IMPORTANT UPDATE: On November 12, 2021 it was announced at the Library of Congress' ;Policy and Standards Division annual meeting that the Library of Congress will replace aliens and illegal aliens subject headings with new subject headings “Noncitizens” and “Illegal immigration." The approved changes by the Library of Congress on November 12, 2021 are available in the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS APPROVED MONTHLY LIST 11b.
OCLC has updated approximately 41,000 Worldcat records to reflect the Library of Congress Approved changes as of December 2021. The Library of Congress and the OCLC subject heading changes have been updated in SUNY via our daily OCLC files for updated records that contain SUNY holdings.
On February 2, 2022, the SUNY Metadata Standard and Policy Working Group reviewed the Library of Congress and OCLC changes and voted to:
On March 14, 2022, the SLC LSP Advisory Board accepted the SUNY Metadata Standards and Policies Working Group’s recommendations. This LibGuide has been updated to reflect the changes made by the SUNY Library Consortium to updated the approved changes in Alma and Primo VE.
In 2014, a group of Dartmouth students along with the help of a Dartmouth librarian worked to get the Library of Congress to change subject headings containing the term "illegal aliens." The Dartmouth students and librarian worked with the American Library Association (ALA) and the Library of Congress to change subject headings that contain "illegal aliens" and replace them with subject headings that remove bias and promote inclusion within library catalog records. This project highlights the importance of words and word choices within our library catalogs to either embrace or exclude users. The grassroots effort started by Dartmouth students, with the support of the ALA, to “Change the Subject” has garnered support from libraries across the country. SUNY Library Consortia is among one of a growing number of libraries acknowledging the need for and embracing the "Change the Subject Project."
Historical background:
In March 2016 the Library of Congress announced their plan to change subject headings containing "illegal aliens" with two new headings: "Noncitizens" and "Unauthorized immigration." Republican lawmakers made several attempts to prevent the Library of Congress from making revisions to subject headings containing "illegal alien." The House proceedings for the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 contained language arguing against changing "illegal alien" subject headings stating the Library of Congress should retain legal terminology used in United States Code without revision, such as the subject heading “alien", for cataloging and searching purposes. The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act , 2017 passed the House of Representatives containing the provision requiring the Library of Congress to retain the subject heading "illegal alien." The final bill that was approved in Congress on May 5, 2017, H.R.244 - Consolidated Appropriations Act, does not contain language restricting the Library of Congress from changing subject headings containing "illegal alien." In an explanatory statement associated with Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 it outlines the process the Library of Congress must follow before making changes to Library of Congress subject headings. The explanatory statement on page 4033 states the Library of Congress is required to be transparent, get input from stakeholders, and consider terminology used in law, as well as, other appropriate sources before making changes to subject headings.
On November 12, 2021 it was announced at the Library of Congress' Policy and Standards Division annual meeting that the Library of Congress will replace aliens and illegal aliens subject headings with new subject headings “Noncitizens” and “Illegal immigration." The approved changes by the Library of Congress on November 12, 2021 are available in the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS APPROVED MONTHLY LIST 11b.
Visit Darmouth's site to watch the "Change the Subject Project" film to learn more.
Other resources related to the "Change the Subject Project:"
The following list includes subject headings that were changed by the Library of Congress (LOC) in response to Dartmouth's Change the Subject Project and by the hard work of all who were involved in making these changes happen. The list also includes SUNY local subject headings that are being used in lieu of and in additions to the LOC subject headings.
List of Library of Congress Subject headings changes: https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/BKkawJjhs1nsD1ADdJi7nhs3
The following changes will be made to implement the approved changed to the SUNY Change the Subject Project will:
IMPORTANT NOTE: On Marc 28, 2022, case #06316722 has been opened with Ex Libris because there is a defect that is preventing the local authority records from searching the non-preferred subject headings (MARC 450s) in Primo VE. Ex Libris is working to resolve the issue. Once the issue has been resolved, the SLS will have Ex Libris re-index all records in the Network and SUNY institutions that were impacted by the Change the Subject Project. Re-indexing the records will allow non-preferred local subject headings to be searched.
IMPORTANT: Implemented March 2022!
