The Emily Carr University Library and Archives Decolonization Working Group was formed to identify aspects of our profession that are harmful and rooted in colonial thinking, learn from grassroots movements and BIPOC about methods of decolonization, develop an ongoing plan to change our practices, organize and mobilize the library/archives community to work with us in making change more broadly.
Emily Carr University is located on the unceded, ancestral territories of Coast Salish Peoples including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and in the neighbourhood currently known as East Vancouver, which has a long and ongoing history of colonization and displacement. As knowledge workers on this land, we have a responsibility to question the colonial legacy of libraries and archives. We will work to dismantle white supremacy inherent in the practices of acquiring, describing, organizing and making accessible knowledge and information for our community.
We are inspired by and grateful for the many BIPOC librarians, archivists, theorists, artists, and writers, whose work has guided us to learn about our own biases, question our directions, unlearn harmful ideas from the Western education system, and change the library to be a more inclusive, reciprocal, and radical space. We welcome input and collaboration with BIPOC students, staff and faculty, and the AGP, who are already doing great work in areas of decolonization and anti-racism. We invite all members of the ECU community to join our working group or come to meetings if you are interested in getting involved.
Colonization has been going on for centuries, so we do not expect this work to happen quickly, but to prioritize it as an ongoing process that involves careful consideration and consultation with our community.
ECU Library + Archives land acknowledgement
Formation of the ECU Library + Archives Indigenization and Decolonization working group
Collection Development policy
Canadian Federation of Library Association (CFLA) Truth and Reconciliation committee’s report
"The CFLA Committee on Indigenous Matters exists to and work with Indigenous (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) people to address issues related to libraries, archives and cultural memory institutions; to promote initiatives in all types of libraries by advancing and implementing meaningful reconciliation as addressed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report and in the Calls to Action" -- CFLA website
Decolonizing description
Other projects and events
Decolonizing description
Accountability
Other projects and events
Decolonizing description
Other projects and events
Decolonizing description
Other Work and Events
Ongoing projects include:
Historically the bulk of materials about Indigenous topics were catalogued under the subject heading of Indians of North America and classified in the context of 'History of the Americas'.
The ECU Library has begun the process of decolonizing and indigenizing the language we use to describe items in our collection. We are undertaking a phased project to decolonize the name and subject terms for Indigenous peoples and topics. Several other BC libraries have already begun work in this area and we will follow their lead. The UBC X̱wi7x̱wa Library has created a list of Names for BC First Nations. The Greater Victoria Public Library built upon the work done at X̱wi7x̱wa Library, and also work done by the Manitoba Archival Information Network at the University of Manitoba, to create a list of BC-centric alternative terms for use as the authorized headings of Indigenous names and topics. In addition, the Canadian Federation of Library Associations’ Indigenous Matters Committee – Red Team (Working Group on Classification and Subject Headings) and the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA) have released the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit – Indigenous Ontology (FNMIIO), which will also be a reference for us when treating names not found on the UBC X̱wi7x̱wa and GVPL lists.
One of the changes we will make is to the subject headings for BC First Nations, to reflect the names they use to call themselves. For example: Kwakiutl Indians will be changed to Kwakwaka'wakw. For tips on pronunciation, visit the BC Government Guide to the Pronunciation of Indigenous Communities and Organizations in BC.
Our library is a member of a consortium that shares a library catalogue with 140+ other libraries, hosted by the BC Libraries Co-operative. We replaced offensive subject headings in the catalogue records for items we are sole owners of (500+ physical books and 700+ eBooks), but for shared catalogue records we are working collectively to make bulk changes across the consortium. More information about this work can be found on the BC Libraries Co-op website.
Library users and staff may encounter harmful or problematic terminology in their library’s catalogue. Libraries have been complicit in perpetuating a knowledge organization system reflective of a colonial worldview and maintaining colonial approaches to descriptive practice. Libraries using Sitka Evergreen’s Integrated Library System have been using controlled, standardized vocabulary derived from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to describe and provide subject-based catalogue access to library collections. LCSH terminology used to describe library materials on topics of Indigenous Peoples and cultures have long been recognized as biased, outdated, offensive, and in need of updating to align more closely with preferred terminology, language in use, and providing improved subject-based access to library materials on these topics.
A shift from reliance upon LCSH for describing library materials on Indigenous topics offers libraries an opportunity to challenge and decenter the cognitive imperialism inherent in LCSH and standardized descriptive practices in order to provide respectful and equitable access to collections.
As a library member of a consortium, we are committed to:
For more information on Sitka’s Consortial Evergreen Integrated Library System and the Catalogue Working Group, or to find contextual resources on decolonizing descriptive practice, visit: Link to BCLC Sitka Support webpage on Decolonizing Description
January 23, 2025
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Co-op Support is pleased to announce that under guidance from the Sitka Cataloguing Working Group we will be making the first set of changes to the catalogue to update terminology.
