Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Anti-Racism, and Accessibility Work Group

Any person may submit a term to be considered for removal or replacement using the Report Harmful Language in Library Catalogs form.

No. Form submissions go directly to the Harmful Language Review Subgroup. They are not sent to your library. That work group is also responsible for the review process, during which the group may consult with experts outside the work group who are best positioned to give feedback about terminology related to identity of specific groups of people.

Only if a member of your college faculty or staff is a member of the Harmful Language Review Subgroup or is recruited as an expert consultant to assist in review of a specific term will anyone from your library be involved in the process.

All form submission data can be accessed by members of the Harmful Language Review Subgroup, select members of the DEIAA Work Group, the LSP Program Manager, and select form software administrators from Community College League of California. Functionally, the submission data is used by Harmful Language Review Subgroup members while the submission is active. Once closed, personally identifying information is removed.

Expert consultants may be invited to support the Harmful Language Review Subgroup in the review process. They will have access to form submission data except for personally identifying information.

When the campus of the form submitter has been identified on the optional form demographics, the campus library will be notified that a submission was received from their campus, and receive status updates about the submission. They will have access to basic form submission data, with  all personally identifying information removed.

Basic form submission details such as the terminology reported as harmful and suggested alternative terminology will be posted publicly and shared.

Please read our full privacy and data use statement for additional details.

The Harmful Language Review Subgroup focuses on subject headings only. We will review subject headings from any data source (for example Network Zone or Institution Zone bibliographic records or Central Discovery Index).

Submissions for terms that are not subjects, are not in scope for this project at this time, and won't be considered. 

Subject headings are terminology that capture the essence of a what a work (a book, an article, or other resource) is about. Subject headings (aka subjects or topics in OneSearch) may be single words or phrases that appear in a list on the OneSearch page details for the title (Figure A), or used as a search tool for filtering (Figure B). 

Figure A. Subjects listed in the record details of a OneSearch record for an ebook title

Figure B. Subjects listed in search results filters for "Tweak my results" or "Refine my results." This menu may appear on the right or left side of your college library's OneSearch, depending on the configuration of the user interface.

The list of terms reported for review and potential action is available as a spreadsheet embedded on the LSP DEIAA Work Group LibGuide site. The spreadsheet displays term reported as well as status updates, including the eventual outcome or action such as removal or replacement of the term.

If a person has requested status updates about their form submission, they will also be contacted by email.

If a reported term falls outside of the scope of the process or the subgroup review does not recommend removal or replacement of the term, the subgroup will note this on the status update page and contact the person who submitted the term when possible.

The harmful language review process is five steps, and requires community feedback and Governance Committee approval, so it is a multi-month process. We are unable to quantify it specifically. Some considerations for each step are listed below.

1. Day 1: You submit the form to us
2. Review period: Harmful Language Review Subgroup reviews, researches, and consults as needed on the term and possible solutions -- We meet once per month during the academic year; time may vary depending on the need for external consultants, and complexity and scope of the term submitted
3. Open feedback period (7 days minimum): LSP Program members are given the opportunity to give feedback on the Harmful Language Review Subgroup's recommendation about the term. Feedback is incorporated into our next report to the Governance Committee.
4. Governance Committee Decision Period: At the next Governance Committee meeting the recommendation is presented with the feedback as an action item. It can be approved, denied, or revision and/or more feedback can be requested in which case we go back to step 3.
5. Notification of decisions and implementation or action (if any): Notifications about decisions by the Governance Committee are shared out, and plans/scheduling for any implementations or actions. Depending on the complexity of any implementation final action may take additional time.

At this time we are focusing on harmful language found in subject or topic language.

