The Marie Louise Rosenthal Library’s online catalog may present materials and language that users find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate. Library staff is dedicated to finding ways to mitigate use of problematic language in our catalog records where appropriate and feasible.* Like most repositories, the Field Museum Library relies on authorized thesauri to organize and promote discoverability of its bibliographic records. These include Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Name Authorities (LCNAF), the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), and the Getty Research Institute’s Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT). Field Museum librarians recognize the limitations of these controlled vocabularies, noting that many headings are inaccurate or insufficiently descriptive. Additionally, names, titles, and other terms found in the bibliographic records may be outdated, spelled incorrectly, or misleading, and some descriptive language may simplify, distort, or erase history. Library staff will strive to address inaccurate terms and harmful language on an ongoing basis, and we welcome feedback from museum staff and library users. Should you encounter problematic language in the online catalog, please alert us via this form.
*As a WorldShare Management Services (WMS) user, the Field Museum Library pulls the majority of its bibliographic records from WorldCat Discovery. Although this allows us to benefit from collaborative resource description, it also means there are limitations when remediating harmful language.
For more, please read the Field Museum Library and Archives' "Statement on Potentially Offensive Materials and Descriptions."