Consider yourself part of the collection management committee of your local library, or a library at which you would like to work. You must decide whether or not to separate GBLTQ fiction and Urban Fiction from the general collection to its own special place. Some patrons have requested this, yet many staff are uncomfortable with the idea - saying it promotes segregation and disrupts serendipitous discovery of an author who might be different from the reader. Do you separate them? Do you separate one and not the other? Why or why not? You must provide at least 3 reasons for or against your decision.
This is new to me. So, before I decided to respond one way or another I took a survey among some of our other branches in the library system to see what they do. Central where I work, because of its size, Urban Fiction has its own space, while GBLTQ materials are intermixed with the regular books. Franklin Branch intermingles both of these and there is no separation. First, I thought it had to do with the size of the branch, but when I talked to the branch manager at the West Indy location, she said both the Urban Fiction and the GBLTQ Fiction each has its own separate section. This is a very small branch and I was quite surprised. But, after talking to her, she mentioned the different branches ‘pick their battles.’
I can see both sides of the issue, but it is not ‘one size fits all.’ I am not concerned about the staff. They are there to serve their patrons in the best possible way. I think that it has to do more with the culture and demographics of each location. What needs to be addressed is we are here for our patrons and must provide the materials in such a way to make them available so our patrons feel safe, a ‘no judgment zone’. No one wants to be singled out; there is a way to provide the materials in the best possible light. People need easy access to feel free to peruse their interests, without having to always rely on the reference librarians such as Urban Fiction collection will follow as a grouping like Science Fiction, Mysteries and Westerns materials.
SO, I lucked out and found this wonderful website and it had all the information I needed in support of separating the GBLTQ Fiction.
It mentioned there are 3 barriers. Findability: Patrons are less likely to ask a librarian and catalog subject headings do not make GLBTQ materials easy to find. Browsability: Browers are not likely to find the materials. For example, picture books with GLBTQ content often are cataloged and shelved with Children’s Fiction, Easy Fiction. (In)visibility: You have more GLBTQ customers than you think and the library has more GLBTQ resources than the patrons think we have.
This says it all “having adequate visible GLBTQ Collection is not promoting homosexuality….it is serving our community.”
I think you've made an excellent point. It's a good idea to understand your community and try to appeal to the demographics. So much of library work is "picking our battles," so to speak. I also understand the importance of encouraging findability of materials. The difficult part of this scenario is that there's not one right answer. It's also important to consider the intent of the patrons asking for separation. Do they want these books in separate sections so they can avoid materials or find them?
ReplyDeleteHi Eugenie! Good points. I think it comes down in many ways to why are you separating certain material. If it's because a portion of the community is prejudiced against it, it's not going to get used because of the stigma. If a community is more accepting and it makes discovery of the material easier great. You're correct one size does not fit all.
ReplyDeleteI think, as I stated in my response as well, it's the intent behind the separation that matters. It's also knowing the community. Are you doing it because it's what the community wants (for good reasons, not bad) and not for censorship reasons, etc... And yes. One size does not fit all. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm soo glad you asked around and were able to find out the reasoning for and against it at several of your branches! That really helped shape up your response and gave us insight on the pros and cons that can exist. Great job and full points!
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