Library Initiatives to Change Terms Describing Indigenous People

The Conversation, a website that seeks to share news from the academic and research communities with the general public, published an article last week on how Libraries in the U.S. and Canada are changing how they refer to Indigenous Peoples:

"The two largest agencies responsible for the language we use to discover books in libraries in North America — the Library of Congress in the United States, and Library and Archives Canada — are changing how they refer to Indigenous Peoples."

"Recently, the Library of Congress announced that by September 2022 a project would be underway to revise terms that refer to Indigenous Peoples."

"Beginning in 2019, Library and Archives Canada made changes within Canadian subject headings, starting with replacing outdated terminology with 'Indigenous peoples' and 'First Nations,' and adding terms that specify Métis and other specific nations and peoples."

The article describes these and other initiatives to modernize the often awkward and outdated terminology, and touches on some of the limitations of these approaches.