several core activities. A literature review sought out publications or presentations describing practical implementations of reformed or customized descriptive practices within an academic library. An environmental scan was aimed at discovering similar initiatives proposed or under way in institutions across Canada, and to seek opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. An analysis of metadata from the ILS and local digital/digitized collections was used to estimate the scope of work required to enhance existing metadata, and to revise workflows for metadata yet to be created. These activities revealed that while there were few examples of implementation of substantial reforms within Canadian academic libraries, the University of British Columbia’s substantial work at the Xwi7xwa Library being the exception, there was great interest in undertaking reforms, and a sense that the ground for such reforms is more fertile that it ever has been. The importance of focusing on one’s local context was recognized, and the notion of regional work combining into something national was often expressed. Armed with this enhanced understanding and seeing opportunities for collaboration, the Working Group will submit a set of recommendations to UAL’s senior leadership team this April. The symposium paper will provide an overview of the activities and findings of the Working Group, a summary of the recommendations and the rationale behind them, and report on projects and activities under way or planned since the group’s report was submitted. The following references were consulted in the preparation of the abstract and poster. Canadian Federation of Library Associations. (2016). Truth and reconciliation committee charter. Retrieved from http://cfla-fcab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CommitteeCharter-Truth-and-Reconciliation-Committee-Approved.pdf Duarte, M. E., & Belarde-Lewis, M. (2015). Imagining: Creating spaces for Indigenous ontologies. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 53(5/6), 677-702. Moulaison, S. H., & Bossaller, J. (2016, August). The moral imperative of subject access to Indigenous knowledge: Considerations and alternative paths. Paper presented at IFLA World Library and Information Congress. Columbus, OH. Retrieved from http://library.ifla.org/1327/ Schaffner, J. (2009). The metadata is the interface: Better description for better discovery of archives and special collections, synthesized from user studies. Dublin, OH: OCLC 99 Unsettling Our Practices The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 2(1-2), 2018 ISSN 2574-3430, publish.lib.umd.edu/IJIDI/ Research. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/publications/library/2009/2009-06.pdf Sinclair, M. (n.d.). What is reconciliation? [video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/25389165 Tomren, H. (2003). Classification, bias, and American Indian materials. Unpublished paper. Retrieved from http://ailasacc.pbworks.com/f/BiasClassification2004.pdf Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Calls to action. Retrieved from http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English 2.pdf University of Alberta. (2016). For the public good. Retrieved from https://d1pbog36rugm0t.cloudfront.net/-/media/isp/finaldoc/12885institutionalstrategicplan33final.pdf Sharon Farnel (sharon.farnel@ualberta.ca) is Metadata Coordinator at the University of Alberta Libraries, and a part-time Interdisciplinary PhD student researching the development of a framework for designing and applying culturally aware and appropriate metadata in digital libraries. Denise Koufogiannakis (denise.koufogiannakis@ualberta.ca) is Associate University Librarian responsible for Collection Strategies, Bibliographic Services, and Access Services at the University of Alberta. She holds an MLIS from the University of Alberta, and a PhD in Information Studies from Aberystwyth University. Ian Bigelow (bigelow@ualberta.ca) is the Cataloguing Coordinator at the University of Alberta Libraries and is currently a member of the Canadian Linked Data Initiative Metadata Working Group and the PCC Task Group on URI in MARC. Anne Carr-Wiggin (anne.carr-wiggin@ualberta.ca) is NEOS Manager, and coordinates Indigenous initiatives at the University of Alberta Libraries. She also serves on the Guiding Council of RISE (Reconciliation in Solidarity Edmonton) and is a team co-lead on the CFLA-FCAB Truth and Reconciliation Committee. Debbie Feisst (debbie.feisst@ualberta.ca) is Acting Head at the HT Coutts Education & Physical Education Library, University of Alberta, where she specializes in Secondary Education and the Faculty of Education’s Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP). Kayla Lar-Son (verbicky@ualberta.ca) is a Metis student currently enrolled in the Master of Library Studies, University of Alberta. Interested in issues of diversity, human rights, intellectual freedom, social responsibility and libraries, and alternative forms of knowing, Kayla is part of the de-colonizing description working group, which focuses on implementing the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission within the UofA Libraries. She is also an Indigenous Intern in Rutherford Library, UofA, who works actively with Indigenous students through library information sessions at the Aboriginal Student Services Center and participates in Indigenous and diversity initiatives off-campus. She brings a treasured firsthand perspective into the discussion of diversity, empowerment, and traditional knowledge. Sheila Laroque (laroque@ualberta.ca) is an Academic Resident Librarian in Bibliographic Services at the University of Alberta Libraries. Sheila is originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where she finished her BA at the University of Saskatchewan in 2010. She finished her MI from 100 Unsettling Our Practices The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 2(1-2), 2018 ISSN 2574-3430, publish.lib.umd.edu/IJIDI/ the University of Toronto’s iSchool in 2016. She is happy to be in Edmonton; a city with more than one professional sports team, but still back home in Treaty 6 territory. 101

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Ian Bigelow

Papers

MARC to BIBFRAME: Converting the PCC to Linked Data

Rethinking Representation: Indigenous Peoples and Contexts at the University of Alberta Libraries

Who Will be Our bf: Comparing techniques for conversion from MARC to BIBFRAME

Decolonizing Description: Changing Metadata in Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Unsettling our practices: Decolonizing description at the University of Alberta Libraries