Greetings from a Queer Public Librarian

[Luke]

Hello all. My name is Aubrey, and as stated in the title, I work as a public librarian. I've been around GR for over a decade now, but circumstances have motivated me to find new groups. The five most recently published queer (subject matter and/or author) books that I've added to my TBR are:

README.txt - Chelsea Manning
Gods of Want: Stories - K-Ming Chang
Greenland -David Santos Donaldson
The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: And the Unwritten History of the Trans Experience -Zoë Playdon
Tell Me I’m Worthless - Alison Rumfitt

I look forward to chatting with you all!

[Justice]

I’m also a queer librarian based in New York!

[Stacy]

Hey, y’all. Librarians are wonderful. What are you two reading these days?

[myk]

another queer librarian here! i’m in youth services down in tennessee :)

[Rachel]

Popping in as another Queer Public Librarian too! Lovely to see some other folks. I'm in Circulation and Programming in Dover, NH.

In January a colleague and I started our library's first queer book club. We called it Reading Rainbow :)

[Brenda]

Hello fellow queer librarians! I love that this is a discussion thread. I just finished A Dash of Salt and Pepper and I really liked it. The next queer book in my TBR is Almost Flying

[Rachel]

I just switched to being a public librarian this last November, I'd been in academic libraries for 19 years, and WOW I love it so much! Only downside ( ;) ) is that now my TBR list has exploded! I'm reading Scout's Honor right now, just finished How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing as well. I'm working my way through the Book Riot Reader Harder challenge.

[Dannie]

Hello queen librarians I have such fond memories of how in school library were my safe zone. I’ve known so many great librarians growing up. They opened my eyes to such wonderful experiences from distant galaxies to amazing love stories, and everything in between. I am currently reading, to be a girl by, Alexandria Hame

[Luke]

Glad to see that this message board is still going. Makes it easier for me to be obnoxiously 'they/them' while at work.

[⚢ ꧁•⊹٭Pixie٭⊹•꧂⚢]

We need Queer Librarians now more than ever. With all the book bannings throughout the US we need people to fight to keep books available to read.

[Jula]

i'm queer and i want to be a librarian!!! i'm so glad there are queer librarians in the world!

[Tiberius]

Hey all you queer librarians! I have a question that might be more like a thinktank maybe.

But how do you handle (if applicable) the availability of hate-literature in your libraries? I do not believe in censorship or banning books, but something that's happening in my town right now is that the library has a couple of non-fiction books about how trans people are mutilating their bodies and grooming kids, obviously written by alt-right types, but placed in the 'parenting' section of the library.

Are there ways or ideas about how to ethically provide this kind of book? Or is it a case of just: people need to be responsible for their own book diets?
Not looking necessarily for definitive answers, just insights.

[BangtonBoy]

The books should be appropriate under your library's Collection Policy. For example, some library systems may require two positive reviews from reputable sources in order for a book to be added to the collection. Other library systems are more willing to add just about anything asked of them.

This is a section from my local library's Collection Policy: "The Library provides an impartial environment in which individuals and their interests are brought together with the universe of ideas and information spanning the spectrum of knowledge and opinions. Individuals apply their personal interests and values to the materials they choose for themselves. The values of one may not be imposed on another."

Sort of a buyer beware statement. Most Collection Policies however tend to also have some language about trying to have a balanced collection. If that's the case in your library and if there aren't books in the library's parenting section that present a more loving and accepting point-of-view to parenting a trans child, you may want to suggest some titles for the library to acquire. Then cross you fingers that someone picking up one of the negative books will also borrow one of the positive ones.

[Luke]

Tiberius wrote: "Hey all you queer librarians! I have a question that might be more like a thinktank maybe.

But how do you handle (if applicable) the availability of hate-literature in your libraries? I do not be..."

I manage most of the collection development at my library, including the patron driven acquisition. When it comes to works that I know target me as a genderqueer, I'm especially thorough in vetting it in terms of reviews of credibility and legitimate community interest (think Denying the Holocaust levels of gauging what is fact and what is an echo chamber of money, academic lingo, and bad faith), as more often than not, these sorts of hateful screeds don't get bylines in the big time objective review areas anyways. If a work passes all the tests, shows up on the shelves of other libraries in the area, and otherwise demonstrates its capacity for circulation, I'll get it. The fact that I get it, however, does not mean that the library will artificially promote for the sake of circulation, or that it will be exempt from being weeded in two years if it doesn't get read enough to justify being kept. No library collection is static, and if someone reads a hatefully fearmongering book and is put off by the argument, then I know that the rest of the collection, as well as the library community at large, is doing the necessary work of critical reading. And in the long run, cultivating critical reading skills and comprehensive compassion is more important than never having a few bad eggs in a collection.