Traversing the Canadian Indigenous Metadata Landscape

Abstract

This poster provides an analysis of a subset of Indigenous subject headings that appear across various vocabularies. As part of our ongoing project to decolonize Indigenous subject headings, we gathered and examined various Indigenous headings compiled and proposed by other institutions and compared and identified discrepancies among the headings. Our analysis also includes local subject headings we have applied to our digitized collections. We show where these headings conflict across the vocabularies and make recommendations on which vocabulary would be best suited for certain scenarios. For example, some organizations are further ahead with their approach to named groups, and others have made strides in adapting a more Canadian focus to topical headings. We also highlight headings of particular interest to our local region (Western Canada) that would be a priority for us and flagged any gaps in coverage where we can perhaps contribute headings and make them available to the wider community. We also show some examples of various visualizations we created that depict the relationships among the headings using various visualization software (Excel, Flourish). It is our hope that other institutions can use these comparisons in their decolonization efforts rather than “reinventing the wheel.” Keywords: Indigenous knowledge, Decolonization, Subject headings, Metadata, Knowledge organization, Controlled vocabularies, Cataloguing, Indigenous metadata, Linked data, Cultural heritage