IDEAL '19 Poster:
What’s the issue?
Identifying someone who changed their name as part of the transition process with their birth or legal name publicly decenters their agency in articulating their own identity. At its core, deadnaming dispossess trans people of their right to self identify. Name Authority Records provide the warrant for the formulation of a name in full view to anyone looking at the record. It may seem that because these records are rarely seen it does not matter how they are displayed. I argue that the choices we make in our systems reflect our organizational values.
Identifying someone who changed their name as part of the transition process with their birth or legal name publicly decenters their agency in articulating their own identity. At its core, deadnaming dispossess trans people of their right to self identify. Name Authority Records provide the warrant for the formulation of a name in full view to anyone looking at the record. It may seem that because these records are rarely seen it does not matter how they are displayed. I argue that the choices we make in our systems reflect our organizational values.
What is the current state of affairs?
Linking work created under one name to work created under a previous name is a useful tool for users and unproblematic when connecting work produced under a pen name or a maiden name. The irony, then, of the warrant for a name change being a headline in which an individual publicly states that they no longer wish to be known by a previous identity cannot be understated. Changes can be proposed, but the “Found in” fields still list the full history of a name, contradicting our professional value of respecting privacy in the name of discoverability.
Linking work created under one name to work created under a previous name is a useful tool for users and unproblematic when connecting work produced under a pen name or a maiden name. The irony, then, of the warrant for a name change being a headline in which an individual publicly states that they no longer wish to be known by a previous identity cannot be understated. Changes can be proposed, but the “Found in” fields still list the full history of a name, contradicting our professional value of respecting privacy in the name of discoverability.
So. Your Deadname is Visible to the World.
Trans Identities and Name Authority Records
L.E. Eames | @liblarrian
For further reading: bit.ly/EamesIDEAL
Trans Identities and Name Authority Records
L.E. Eames | @liblarrian
For further reading: bit.ly/EamesIDEAL
How is it handled beyond library walls?
Progressive journalistic and editing standards state that, without permission, it is incorrect to use a birth name when a chosen name has been asserted. In personal conversations, authorities from GLAAD to the Emily Post Institute note that it is rude and a repudiation of the identity someone has asserted for themselves to deadname them. Earlier this year, GLAAD and SAG-AFTRA mounted a challenge against IMDb over the site’s choice to list the deadnames of trans actors in the name of “accurately reflecting cast and crew listings” per on-screen credits.
Progressive journalistic and editing standards state that, without permission, it is incorrect to use a birth name when a chosen name has been asserted. In personal conversations, authorities from GLAAD to the Emily Post Institute note that it is rude and a repudiation of the identity someone has asserted for themselves to deadname them. Earlier this year, GLAAD and SAG-AFTRA mounted a challenge against IMDb over the site’s choice to list the deadnames of trans actors in the name of “accurately reflecting cast and crew listings” per on-screen credits.
What directions could we go in the future?
Balancing the goals of discoverability and privacy is a fine needle to thread. Doing the extra work to support the needs of marginalized communities tells our users that we are there for them on a systemic level. I have a feeling that linked data offers a pathway to better infrastructure for name authority records that both serves the professional imperative of discoverability and the social justice imperative of respect. This is an ongoing conversation and one that should also absolutely include trans and nonbinary voices as it proceeds.
Balancing the goals of discoverability and privacy is a fine needle to thread. Doing the extra work to support the needs of marginalized communities tells our users that we are there for them on a systemic level. I have a feeling that linked data offers a pathway to better infrastructure for name authority records that both serves the professional imperative of discoverability and the social justice imperative of respect. This is an ongoing conversation and one that should also absolutely include trans and nonbinary voices as it proceeds.
Further, poster-related reading: https://paperpile.com/shared/uT4Z9a
This poster is based on a paper I wrote for my LIS 531 class (Catalogs, Cataloging, and Classification). Though the paper is still very much a work in progress, you can read it as it currently stands here
This poster is based on a paper I wrote for my LIS 531 class (Catalogs, Cataloging, and Classification). Though the paper is still very much a work in progress, you can read it as it currently stands here