LGBT Issues in Libraries

1
LGBT Issues in Libraries

• Kay MathiesenGroup Information Rights
• Note I am deeply indebted to Tom Wildings
  guidance for all of the good points in this
  lecture.

2
Review

• Individuals and groups have information rights,
  related to access, expression, and control.
• Traditionally marginalized and oppressed
  groups--e.g., indigenous peoples, women, African
  Americans, and disabled persons have unique
  information needs that information professionals
  and educators should address.
• These include areas of
• Classification and Subject Headings
• Collections
• Access
• Recruitment and Advancement in the Profession
• Privacy and Information Control

3
Overview

• Naming
• Special Challenges in Serving LGBT folks
• Collections
• Local Information
• University Libraries
• Health Information
• Preservation
• Intersections
• African- American and LGBT issues
• LGBT Youth
• Access
• Privacy

4
LGBTTIQQ..

• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual,
  Intersex, Queer, and Questioning.
• Talk about your socially constructed category!
• United by common status as sexual outlaws
  (Retter, quoted in Keilty p. 1 )--members of each
  letter in this group share a status of being
  discriminated against in this culture due to
  sexual/gender norms.
• Important to remember that while it can be a
  useful category that different groups and persons
  within may have unique information needs.

5
LGBT Community

• Remember that there is a broader LGBT community,
  which includes parents, children, straight
  partners,?etc.,which gets virtually no attention
  or gets equal attacks.
• The in other ways exemplary LGBT services at PIMA
  does not have any special resources listed for
  this community.
• See PFLAG site for resources related to broader
  LGBT community http//www.pflag.org/

6
Special Issues in Serving LGBT Community

• Similarities among all groups discussed
• Biased classification schemes
• Unique information needs
• Underserved and ignored
• Negative representations
• Funding issues
• Unlike a number of other groups we have discussed
  LGBT folks face the issue of culturally approved
  and legalized intolerance.
• Material vandalism
• Material challenges
• Special Privacy issues

7
Collections--Local Information

• Archiving and preserving local LGBT publications
  and providing access locally through libraries.
• A good model is the San Francisco Public Library
  James C. Hormel Gay Lesbian Center
  http//sfpl.lib.ca.us/news/onlineexhibits/out/high
  lights.htm
• See also our own Pima County Public Library
  http//www.tppl.org/community/glbt/index.cfm
• A good national resources is the Gerber/Hart
  Library http//www.gerberhart.org/index.html

8
Collections--University Libraries

• Links to quality LGBT information resource sites
  are usually not on?library's agendas, even in
  academic communities where there's a recognized
  LGBT ?scholarly community?
• University of Arizona does have a comprehensive
  subject guide on LGBT issues. See,
  http//www.library.arizona.edu/search/subjects/gay
  /index.html

9
Health Information

• Health information is often of particular
  importance for LGBT people.
• Information is available at Medline Plus
  http//www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/gayandlesbianhe
  alth.html
• Note that there are specific health issues for
  each population--see above the separate 10
  questions for G, L, and T individuals.

10
Problems Maintaining and Preserving LGBT
Collections

• LGBT are subject to high?rates of vandalism and
  theft.
• Funding concerns may lead libraries to stop
  carrying works which are constantly vandalized,
  hidden, or stolen.
• The project Reversing Vandalism makes art out
  of vandalized works from the SFPL
  http//www.sfstation.com/reversing-vandalism-a513

11
Intersections

• Those who are at the intersection of group
  memberships, often face exponential (rather than
  merely additive) challenges.
• As Anne Gilliland noted, individuals have
  multiple identities, including those who are
  doubly marginalized such as LGBT persons of
  color (Keilty, 4)

12
Race/Ethnicity and LGBT

• Communities differ in their degree of acceptance
  of LGBT people.
• This may be due to other issues in the
  community--e.g., cultural and religious belief
  systems, fear of further marginalization,
  legacies of racism, etc.
• For example, AP recently reported on the lack of
  gay student organizations on Historically Black
  Campuses http//www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay
  s-Black-Colleges.html?pagewanted1_r1
• The following is a quote from that article,
  Just as gay students can rightfully request
  campus inclusion, so too can black college
  administrators deny it, argued the Rev. William
  Owens, an HBCU graduate and head of the Coalition
  of African-American Pastors in Memphis, Tenn.
  Those administrators may cite the Bible, or
  simply personal beliefs -- and they don't have to
  be politically correct, Owens said.They can say
  'no' and I don't think they have to give a lot of
  reasons, said Owens, who joined other black
  pastors worried that, along with dismal marriage
  rates, socially accepted homosexuality ''is a
  threat to the black family.

13
Age and LGBT Issues

• It may be much harder for LGBT youth to get
  access to materials they need.
• Parental concerns about childrens exposure to
  sexual content may lead to attempts to remove
  or restrict access to materials.
• In Oklahoma it was proposed that all LGBT
  materials be restricted to adults only.
• See e.g.,
• http//www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6260
  606.html
• http//www.lsb.state.ok.us/house/news7551.html

14
Privacy Issues

• LGBT members may be closeted or questioning. They
  need to be able to find relevant materials
  anonymously.
• This may be a particularly important issue for
  LGBT youth.
• (Providing a reason to not give parents access to
  minors circulation records.)