Homosaurus

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

{{Short description|LGBTQ+ focused controlled vocabulary}}

{{use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}

File:The Homosaurus logo.svg

Homosaurus is a thesaurus or controlled vocabulary dedicated to LGBTQ+ terms.{{cite web |last=Jarmain |first=Haley |date=27 June 2024 |title=Mount Royal Library takes on Homosaurus Project |url=https://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/MediaRoom/Stories/2024/06/mru-library-takes-on-homosaurus-project.htm |website=Mount Royal University |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250215064457/https://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/MediaRoom/Stories/2024/06/mru-library-takes-on-homosaurus-project.htm |archive-date=15 February 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}}{{cite web |last=Roache |first=Emma |date=11 May 2023 |title=What's in a word — describing LGBTQ+ collections |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/whats-in-a-word-describing-lgbtq-collections |website=National Library of New Zealand |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/WRmdp |archive-date=24 May 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}} It aims to replace and complement outdated and disparaging definitions in broader vocabularies such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings,{{cite web |last=Varner |first=Greg |date=24 August 2023 |title=Making GW's Library Catalog Express and Reflect Our Community's Values |url=https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/making-gws-library-catalog-express-and-reflect-our-communitys-values |website=GW Today |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401040532/https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/making-gws-library-catalog-express-and-reflect-our-communitys-values |archive-date=1 April 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}}{{cite journal |last1=Cifor |first1=Marika |last2=Rawson |first2=K J |date=15 May 2022 |title=Mediating Queer and Trans Pasts: The Homosaurus as Queer Information Activism |doi=10.1080/1369118X.2022.2072753 |doi-access=free |journal=Information, Communication & Society |volume=26 |issue=11 |pages=2168–2185 }}{{cite journal |last=Fischer |first=Rachel K |date=January 2023 |title=Using the Homosaurus in a Public Library Consortium |doi=10.5860/lrts.67n1 |doi-access=free |volume=67 |issue=1 |issn=2159-9610 |url=https://www.journals.ala.org/index.php/lrts/article/view/7985/11110 |journal=Library Resources & Technical Services |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250404204224/https://www.journals.ala.org/index.php/lrts/article/view/7985/11110 |archive-date=4 April 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}} and has been used by the Library of Congress since 2016.{{cite web |last=Monares |first=Freddy |date=26 June 2024 |title=New resource seeks to link Spanish speakers with LGBTQIA+ library materials |url=https://www.knkx.org/arts-culture/2024-06-26/spanish-homosaurus-translation-lgbtqia-library-catalog-reference-search-terms |website=KNKX |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206185531/https://www.knkx.org/arts-culture/2024-06-26/spanish-homosaurus-translation-lgbtqia-library-catalog-reference-search-terms |archive-date=6 February 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}}

The project was started in 1982, where it was made as a standalone vocabulary to describe the collection for the IHLIA LGBT Heritage in Dutch. It was significantly expanded in 1987, and was merged with a queer-focused vocabulary from Anna Blaman Huis. In 1997, it was translated into English as A Queer Thesaurus, which was available in both Dutch and English.{{cite book |author=Jack van der Wel |editor-last=Greenblatt |editor-first=Ellen |date=2011 |title=Serving LGBTIQ Library and Archives Users |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-4894-4}}{{rp|p=159}} In 2013, it was renamed to the Homosaurus and expanded with a focus on reducing its bias towards white cisgender gay men. In 2016, it was decided to reduce the scope of the vocabulary to LGBTQ+ terms only.{{cite web |last=Walker |first=Walt |date=29 September 2019 |title=Building the Homosaurus: An International LGBTQ Linked Data Vocabulary |url=https://librarynews.lmu.edu/2019/09/building-the-homosaurus-an-international-lgbtq-linked-data-vocabulary/ |website=LMU Library News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250405154804/https://librarynews.lmu.edu/2019/09/building-the-homosaurus-an-international-lgbtq-linked-data-vocabulary/ |archive-date=5 April 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}} Since then, it has been used to support any use for collating LGBTQ+ works.{{cite web |last=Kirschman |first=Lauren |date=31 March 2023 |title=Q&A: Developing a new Spanish-language controlled vocabulary of LGBTQIA+ terms |url=https://www.washington.edu/news/2023/03/31/qa-developing-a-new-spanish-language-controlled-vocabulary-of-lgbtqia-terms/ |website=University of Washington |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401005135/https://www.washington.edu/news/2023/03/31/qa-developing-a-new-spanish-language-controlled-vocabulary-of-lgbtqia-terms/ |archive-date=1 April 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}}

The thesaurus has been translated into Swedish and French.{{cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Noah |date=24 February 2023 |title=How to say 'Homosaurus' in Spanish: A renowned LGBTQ+ resource gets another edition |url=https://news.northeastern.edu/research/archives/how-to-say-homosaurus-in-spanish-asi-se-dice-homosaurus-en-espanol/ |website=NGN Research |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323040753/https://news.northeastern.edu/research/archives/how-to-say-homosaurus-in-spanish-asi-se-dice-homosaurus-en-espanol/ |archive-date=23 March 2025 |access-date=24 May 2025}} An effort to translate the project into Spanish was started in 2023 in collaboration with the San Francisco Public Library, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and the Arizona Queer Archives when the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities granted 350,000 dollars to do so. It is slated to finish in late 2026.{{update after|2027}}