Better Library Service to GLBTQ Youth

All week, I've been talking about the (generally unfortunate) practice of limiting access to library materials. High time to talk about increasing access, don't you think?

Last week at the ILA conference, I had the pleasure of attending a session called "I'm Coming Out: The Ins and Outs of Serving GLBTQ Teens," presented by the knowledgeable and dynamic Monica Harris of Oak Park Public Library. Here are some of her suggestions for improving service:

• Bolster your collection with recent and high-quality books (fiction and nonfiction) dealing with queer issues in a positive way. Include books that discuss alternative viewpoints as well, e.g., Greenhaven Press's Opposing Viewpoints series.
• Make queer books visible in a non-stigmatizing way. Don't set aside a special section for them or label them. Instead, keep them out on the shelf with all the other books. Include them in book displays, book talks, and recommended reading lists of any genre.
• Improve access through the library catalog by ensuring books include subject headings that are up-to-date, consistent, and reflect what teens would actually be searching for. (More on this below.)
• Make the library a "safe space." Don't stigmatize patrons through obvious discomfort with words like "gay" or "lesbian," uncomfortable body language, probing questions, etc.; act natural and neutral. Don't tolerate hateful language in the library. If there's a need/opportunity in your community, consider setting aside a "safe space time" when teens can gather for guaranteed hate-free time and space (sort of like a gay-straight alliance).
• Know your local organizations. Be able to refer questions to community organizations when the need arises. Stay in touch with local GSAs, helping out with obtaining materials, recommended reading lists, etc.
• Don't make assumptions. Don't assume that every patron looking for GLBTQ materials is, him/herself, GLBTQ. You would be dead wrong.

Some additional suggestions from attendees:

• Make a recommended reading list of GLBTQ books and have it available online and in the same binder as your department's other recommended reading list. Even if patrons don't specifically request it, they may come upon it serendipitously and find it helpful.
• Don't assume that because books aren't circulating heavily they're not being used. Books on sensitive topics often see a lot of covert in-library use, even if patrons aren't comfortable checking them out to take home.
• Increase visibility with paperback copies. Okay, this was actually my own suggestion. Face-out paperback shelving, e.g. carousels or staggered wall shelving, makes any book that much more visible.

Unlike some conference sessions I leave feeling simultaneously inspired and utterly overwhelmed, I left this session confident of some simple steps my library can take to improve service. Here's what we've started working on, just in the past week:

• Ordering a copy of Serving Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians, by Martin and Murdock (Neal-Schuman, 2006), highly recommended by Monica. There was only one copy in the consortium as of last week; now there will be at least two.
• Working on a recommended reading list of GLBTQ books. I'd begun one months ago but got side-tracked. Now I've dusted it off and will soon have it ready to circulate.
• Looking at catalog subject headings and talking about how to improve them.

I want to talk more about the subject headings. When I started putting together that GLBTQ list, I noticed it took a lot of different subject searches to turn up the books I already knew about. How did I know I wasn't missing ones I didn't know about? Thinking back to my own high school years, I remember finding the same thing in my hometown library catalog. Trying to track down those books was like a treasure hunt—or a wild goose chase. Any way you spin it, it's ultimately bad news if you want people to easily find the books they need.

After ILA, I took a closer look at the catalog. And what I found, frankly, appalled me. (Though I will be quick to add that I'm not laying blame on anyone here. Headings change over the years, catalogers are often working off records created by the Library of Congress or other catalogers in parts afar, cataloging is subjective, etc. Inconsistency happens!) Here's a taste of the scattering of subject headings we currently have:

• Homosexuality
• Gays
• Lesbians
• Gay high school students
• Sex role
• Identity
• [nothing pertaining to sexuality or gender at all]

If you're familiar with the workings of most online library catalogs, you will already know that a subject search for "gay" will not include items catalogued under "gays," much less "homosexuality." "Lesbians" is essentially a narrower term for "gays," but as far as the computer knows, they're mutually exclusive. What teen is going to know to do a search for "sex role" to turn up books that deal with gender fluidity? As for "identity"—um, could we be any more vague?

I took a gander at the current Library of Congress bible of subject headings to see what our options are for improving catalog subject access. I liked what I saw. Some examples:

• Gay youth
• Lesbian youth
• Bisexual youth
• Children of gay parents
• Transsexual people

There's no "transgender(ed) youth" heading at this time, and I couldn't find a heading for some variation on "gay family members and friends." (The "Gay family" subject heading appears to refer to a family by the name of Gay.) But the options are way better than much of what we currently have in place.

In all this talk of improving access to GLBTQ materials, a question that can't help floating to the surface of my brain is, "If we're making these materials easier for the right people to find, aren't we also making them easier for the wrong people to find?" In this case, "the wrong people" are those who encounter a queer book and decide it doesn't belong on the library shelves.

After all, homosexuality is consistently among the top reasons for book challenges. From 1990–2000, gay material was cited as a problem (though not necessarily the only problem) in 515 out of 6,364 challenges (just over 8%). And, of course, the true story of a same-sex penguin couple raising a chick together, And Tango Makes Three, topped ALA's list of most frequently challenged books in both 2006 and 2007.

The answer is, of course, yes. If you make it easier for one person, you make it easier for everyone. But libraries cannot, must not, act in fear of potential challenges. We are in the business of providing information. Don't let the nay-sayers stop you from doing your job.