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Homosaurus

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Homosaurus is a thesaurus or controlled vocabulary dedicated to LGBTQ+ terms.[1][2] It aims to replace and complement outdated and disparaging definitions in broader vocabularies such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings,[1][3][4][5] and has been used by the Library of Congress since 2016.[6]

The project was started in 1982, where it was made as a standalone vocabulary to describe the collection for the IHLIA LGBT Heritage in Dutch. It was significantly expanded in 1987, and was merged with a queer-focused vocabulary from Anna Blaman Huis. In 1997, it was translated into English as A Queer Thesaurus,[4][5] which was available in both Dutch and English.[7]: 159  In 2013, it was renamed to the Homosaurus[5] and expanded with a focus on reducing its bias towards white cisgender gay men.[4] In 2016, it was decided to reduce the scope of the vocabulary to LGBTQ+ terms only.[4][8] Since then, it has been used to support any use for collating LGBTQ+ works.[4][9]

The thesaurus has been translated into Swedish and French.[9][10] An effort to translate the project into Spanish was started in 2023 in collaboration with the San Francisco Public Library, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and the Arizona Queer Archives[9] when the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities granted US$350,000 to do so. It is slated to finish in late 2026.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Jarmain, Haley (27 June 2024). "Mount Royal Library takes on Homosaurus Project". Mount Royal University. Archived from the original on 15 February 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  2. ^ Roache, Emma (11 May 2023). "What's in a word — describing LGBTQ+ collections". National Library of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 24 May 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  3. ^ Varner, Greg (24 August 2023). "Making GW's Library Catalog Express and Reflect Our Community's Values". GW Today. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e Cifor, Marika; Rawson, K J (15 May 2022). "Mediating Queer and Trans Pasts: The Homosaurus as Queer Information Activism". Information, Communication & Society. 26 (11): 2168–2185. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2022.2072753.
  5. ^ a b c Fischer, Rachel K (January 2023). "Using the Homosaurus in a Public Library Consortium". Library Resources & Technical Services. 67 (1). doi:10.5860/lrts.67n1. ISSN 2159-9610. Archived from the original on 4 April 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  6. ^ a b Monares, Freddy (26 June 2024). "New resource seeks to link Spanish speakers with LGBTQIA+ library materials". KNKX. Archived from the original on 6 February 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  7. ^ Jack van der Wel (2011). Greenblatt, Ellen (ed.). Serving LGBTIQ Library and Archives Users. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4894-4.
  8. ^ Walker, Walt (29 September 2019). "Building the Homosaurus: An International LGBTQ Linked Data Vocabulary". LMU Library News. Archived from the original on 5 April 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Kirschman, Lauren (31 March 2023). "Q&A: Developing a new Spanish-language controlled vocabulary of LGBTQIA+ terms". University of Washington. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  10. ^ Lloyd, Noah (24 February 2023). "How to say 'Homosaurus' in Spanish: A renowned LGBTQ+ resource gets another edition". NGN Research. Archived from the original on 23 March 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
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