Change the Subject (2019) is a 54-minute documentary film about a group of Dartmouth students who challenged anti-immigrant language in the Library of Congress subject headings. 

Words are also actions

Words are also actions

The Change the Subject digital collection provides free streaming access to Change the Subject (2019) and to interviews conducted with documentary participants during the production phase of the film. The interviews contain perspectives on a wide range of topics, including the original petition to the Library of Congress, student activism at Dartmouth, and the immigrant rights movement. We invite you to listen and learn from the remarkable students, scholars, and librarians who started the movement to “change the subject.”

We also invite you to contact the filmmakers here. Let us know if you would like to schedule a screening, express feedback about the project or this site, or share how you have incorporated Change the Subject into your professional development or teaching. 

Change The Subject film poster

Released under CC BY-SA 4.0

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Watch

Watch the film

Closed captioning available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek

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Listen

Access interview footage

Selected interviews are restricted to the Dartmouth community.

 

Host a Screening

Change the Subject has been screened at over 100 institutions, used widely in teaching, and incorporated into professional development in libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations.

Subjects and grade level: Library & Information Science, Anthropology, Latinx Studies, Sociology, Immigration Studies, Political Science, Media Studies, US History. Appropriate for middle school through graduate level. 

We are here to support your screening or use of the film in the classroom or for professional development. Since 2019 we have screened the film publicly and over Zoom at Dartmouth College, Western Washington University, the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Columbia University, Indiana University Libraries, the Harvard Film Archive, Cal Poly, and University College London, among many places. Thank you for your interest, and please contact us if you have any questions.

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For more information, or to schedule a screening, please fill out the form below:
If this is an urgent matter, please include URGENT in the subject line.
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