Library Guides: Native American History and Culture: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Library of Congress Subject Headings

On this page, you will find

An explanation of the Library of Congress's colonial history.
A list of featured articles on the Library of Congress's problematic subject headings.
A list of relevant Library of Congress subject headings to search for books by subject.
A Library of Congress Classification guide.

Library of Congress and Colonial History

The Library of Congress uses controlled vocabularies and subject headings to classify bibliographic material. These subject headings are standardized, and they are difficult to change. Problematically, the United States' colonial history is evident in the way the Library of Congress has historically classified certain topics. This issue is nowhere more apparent than in its classification of issues surrounding Native American, First Nations', and indigenous peoples' history and culture.

Currently, the Library of Congress still uses outdated terminology to classify Native American topics and issues. Popular subject headings include

Slowly over time, advocates have been petitioning the Library of Congress to update its controlled subject heading vocabulary to provide an authentic representation of Native Americans' lived experiences. As the transition from older to newer terminology is accomplished, we find many resources have a blend of older and newer subject headings. Newer subject headings include

Decolonizing the Library of Congress

For more information about how librarians and information professionals struggle with the Library of Congress's problematic subject headings, check out the featured articles listed below.

X̱wi7x̱wa library in British Columbia Takes an Indigenous Approach to Categorizing Books
This library is working to decolonize the way libraries organize information. Books on Indigenous communities often get looped into the history section. As a result, information on Native peoples literally gets left in the past. X̱wi7x̱wa Library (pronounced whei-wha) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada aims to counter Western, colonial bias and better reflect the knowledge of Indigenous peoples. By offering an alternative to the widely used Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification systems, this library aims to take steps toward decolonizing the way information is sorted, cataloged, and shared.
Modifications to the Library of Congress of Subject Headings for use by Manitoba archives
The Association for Manitoba Archives has created a database where their members can deposit archival descriptions, in order to provide a central search mechanism for users. The Library ofCongress Subject Headings were also added, to provide the members with a controlled subject vocabulary to use in their descriptions. The AMA was quickly notified that the LCSH terminology relating to Indigenous peoples is antiquated and inappropriate in a Canadian and Manitoban context.
Decolonizing Cataloging and Classication
This slideshow was presented by Kalani Adolpho, Diversity Resident Librarian at University of Wisconsin Madison, for the 2018 Peer Council. The slides explore issues of diversity and whiteness in librarianship, the impact of Library of Congress Classification, and decolonizing libraries.
The Language of Cataloguing: Deconstructing and Decolonizing Systems of Organization in Libraries
As society, politics, and economies change, so too does the language of representation. Therefore, the Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH) as a system of categorization is only as effective as the language that is used to define what is and what is not. Moreover, those who control the language of categorization control access to the information categorized within that system. Consequently, librarians must always be critical of the language they are using in their information organization systems
Decolonizing the Way Libraries Organize
The purpose of this paper is to question the cultural suitability of the systems and procedures libraries have in place to organize materials. When librarians talk about changes to codes and standards that are currently in use, it is often at the micro-level. ... What may be needed are not these micro-level changes, but changes at the macrolevel. Librarians need to feel empowered to go beyond the Euro American models of library cataloging work, without feeling that they are violating the integrity of their relationships with networks and consortia

Search by Subject

American fiction--Indian authors

American Indians--Culture

American Indians--History

American literature--Indian authors

American poetry--Indian authors

First nations of North America

Indian arts

Indian arts--United States--Pictorial works

Indian authors

Indian cosmology

Indian families

Indian literature

Indian philosophy--North America

Indian reservations--Fiction

Indian women

Indian women poets

Indians, Treatment of

Indians, Treatment of--New England

Indians--Literary collections

Indians--Material culture

Indians--Religion

Indians--Social life and customs

Indians in literature

Indians of North America

Indians of North America--Authors

Indians of North America--Civil rights History

Indians of North America--Fiction

Indians of North America--Folklore

Indians of North America--Intellectual life

Indians of North America--New England

Indigenous peoples

Native American novelists

Native American oral histories

Native Americans

Native Americans--Material culture

Native Americans--Social life and customs

New England--Antiquities

Oral tradition--North America

Search by Library of Congress Classification

Browse the Library of Congress Classification Outline to search for ranges of books by subject classification. It provides a guide to the books that are actually in the library's collections. You can search DiPietro Library's print books for the topics that interest you! The ranges listed here are the beginnings of books' call numbers. Below you will find subclass ranges for subjects relevant to this topic.

Class B - Philosophy. Psychology. Religion

Subclass BD - Speculative philosophy

BD493-701 - Cosmology, including teleology, space and time, structure of matter, plurality of worlds

Class E-F - History of the Americas

E51-73 - Pre-Columbian America. The Indians
E75-99 - Indians of North America

Class P - Language and Literature

Subclass PM - Hyperborean, Indian, and artificial languages

PM101-2711 - American languages (Aboriginal)
- PM231-355 - American languages of British North American
- PM(401)-501 - American languages of the United States (and Mexico)
- PM549-2711 - Special languages of the United States and Canada

Subclass PS - American literature

PS147-152 - Women authors
PS501-689 - Collections of American literature
- PS530-536.3 - By period
- PS537-574 - By region
- PS580-619 - Poetry
- PS642-659.5 - Prose
- PS680-689 - Essays
PS700-3626 - Individual authors
- PS700-893 - Colonial period (17th and 18th centuries)
- PS991-(3390) - 19th century
- PS3500-3549 - 1900-1960
- PS3550-3576 - 1961-2000
- PS3600-3626 - 2001-