Transgender Subject Access: History and Current Practice

This article evaluates representation of transgender people and experiences in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). It compares LCSH treatment of transgender topics to that of controlled vocabularies developed to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) collections, as well as their treatment by scholarly LGBT encyclopedias. The appraisal of these knowledge domains demonstrates the continued relevance of subject descriptors as a mode of knowledge production both for information professionals and for those we serve. It also suggests strategies available to librarians to render transgender people more visible and accessible in library catalogs, including incorporating new technologies as well as modifying established cataloging instruments.