Following on from the current discussion on name authorities & related  issues around indexing, (& as I’m compiling a cataloguing manual / other procedures whilst WFH as I realise many other people are!)

 

Are there any other tools or guidelines that people are using  (in addition to those I’ve noted below) when trying to embed more inclusive, fair and representative approaches in your indexing practices?

 

For name authorities and name indexing:

 

Black Lives in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

https://www.oxforddnb.com/fileasset/ODNB/Introductions/ODNB%20Introduction%202019%20October.pdf

“The October [2019] update adds 18 new articles featuring 24 lives and 6 portrait likenesses drawn from Black British history.”

When I attended the most recent ‘What’s Happening in Black British history conference’ it was mentioned that the ODB welcome new contributions of unknown Black lives that you come across in your indexing.

 

Subject indexing:

 

UKAT (UK Archives Thesaurus) at: https://ukat.aim25.com/

In addition to enabling access to archives by subject / more interoperable subject searching across UK archives, UKAT is our preferred thesaurus due to the consultation that was undertaken with diverse & under-represented groups, by providing subject terms which reflect their histories and experiences. A UKAT dscribe file (version 2011), provided by Axiell, can be imported into the Terms database of CALM, (and I imagine ADLIB as well?)

CASBAH: In conjunction with the UKAT thesaurus, we are using the Caribbean Studies and Black and Asian History (CASBAH) collections survey tool and indexing methodology (www.casbah.ac.uk). CASBAH terms that are not already included within UKAT will be locally added by us to our CALM client. The National Archives have previously outlined within its Racial Equality Scheme (2005-2008), clear, proactive & targeted inclusion actions including: “Make use of the Caribbean Studies and Black and Asian History (CASBAH) collections survey tool and indexing methodology (www.casbah.ac.uk) as a national standard for providing access to archives of relevance to Black and Asian histories.” CASBAH as many people might know was intended to: “serve as an archival survey methodology tool which shows Archivists how to look at their existing collections without having any specialist knowledge of Black and Asian history and identify possible resources of interest to future researchers so that they can be catalogued accessibly. The long-term aim was to raise the profile of these areas of study and encourage future research to combat legacies of exclusion, neglect and ignorance of the long history of Black and Asian people in the UK”. Source: Social Inclusion at the National Archives by Rachel Hasted: https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/4333/1/Social_inclusion_at_The_National_Archives.pdf

Snapshots of CASBAH are available on the UK Web Archive:

1.       Go to UK Web Archive site https://www.webarchive.org.uk/

2.       ENTER <http:/www.casbah.ac.uk/>

3.       After entering the url for CASBAH Database, go to REPORTS, then ‘Subject indexing report (Word)’ to see the full list of terms, not all of which are included in UKAT https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/en/archive/20141103121003/http://www.casbah.ac.uk/reports.stm

 

“Respectful descriptions of marginalised groups in archives”, Blog by Jass Thethi, 2018:

https://rylandscollections.com/2018/08/25/respectful-descriptions-of-marginalised-groups-in-archives/

 

“Towards protocols for describing racially offensive language in UK public archives”, Masters Dissertation by Alicia Chilcott, Archival Science, June 2019

 

Plus drawing on previous heritage sector diversity recommendations such as those from the former Mayor’s Commission on African and Asian Heritage:

“The use of African and Asian expertise and perspectives to interpret collections is critical to ensure that communities have ownership of their history and identity. Their voices can provide not only contextual grounding for collections, but also help overcome challenges related to the interpretation and labelling of collections. The breadth of material related to African and Asian history and heritage needs to be unearthed and assessed through co-ordinated mapping and categorisation of existing collections, making them more accessible for research, interpretation and display” [Delivering Shared Heritage + Embedding Shared Heritage reports’ recommendations for the Sector]

 

Many thanks,

 

Very best well wishes to everyone at this concerning time,

Joanne Anthony

 

(Pronouns: She/Her)

 

Project Archivist, Transforming Lives | Making Connections |

Barnardo’s | 140 Balaam Street | Plaistow | London | E13 8RD |

*   [log in to unmask] | ( T: 020 85869935 |

 

 

 

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