This blog post continues our series where we’ll demonstrate how to highlight diverse book content using the Thema subject classification system. You can review our blog coverage of Thema here, and follow this series here.
In case you’re new to this series, here’s the main reason why we at BookNet are fans of the Thema subject classification system: compared to BISAC, Thema can communicate more granular and specific information about a book’s content which allows data senders and data recipients to share and display information about a book that represents a more diverse and inclusive range of content ripe for discovery by a marketplace that demands it.
New to Thema? Learn more about the basics here.
Thema: real life examples
For this — and all our future instalments in this series, we’ll be sharing Canadian-market-focussed examples only. Our previous posts, in which we’ve also featured titles and their Thema classification codes and qualifiers included in EDItEUR’s Diversity and inclusion — using Thema and ONIX to improve discoverability report, are available here. Please note that our suggestions don’t necessarily represent the actual codes chosen by the publishers; they’re meant to stimulate discussion and reflection rather than being authoritative statements of the correct way to categorize the particular books listed.
Canadian market example: The Queer Evangelist: A Socialist Clergy's Radically Honest Tale by Cheri DiNovo from Wilfrid Laurier University Press
For this example, we have a publisher, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, who has provided Thema subject classifications for their books. We have supplemented their provided subjects with our own.
Publisher-provided keywords:
socialism; Christian Left; The Inheritance of Shame; Peter Gajdics; gay pride; bisexuality; Urban Studies; Queer Studies; Gender Studies; The Socialist Manifesto; Queer and Catholic; Mark Dowd; Zena Sharman; Ivan Coyote; queer history Canada; how to be an ally; political memoirs; women politics Canada; women gender politics; Truth Be Told; Beverley McLachlin; Outside In; Libby Davies; Love & Courage; Jagmeet Singh; queer books; lgbt books; lgbtq books; same-sex marriage; women in politics; social justice books; politics books; queer christianity; queer rights; NDP; The New NDP; activism; memoirs; memoirs books
Publisher-provided BISAC subjects:
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / LGBT
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Religious
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Social Activists
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
RELIGION / Christian Living / Personal Memoirs
Publisher-provided Thema subject categorization:
JBSJ - LGBTQ+ / Gay and Lesbian Studies
DNBX1 - Autobiography: religious and spiritual
Additional theoretical subject categorization:
NHTB - Social and cultural history
DNBH1 - Autobiography: historical, political and military
JBSF1 - Gender studies: women and girls
JBSJ - LGBTQ+ / Gay and Lesbian Studies
JP - Politics and government or JPW - Political activism or JPWG - Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action
Accompanying qualifiers:
5PS - Relating to LGBTQ+ people
1KBC-CA-OSM - Southwestern Ontario: Greater Toronto Area
Rationale:
Cheri DiNovo’s first memoir challenges the limitations of a single bound book. DiNovo has lived a life that saw her ascend from living on the streets as a teenager to serving as a Member of Ontario’s Provincial Parliament, all the while tirelessly advocating for and keeping boots on the ground for the rights of LGBTQ2SIAP+ people.
Passing more bills improving the lives of LGBTQ2SIAP+ individuals and their families than anyone in Canadian history, DiNovo didn’t stop there. Her memoir continues to tell her story after she left Provincial Parliament and moved into full-time life as a minister, continuing her advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ2SIAP+ people and colliding with the Christian establishment.
A window into a decade of Canadian politics, a lifetime dedicated to social justice, and a person whose impact on Canada’s social fabric cannot be understated, The Queer Evangelist is a delight to code using Thema subject categorization.
The publisher provided two Thema classifications to accompany the titles of five BISAC codes: “JBSJ - LGBTQ+ / Gay and Lesbian Studies” and “DNBX1 - Autobiography: religious and spiritual”, so our classification was well on its way. We added the “5PS - Relating to LGBTQ+ people” and “1KBC-CA-OSM - Southwestern Ontario: Greater Toronto Area” to suggest a narrower focus.
Where DiNovo and the publisher would want to collaborate is on an appropriate subject classification to reflect DiNovo’s political stance. Which one is the most appropriate? The generic “JP - Politics and government”, with its potential for mass appeal among book buyers? The more activist-leaning “JPW - Political activism”, reflective of a DiNovo’s social justice work within and outside of the political system? Or “JPWG - Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action”, which may best express DiNovo’s firebrand status and attract a niche audience?
Want more worked examples?
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Sneak a peek at buying and borrowing numbers for Canadian titles to see how that has evolved over the last five years.