First Nations Longhouse UBC / Xicotencatl / CC BY-SA

Library classification systems, such as the Dewey Decimal System and the Library of Congress Subject Headings, which CU Libraries and many other academic libraries use, reflect Western colonial systems of sorting information rather than indigenous methods. As this article on the X̱wi7x̱wa Library at the University of British Columbia explains, there are many issues with the two most commonly used library classification systems: 

• Subject headings sort Native topics into the history section, implying that indigenous people are historical artifacts and do not have a living culture -- or are literally living people.
• Subject headings utilize the Western names for tribes, instead of using tribes’ preferred names. 
• These systems sort alphabetically, as opposed to sorting by geographic region to give indigenous knowledge it’s essential sense of place.
• These systems don’t easily incorporate languages that use non-Roman characters. 
• Native creation stories are often sorted with folklore or fairy tales, as opposed to the organizational treatment of other religious theologies (particularly Christian theology and Bible stories). 
• Library collections often feature items with harmful stereotypes or blatant misinformation about indigenous people. 

Additionally, this fantastic slideshow on Decolonizing Cataloging and Classification by Kalani Adolpho, Diversity Resident Librarian at University of Wisconsin Madison, identifies further issues with commonly used library classification systems:

• Use of the settler’s language and the settler’s terms
• Homogenization of Native nations 
• Reduction of Native knowledge and concepts
• Lack of acknowledgement of Native sovereignty
• Minimization of genocide
• Treatment of gender: “With few exceptions, Indigenous third, fourth, fifth, and sixth genders do not have subject headings – No headings for fa’afafine, fakaleiti, or māhū – There is a heading for “Two Spirit people,” but Two-Spirit is an umbrella term.”

Indigenous Knowledge Organized by Indigenous People

There are efforts to redress the harmful mishandling of Indigenous Knowledge by libraries, via the creation of subject headings, labels and classification systems created by indigenouis communities, that reflect indigenous knowledge organization. Some examples of these projects, and this is by no means an exhaustive list, include: 

• The Brian Deer Classification System (BDC) is a library classification system created in the 1970s by Canadian Kahnawake Mohawk librarian A. Brian Deer, and has been adapted for use by a small number of First Nations libraries in Canada, including the X̱wi7x̱wa Library at the University of British Columbia. 

• The Traditional Knowledge Labels, or TK Labels, are, “A tool for Indigenous communities to add existing local protocols for access and use to recorded cultural heritage that is digitally circulating outside community contexts. The TK Labels offer an educative and informational strategy to help non-community users of this cultural heritage understand its importance and significance to the communities from where it derives and continues to have meaning.”

• Developed by the Māori Subject Headings Project, jointly sponsored by LIANZA, Te Rōpū Whakahau, and the National Library of New Zealand, the Māori Subject Headings Thesaurus - Nga Upoko Tukutuku, “Provides a structured path to a Māori world view within library and archival cataloguing and description. It supports cataloguers and descriptive archivists to assign appropriate terms for the material, and helps users find those items within a framework they relate to.”
   
• First Nations, Métis, and Inuit – Indigenous Ontology (FNMIIO) is a working list of Indigenous Names to better reflect how Indigenous people currently prefer to refer to themselves. This document is being continuously updated and edited. Released through the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA) and CFLA-FCAB Indigenous Matters Committee – Red Team Joint Working Group on Classification and Subject Headings.

Suggested Resource:
The X̱wi7x̱wa Library’s excellent LibGuide on Indigenous Knowledge Organization links to several initiatives and has an excellent bibliography of further readings written by indigenous library scholars.