PrimoVE "subject" display normalization rules have been updated for MARC fields 600 and 650 to adhere to the approved changes to the SUNY Change the Subject Project on March 14, 2022 by the SLC LSP Advisory Board. The update display norm rules:
NOTE: Resources in PrimoVE with non-Library of Congress subject headings or Community Zone e-resources that contain "illegal aliens" and "aliens" will still be required to be searched by those subject headings. The records will not display subject headings containing "illegal aliens" or "aliens" due to display normalization rules that prevent them from displaying.
| Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) | SUNY Local Subject Heading Display |
| Alien detention centers | Noncitizen detention centers |
| Alien criminals | Criminals |
| Deportation of aliens | Deportation of noncitizens |
| Illegal immigrants | Undocumented immigrants |
| Illegal immigrants in literature | Undocumented immigrants in literature |
| Noncitizen criminals | Criminals |
| Relations with aliens | Relations with noncitizens |
| Aliens | Does Not Display in PrimoVE |
CDI is the Central Discovery Index that PrimoVE uses to index ebooks and ejournals. This indexing allows eresources to be searched in PrimoVE at the title, chapter, and article level. CDI bibliographic records are not impacted by Alma normalization or PrimoVE display norm rules. Records coming from the CDI will continue to display subject headings containing "illegal aliens" and "aliens."
How to Identify a Record's Source:
IMPORTANT: Implemented March 2022!
Normalization rules will continue to be applied to all existing physical bibliographic records in Alma at both the Institution (IZ) and Network (NZ) Zones and IZ only electronic records that contain LCSH with "illegal aliens" and "aliens." The same normalization rules will be applied to all Import and Integration Profiles that are being used for IZ-only physical and electronic bibliographic records and for NZ linked physical bibliographic records.
Local Subject Heading (LSH) Initiative normalization rules in Alma will:
IZ-only records will need to be searched in PrimoVE using the following SUNY local subject headings when doing a subject search:
| Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) | SUNY Local Subject Heading Display |
| Alien detention centers | Noncitizen detention centers |
| Alien criminals | Criminals |
| Deportation of aliens | Deportation of noncitizens |
| Illegal immigrants | Undocumented immigrants* |
| Illegal immigrants in literature | Undocumented immigrants in literature* |
| Noncitizen criminals | Criminals |
| Relations with aliens | Relations with noncitizens |
| Aliens | Does Not Display in PrimoVE |
* - Uses the SUNY Local Subject Authority Records. IZ only records containing "undocumented immigrant" and/or "undocumented immigrants in literature can be searched by the authorized (MARC 150) and varying forms (MARC 450)of the subject heading found in the SUNY local subject authority file.
Please note: The term "aliens" has not been impacted by normalization rules due to the inability to distinguish when the term is being use to describe human beings or extraterrestrials. Non-Library of Congress subject headings still use "aliens" to represent extraterrestrials. The "subject" display normalization rules omit non-Library of Congress "aliens subject heading and Library of Congress "aliens" subject heading in Community Zone and CDI records from displaying in the full record view in PrimoVE.
The Local Subject Normalization Rule is available to view below:
The SUNY Normalization Rule for Import and Integration Profiles impacting physical bibliographic records in Alma is available to view below:
Bibliographic record before Change the Subject Project normalization rules have been applied:
Bibliographic record after the Change the Subject Project normalization rules have been applied:
Display in PrimoVE:
IMPORTANT: Implemented March 2022!
Two SUNY local subject headings will be created in the Network and each SUNY Alma instance to support searching subject headings in Primo VE. The two SUNY local subject headings are:
The SUNY Local subject headings will allow users in Primo VE to be able to search for the non-authorized subject heading and still retrieve results when searching for previously authorized subject headings. It will also allow the user to retrieve eresource records whose subject headings have not been updated and still contain the non-authorized subject heading.
Recording of how SUNY local subject headings work in Primo VE: https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/MMqpJyE2ozcdw3y53aqYrNan
IMPORTANT NOTE: On Marc 28, 2022, case #06316722 has been opened with Ex Libris because there is a defect that is preventing the local authority records from searching the non-preferred subject headings (MARC 450s) in Primo VE. Ex Libris is working to resolve the issue. Once the issue has been resolved, the SLS will have Ex Libris re-index all records in the Network and SUNY institutions that were impacted by the Change the Subject Project. Re-indexing the records will allow non-preferred local subject headings to be searched.