2026
CRKN Virtual Conference: Creative Collaborations, Collective Momentum
Virtual
May 12 - 14, 2026
Ethical and Practical Implications of Trans+ Metadata and Digital Collections
Wednesday May 13, 2026
From 3:45pm to 4:00pm
University of Victoria (UVic) Libraries is home to the world’s largest Transgender Archives, a joint project with the world’s first and only Chair in Transgender Studies. In 2024, UVic Libraries received a landmark Digitizing Hidden Special Collections & Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to digitize, preserve, describe, and make accessible 519 at-risk audio-visual items documenting histories of Trans+ activism throughout the 1970s-2000s.
The ensuing project, Trans(formation): Digitizing the Rikki Swin Institute Trans+ Activism and Outreach Media Collection is still in process. It centers the ethical and practical tensions that cultural organizations must grapple with when creating digital collections of historical materials depicting marginalized communities. This is particularly true of collections depicting Trans+ communities, whose survival throughout much of history has depended on the ability to keep their gender diversity hidden. Cultural heritage organizations must navigate the ethically charged waters of protecting privacy while at the same time aspiring to openness and accessibility. These waters become increasingly challenging when today’s sociopolitical climate and technological advances are taken into serious consideration.
The Trans(formation) project builds upon a foundation of community-created best practices by developing additional practical criteria, including metadata and technical access interventions, and identity management protocols. This presentation will describe the project, identify its primary ethical concerns, and outline the community-informed criteria developed to guide metadata decisions and digital collection publication.
Speakers
Transgender Archives Metadata & Outreach Librarian
University of Victoria Libraries