Prompt 14: Well, Isn't That Special?

Scenario: You are part of the collection management committee of your library, You must decide whether or not to separate LGBTQ fiction and African American Fiction from the general collection to their own special places. 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.

When I read this prompt for the first time, my knee jerk reaction was NO. We are not creating a special space for these books. We don’t separate books based on any other ethnicity, or on sexual orientation. Presently, our library doesn’t even separate Christian fiction from the rest of the collection. But then I read the assigned readings and started digging around on ALA – and I had somewhat of a paradigm shift in my thinking. So, pulling together what I’ve learned, and knowing what I know about the patrons in our library, here is what I would do, and why:

I would not separate out GLBT items. Why?

1)   Some patrons aren’t ready.
While I would love for patrons interested in these types of books to be able to walk into the library and peruse a section just for them, the library must consider that not every person looking for these materials would be comfortable in approaching a “GLBT” section. “In any community, there are GLBT persons who are not ready to be recognized as such…” (American Library Association, 2015).

2)   The filtering responsibility lies with the parent.
I understand that some parents are ALSO not comfortable with the possibility that their child may inadvertently pick up a book with a LGBTQ storyline. As always, it is ultimately the parent’s duty to review what their child is reading.

I would not create a separate section for books by all African American authors, but would add a “Street Lit” shelf to the YA section. Why?

1)   Teens are already reading street lit, and it is serving them well.

In “Urban Grit,” Megan Honig (2011) lists several reasons why street lit works for teens, including “because works in the genre are meeting their emotional, social, or developmental needs.” They also read these books for entertainment, identity affirmation, engagement at a safe distance, to gain a new perspective, and for a risk-free thrill (Honig, 2011). With all of these appeals to teens, street lit may fuel their reading fire, and anytime a teen picks up a book, instead of engaging in social media drivel, is a win.

2)   At first glance, to separate all books written by African American authors DOES feel like we are stepping back in time 60+ years, so before I would create this section in the library, I would need to know more about who is requesting it. Are the patrons requesting this change trying to showcase African American authors or are they paranoid that they may accidentally pick up a book by an African American author and actually like it? Two very different reasons – and as our library does not currently have a prevalent African American community, I would definitely need more information regarding the request before making a decision.

3)   Patrons may miss out on some really great books

There are many great African American authors who write books in a number of genres. To pull all of these books into one section, fans of one genre may be missing out. For example, if all of Octavia Butler’s books were pulled into an “African American author” section, a new fan of the science fiction genre may not be exposed to Ms. Butler’s works – especially if they don’t use the catalog and merely shelf browse.

What else can we do?

Collections will continue to evolve with the times. As we have read repeatedly, the key to best serving all patrons is to have a well-rounded collection. Even if certain topics don’t have their own sections, they should easily be located with proper cataloging and subject headings.

For those more sensitive topics, such as GLBT, Thomas (2007) says that if a designated section is not the plan, “A good alternative is creating finding aids – online lists and print handouts (stored with other readers’ advisory materials) that provide both access and privacy.”

Overall, we need to be aware of the needs of our communities, listen to our patrons, and be willing to roll with the changes.

REFERENCES

American Library Association. (2015). Open to All: Serving the GLBT Community in Your Library. Retrieve April 12, 2018, from http://www.ala.org/rt/sites/ala.org.rt/files/content/professionaltools/160309-glbtrt-open-to-all-toolkit-online.pdf

Honig, M. (2011). Introduction. In Urban Grit: A guide to street lit. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited

Photo Credit: https://www.lymefreelibrary.org/ (yes, I know this is not APA style - I'm not too worried about it.)

Thomas, D. (2007). A Place On the Shelf. Library Journal (1976), 132(8), 40-3.