Mount Royal University Library acknowledges the historical exclusion of voices, perspectives and knowledge in libraries, and commits to Indigenous reconciliation, diversity, equity, justice and inclusion in our work as outlined in our current strategic directions.

This exclusion has shaped the historical standards used in bibliographic description, resulting in language use that reflects the terminology and biases of the time in which they were created. These descriptions include controlled vocabularies, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings, that may also contain offensive terminology that does not reflect contemporary social context and societal attitudes.

The Library is committed to addressing and updating harmful language in our catalogue records by reviewing and updating where we have control to do so and alerting and encouraging vendors who supply many of our records to do the same. We acknowledge that our efforts to address harmful language are ongoing and imperfect, and we invite feedback and continued dialogue on our cataloguing practices. If you encounter language in our catalogue records that you have questions about or find harmful or offensive, or if you have questions about this statement, our cataloguing process, or about materials in the library generally, please contact Francine May, Associate Dean, Collections and Research, via email at associatedean_collections.gg@mtroyal.ca