Question:
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 African American
Fiction from the general collection to its own special place. Some patrons have
requested this, yet many staff is 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. Feel free to use outside sources - this is a weighty
question that is answered differently in a lot of different libraries.
Answer:
I will answer this question in two parts. The first part will be the point of view of
the library I work at and my experiences working there and the second part will
be my opinion if I worked at a different library.
Part 1. The library
that I work at has a mixture of ultra conservative and more open minded
staff. The problem lies in that the
ultra conservative staff members express their personal opinions (especially considering
sex topics in general and LGBTQ) about what is ordered. They do not always think of the patron
base. For example, I ordered the book "Barbara
Gittings: Gay Pioneer" by Tracy Baim.
After I catalogued the book it went on the new book shelf and then
disappeared. There is no record of it
being checked out. Was it stolen by a
patron? Maybe. But why would a patron steal this biography?
Another example is recently the book called "This Book
is Gay" by James Dawson was on my desk to be cataloged. I found this strange, because there is already
a record in the system that I catalogued the book earlier this year. When I asked the YA Librarian what happened
to the other copy she told me that it is missing. It went from the new book shelves to missing
and she is tired of this happening. So,
when I catalog this book again it is skipping the new book shelve and going
right into the YA section.
It sounds like I am accusing a certain staff member or two of
removing these books. Don't get me wrong
I do not have any evidence nor am I going to blame someone(s) who may be innocent. However, it just seems strange that LGBTQ
books seem to go missing quickly after being out on the new book shelf. However, the stuff that skips the new book
shelves and is put directly into the YA section is still there.
The question is: is there a need for LGBTQ material in my
library? The answer is yes, especially in
YA. The YA librarian has told me that
several of the teens in her programs have requested materials on LGBTQ and the materials
that she orders is checked out.
So, will my library allow a LGBTQ section in the library?
Sadly, I strongly feel that bringing up even doing a simple display of LGBTQ
materials at a full library staff meeting would ruffle some seriously narrow
mined feathers. I already caused an
issue last year and a separation of staff opinions when I ordered the graphic
novels "Sex Criminals" by Chip Zdarsky and "Motel Art Improvement
Service" by Jason Little. These two
books were discussed in several monthly staff meetings that actually ended up
in a final heated shouting match. The
director saw merit in these books and left them on the shelf until a staff
member checked it out and kept on renewing them until she was told to return
the books. Then she finally did a formal
complaint and filled out the book challenge form. From there the books have been removed from
the shelves.
What about a separate section for African American
materials? The library does not have a
lot of materials on the subject nor does it have a strong African American
patron base. We maybe get one black
person a month in the library and the school children seem to only ask for reference
materials on black singers. So, there does not seem to a need for a separate
section.
Part 2. If I worked
at a different library in some other city I could imagine having a separate
section for LGBTQ and African American Fiction if there is a need for it. There should be enough books, a strong patron
base, and available space as the three reasons to separate fiction books into
these two sections.
In my opinion it does not matter if it is possibly controversial
genres like LGBTQ and African American Literature or more common genres like mysteries
and science fiction; I feel that there needs to be enough interest in patron requests
and circulation numbers in order to make these two or any genre a separate
section of the library. For example, for
a class assignment way back when I started grad school (I am graduating this
May!) I shadowed a reference librarian in a mid-large city library that has a strong
African American patron base. They have
a lot of fiction books on this genre, so they created a separate section of the
library for these books. I was told that
these books are among the top circulated items in the library. Then the library separated their Harlequin
novel featuring black characters onto a separate display near the security officer's
desk. Why? Because these are the top stolen
book genre from the library. So, there is strong patron base for African
American literature and the library filled it by separating the books into a separate
genre and in return made it easier on their patrons to find these books.
That's awful that your books keep disappearing! I hope it isn't your coworkers... At least you have a strong youth librarian who orders what the kids want anyway.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it depends upon the community. There has to be a very strong need for this separation. If patrons are constantly where to find books that fit into these genres, then it would be beneficial to separate them. I am not sure how I feel about genre separation in general since so many books fit into multiple categories, but I do understand how it can be more useful to do. I think as long as they aren't all separated, it can be manageable. One of our most popular genres is Christian fiction, so we have that separate from the rest of the adult fiction. This is the only real area that we have separate though.
Excellent prompt response! I'm sorry your job can be frustrating sometimes! Hopefully things only get better!
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