Workshops & Services

Carissa Chew, the creator of the Inclusive Terminology Glossary and the founder of CHTNUK, offers online talks and workshops on inclusive cataloguing and reparative description work. Key topics include:

• What is the “decolonisation” of language?
• How to identify and survey the presence of discriminatory language & harmful imagery across catalogues, collections, and websites
• Creating policies & implementing principles
• How to create more inclusive metadata, from reviewing descriptive fields to using alternative subject indexes
• The rationale behind the Inclusive Terminology Glossary and tips for using it
• Implementing advisory notices & content warnings
• Introduction to CHTNUK and plans for the future

Depending on her availability, Carissa also works freelance as an inclusive cataloguing consultant for heritage organisations. Feel free to contact her at culturalheritageterminology@gmail.com regarding paid opportunities.

• Carissa Chew CV

Projects & Activities

Inclusive Metadata Consultant – V&A, January-March 2024.

Decolonising Description Consultant – People’s Collection Wales, June – July 2023.

Advisory Board Member, De-Bias: Detecting and cur(at)ing harmful language in cultural heritage collections, Europeana Pro, https://pro.europeana.eu/project/de-bias, June 2023 – December 2024.

Advisory Group Participant – Curationist MetaData Learning and Unlearning Convening, June 2023.

Inclusive Cataloguing Consultant – The Glasgow School of Art Library, July 2022 – August 2022.

Inclusive Language Review Consultant – Imperial War Museums, June 2022 – August 2022.

Equalities, Diversity, and Inclusion Intern – National Library of Scotland, September 2020 – June 2021.

Past Talks & Workshops

Chew, Carissa. “Representing People of Colour in Music Collections.” International Association of Music Libraries (IAML). 18 May 2023.

—”The Cultural Heritage Terminology Network and inclusive description in the UK heritage sector.” National Museum Wales. 31 March 2023.

—”Inclusive Terminology for the Heritage Sector.” ICOM-IMREC. Museums, Decolonisation and Restitution: A Global Conversation. 20 March 2023.

—”Inclusive Description in the Archives.” Scottish Council on Archives. 26 January 2023.

—”Decolonising description in the heritage Sector.” SGSAH Decolonial Methodologies: Panel Discussion. Postcolonial Faultlines: Cross-Disciplinary Postgraduate Research Conference on Postcolonial and Decolonial Knowledge(s). 11 October 2022.

—”Decolonising description: addressing the language & legacies of slavery & empire.” Glasgow Museums. 16 August 2022.

—”The National Library of Scotland’s Inclusive Terminology Glossary,” Great expectations: Unlocking potential in our archives and libraries to deliver equal, inclusive and diverse products and services for all, Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities (DCDC) conference. 15 July 2022.

—”Inclusive Terminology for the Heritage Sector.” Arlis Cataloguing and Classification Committee. 27 May 2022.

—”Inclusive description and the language legacies of imperialism.” Imperial War Museums: Collection Management in Practice (internal conference). 13 April 2022.

—”Dealing with the language and legacies of slavery & empire.” Business Archives Council of Scotland Corporate Connections: Connections to Slavery & Empire in Business Archives. 27 October 2021.

—”The language dilemma: ethical cataloguing and inclusive description in practice.” Collections Trust: Dealing with complexity: Collections Trust conference 2021. 14 October 2021.

—”Guidance on inclusive description.” Museum Ethnographers Group: Tackling Terminology ‘Keeping Connected’ coffee time event for MEG Members. 7 October 2021.

—”Non-discriminatory cataloguing practices.” Scotland’s Sounds. 24 August 2021.

—”Non-discriminatory cataloguing.” CILIP – RBSCG In Conversation. 24 June 2021.

—”Addressing offensive materials in the collections: music, minstrelsy, and misrepresentation.” IAML: Roundtable on Decolonisation and Diversity, IAML Virtual Annual Study Event 2021. 14 April 2021.

—”Bound by language? Assessing and addressing representation in the archives.” Scottish Civic Trust: Race and Heritage, Scottish Civic Trust Annual Conference 2020. 2 December 2020.

Media Coverage

“Viewpoint: Ethical cataloguing in action.” Art Libraries Journal 48.2 (2023), 30-32. doi:10.1017/alj.2023.2

Scott, Jennifer. “Decolonising the Archive: colonial language in our archival catalogue.” Library, Archive & Open Research Services blog. 23 January, 2023. https://blogs.lshtm.ac.uk/library/2023/01/23/decolonising-the-archive-colonial-language-in-our-archival-catalogue/.

Norton, Oliver. “National Library of Scotland researchers create 257-page guide to offensive words & phrases including ‘fenian’ and ‘hun’.” The Scottish Sun, 4 December 2021. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/8107616/scots-library-guide-offensive-phrases/.

Campsie, Alison. “Leading historian speaks out as National Library of Scotland rewrites harmful colonial language.” The Scotsman, 17 October 2021. https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/leading-historian-speaks-out-as-national-library-of-scotland-rewrites-harmful-colonial-language-3421458.

Biswas, Nuzhat. “A conversation with Carissa Chew, writer of ‘Histories of Colour’.” Scottish BPOC Writers Network, 30 March 2021. https://scottishbpocwritersnetwork.org/a-conversation-with-carissa-chew-writer-of-histories-of-colour/.