A New Digital Method for Assessing the Diversity of Creator Identities in the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Media Services DVD Collection

ABSTRACT

Popular discussions of representation within the media industry often focus on the sexual orientation, racial, or gender-identities of the production staff and performers. Although this gives a clearer picture of who is “allowed” to create media, it doesn’t address a media item’s accessibility to viewers postcreation. The collection development strategies of libraries and other cultural heritage institutions can strengthen or impede inclusion efforts. In order to analyze the collection of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, using #52FilmsByWomen as an inspiration, the authors created a customizable tool set and workflow which can be adapted to be used at other organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• library metadata
• women motion picture producers and directors
• collection development
• digital workflow

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, and Katherine Pieper, “Inequality in 800 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBT, and Disability from 2007–2015” (USC Annenberg, Los Angeles, CA, September, 2016). https://annenberg.usc.edu/sites/default/files/2017/04/10/MDSCI_Inequality_in_800_Films_FINAL.pdf (accessed March 22, 2018).

2. Martha M. Lauzen, “The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 100, 250, and 500 Films of 2017” (Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, San Diego, CA, 2018), 2. https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2017_Celluloid_Ceiling_Report.pdf (accessed March 22, 2018).

3. Ibid., 4.

4. G. Edwards Evans and Margaret Zarnosky Saponaro, Collection Management Basics, 6th ed. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC., 2012), 2.

5. “Update Information 2015 Update Number 1” Descriptive Cataloging Manual. (Policy and Standards Division Library of Congress, Washington, DC, February 2015), Update Information Page 1, https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeDCM/DCM_2015-01.pdf (accessed March 20, 2018).

6. Ibid., 386.

7. Descriptive Cataloging Manual, Z1: Name and Series Authority Records. (Policy and Standards Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, August 2017), 375 https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/dcmz1.pdf (accessed March 20, 2018).

8. Amber Billey, Matthew Haugen, John Hostage, Nancy Sack, and Adam L. Schiff, “Report of the PCC Ad Hoc Task Group on Gender in Name Authority Records” (Program for Cooperative Cataloging, Washington, DC, October 4, 2016). http://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/Gender_375%20field_RecommendationReport.pdf (accessed March 20, 2018).

9. “Basic Instructions on Recording Gender” Resource Description and Access RDA Toolkit. http://access.rdatoolkit.org/rdachp9_rda9-5014.html (accessed March 20, 2018).

10. Billey, “Report of the PCC Ad Hoc Task Group,” 4.

11. Billey, “Report of the PCC Ad Hoc Task Group,” 10–21.

12. “Step-by-step Walkthrough to Analyze a Collection Described in MARC” Howard-Tilton-Library: AnalyzeCollectionCreators.(Rachel Tillay, New Orleans, LA, November 5, 2018), https://github.com/Howard-Tilton-Library/AnalyzeCollectionCreators/blob/master/Step-by-step%20Walkthrough.md (accessed March 13, 2019).

13. “245DirectorNames” rtilla1: JythonScripts, (Rachel Tillay, New Orleans, LA, 2018). https://github.com/rtilla1/JythonScripts/blob/master/245DirectorNames (accessed March 13, 2019).

14. Ally Acker, Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema, 1896 to the Present (New York: Continuum, 1991).

15. Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995).

16. Mary G. Hurd, Women Directors and Their Films (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007).

17. Denise Lowe, An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films, 1895–1930 (New York: Haworth Press, 2005).

18. “WOMEN MAKE MOVIES | CATALOG | BROWSE BY MAKER.” http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/browse_maker.shtml. (accessed October 3, 2018).

19. “WOMEN MAKE MOVIES | ABOUT | GENERAL INFORMATION.” http://www.wmm.com/about/general_info.shtml (accessed March 22, 2018).

20. “Alliance of Women Directors”. https://www.allianceofwomendirectors.org/find-a-director/ (accessed March 22, 2018).

21. “Directors Guild of American (DGA)”. https://www.dga.org/Employers/EmployersSearch.aspx (accessed March 22, 2018).

22. “The Director List: Women Directors at Work” http://www.thedirectorlist.com/database/ (accessed March 22, 2018).

23. “Beautiful Soup” (Edited January 6, 2019). https://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/ (accessed March 22, 2018).

24. “List of female film and television directors” Wikipedia (March 23, 2019) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_film_and_television_directors (accessed March 26, 2018).