On January 27th we will update subject headings in the Sitka catalogue that currently using the term Eskimo where there is an equivalent official Library of Congress headings for Inuit.
We expect 720 records to be updated.
October 21, 2025
Co-op Support is pleased to announce that under guidance from the Sitka Cataloguing Working Group we are making the next change to the catalogue to update terminology.
On Wednesday, October 22nd, we will update subject headings in the Sitka catalogue currently using the term Indians of North America to instead use the term Indigenous Peoples of North America.
Indigenous Peoples of North America was chosen as it is inclusive, retains the ability for users to search broadly by “North America”, and removes the geographical subdivision challenge (where a subject heading may end up with redundant subdivisions if a $zNorth America was to be added).
The capitalization of Peoples does not affect search results and aligns with a recognition of sovereignty, as articulated in the following quote.
"The term Indigenous Peoples is used to refer to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada collectively, and also to refer to Indigenous Peoples worldwide collectively. In some contexts, specific language adds useful clarity, as in the Indigenous Peoples in what is now known as Canada or Indigenous Peoples around the world. Indigenous is always an adjective. In Canada, use of the term goes like this: An Indigenous person is an individual who identifies as First Nations, Inuit, or Métis. Indigenous Peoples are the distinct societies of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada. This term recognizes the cultural integrity and diversity of Indigenous Peoples. An Indigenous People is a single one of the distinct societies of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada. Inuit, for example, are an Indigenous People. So are Nisga’a, Siksika, and Haudenosaunee Peoples. Indigenous people refers to individuals who identify as First Nations, Inuit, or Métis in a context where their specific identity is not at issue."
Younging, Gregory. Elements of Indigenous Style : A Guide for Writing by and about Indigenous Peoples, edited by Warren Cariou, Brush Education, 2018.
6XX fields updated through this change will have their second indicator set to 7 and a $2SITKALIST added. This indicates that this is a subject heading from our local Sitka list and not an official subject heading from a source like Library of Congress or Canadian Subject Headings.
Before: 650 /0 $aIndians of North America.
After: 650 /7 $aIndigenous Peoples of North America. $2SITKALIST
A spreadsheet tracking Sitka Subject Headings can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_F57AoyOO6R0klL4NFO3ixRCrlVqamuxPwQxTkGTy9Q/edit?usp=sharing
More information about the Sitka Subject Headings can be found here: https://docs.libraries.coop/policy/_cataloguing_standards.html#_subject_headings
To amplify Indigenous voices in the collection, the Emily Carr University Library has created an “Indigenous creators” local subject term.
The subject term is being applied to materials that have been created in whole or in part by people who self-identify as Indigenous to Turtle Island (colonial “North America”). This includes Indigenous authors, illustrators, directors, producers, and other creators. Resources tagged with the subject term are searchable by doing a subject search for Indigenous creators.
The Library + Archives team started adding this local subject term to materials in the spring of 2024. It is ongoing work to retroactively add this to our catalogue records.
Finding Indigenous Creators in the ECU Library Collection
Please visit our Indigenous Topics guide page to learn more about this project, including scope and selection guidelines, how to search our catalogue to find Indigenous creators, and our list of references and resources that informed the project. This work wouldn't have been possible without the help of our UBC iSchool Professional Experience student Laura Moberg. Laura completed the research and made recommendations for the workflow.
In 2021 we ran reports in our catalogue to determine which records were using harmful and outdated language pertaining to Indigenous peoples and topics. A workflow was determined to start the process of changing offensive/outdated subject headings in the catalogue. As this work is being done, we kept track using a spreadsheet with old to new terms, to provide transparency around old terms and our decision-making process. Eventually this spreadsheet will be stored in the archives. As we operate within a shared catalogue with 100+ other libraries, we were given permission to change records for items that Emily Carr University Library is the sole holder of in the shared catalogue. We primarily used the GVPL interim Indigenous subject headings list, which is a BC-centric adaptation of the Association for Manitoba Archives (AMA) headings scheme (which is itself a Manitoba-centric solution).
In 2022 we wrapped up the first phase of decolonizing subject headings in the catalogue, totalling 500 books and 700 eBooks
In Spring 2023, a Professional Experience student from the iSchool at UBC was recruited to:
The purpose of the project was to dismantle and reclassify the E97 - E99 sections of the library. The E97-E99 sections reinforced colonial traditions by keeping all books related to Indigenous peoples together in one section and represented them as historical only, versus part of contemporary society. By reclassifying materials and integrating them into the rest of the collection, the library sought to address these systemic issues.
In late 2023/early 2024, a Professional Experience student from the iSchool at UBC was recruited to:
The purpose of this project is to amplify Indigenous voices in the library collection, provide easier discovery and access, and offer library users the ability to limit searches to resources by Indigenous authors.
This work is ongoing.
The objectives are to:
In addition, a book may be re-classified and put in a different shelf location.
November 2024 - March 2025 we hosted a UBC iSchool student to assist in simplifying our workflow for this phase of the project.
library@ecuad.ca 
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