Because our library catalog records come from many different sources, we must take different approaches to resolving issues when harmful language is found. Below is a list of potential actions the Harmful Language Review Subgroup could potentially recommend within our Network Zone:

• Replace a harmful subject with a better subject
• Remove a harmful subject
• Keep the original subject, and add a better subject as a supplement to it
• Take no action / Keep the original subject

Additionally, as capacity allows, the group may perform tasks or reach out to other professional groups or vendors:

• Contact Ex Libris or other vendors about metadata problems including harmful language found in their records
• Perform cataloging at the OCLC level to correct issues on bibliographic records
• Consult with SACO funnels and colleagues
• Submit subject proposals to Library of Congress

Questions can be submitted via the DEIAA Work Group contact form or by contacting members of the Harmful Language Review Subgroup.

The Harmful Language Reporting form launched September 16, 2024. It was distributed as a link from the Network Zone to all Primo views in the LSP Program, shared on the LSP-All and CCLibrarians-All lists and was published in this LibGuide.

No. The implementation will be undertaken at the Network Zone level and will automatically appear in your library’s Primo VE instance.

The reporting form link will use the general electronic services link method that appears at the bottom of the record’s full display. The link will appear in addition to whatever local (institution-level) general electronic services links already appear there.

Yes. If you have configured general electronic services links locally, and would like to adjust the order of the links, you may do so.

Go to: Config > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic > General Electronic Services Order.

Libraries who have hidden service links* using CSS files** will also have hidden the link to the Harmful Language Reporting form.

There are three options to resolve this in order to display the Harmful Language Reporting form in your library Primo. See these how-to instructions for full details:

1. Leave your current CSS as is: All service links remain hidden. You will need to add the link to the Harmful Language Reporting form using another method, in another location in your Primo. See FAQ: Can the link appear anywhere else in our Primo VE instance?
   • div[ng-repeat="link in $ctrl.getLinks()"] {display:none;}
2. Modify your current CSS: All service links except those with "caccleague" in the URL are hidden. The Harmful Language Reporting form link will display. See lines 153-158 of custom1.css file "CSS Template for Customizing Primo Package" revised 9/25/2024 (available via the Discovery and User Experience LibGuide). Use code for option 2, make sure it is not commented out.
   • div[ng-repeat="link in $ctrl.getLinks()"] a:not(a[href*="caccleague"]) {display:none;}
3. Remove the CSS line that is hiding links: All service links will be displayed in Primo VE, including those from MARC 856 fields

We encourage you to come to our office hours or reach out to the work groups for additional support.

*links include links out to services such as tables of contents, author biographies, abstracts, images, and other urls added to the 856 field of MARC records as well as general electronic services such as the Harmful Language Reporting form.

**Some libraries have hidden links in Primo VE when they made use of the "CSS Template for Customizing Primo Package" (12/2019) posted on the Discovery and User Experience LibGuide. This file has been updated (9/25/2024) to include the modified option number 2 for those who would like to use it.

Yes. Your library would be responsible for the configuration required to add the link in other places. You may contact work groups for support as needed. Appendix B of the Process to Remove/Replace harmful subject terms presented ideas for where the link may be added to your Primo VE.

Yes. General Electronic Services can be selectively be hidden according to conditions you choose in your display logic rules for general electronic services at the institution or campus level (for multi-college institutions).

Go to: Config > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic > Discovery Interface Display Logic: + Add Rule (user groups / service / if conditions etc)

Note: Other methods must be used to hide all or other types of links. See FAQ: Our library has hidden "Links" in Primo VE using CSS, so the link to the form does not display. What are our options to display the link to form? for details on hiding all or select links using the CSS file. See FAQ: Our library would like to hide (or unhide) the "Display source record" link that appears below the reporting form, how do we do that? for additional details.

No. Form submissions are submitted to, monitored by, and reviewed by members of the Harmful Language Review Subgroup. Individual libraries are not responsible for handling form submissions.

Yes. College campus affiliation is an optional form field. When the campus field is filled on a form submission, thus identifying the campus of the form submitter, the LSP Program contact from the college library of the form submitter will receive a notification that someone affiliated with their college has submitted a harmful language report, as well as status updates on the term submitted. No personally identifying information of the form submitter is shared with the library.