Abstract
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.
Amber Dierking
University Libraries, Grand Valley State University
Amber Dierking is the Humanities & Arts Liaison Librarian at Grand Valley State University, MI. While always fascinated by invisible infrastructures, systematic biases, and the alternative possibilities we can imagine, she plans to center her future research around the histories of queer community libraries.
Julia Bullard
School of Information, University of British Columbia
Julia Bullard is an Assistant Professor at the School of Information at the University of British Columbia. She teaches courses in information organization, metadata, and social justice. Her current research projects focus on how terminology systems depict LGBTQ2IA+ subjects.