The Separation of Urban and LGBTQ Fiction?
After dwelling on this question all day, I think the first and foremost criteria that needs to be addressed are the needs of the community being served. If there is a legitimate interest and specific requests for these types of materials, as the prompt suggests, then by all means we have a duty as librarians to help these people in their quest for finding books of these genres and topics. With that being said, I think that making a permanent section of the library to shelve these materials may be swinging a bit far in the other direction. If the library is already sorted by genre and sub-genre (as the library in Orange City Iowa attempted to do) then this may make more sense to have a permanent section devoted to these genres. The libraries that I go to do not sort their collections this way, however, and I think that there may be better alternatives and compromises for libraries that wish to provide more direct access to books of this nature for their patrons.
Instead of having a permanent section for Urban and LGBTQ+ fiction, I propose that the library has a featured topical section with rotating selections of LGBT+ or Urban literature based on specific sub-genre or themes that will allow patrons to explore and appreciate the more subtle nuances that these broader genres have to offer. This would also meet the concern that it would disrupt the serendipitous discovery of authors because the books would be back in the rest of the collection when they are not part of the specific topic. Some examples include:
- Fantasy and sci-fi books featuring LGBTQ+ characters
- LGBTQ+ African-American authors for the month of February for Black History Month
- LGBTQ+ books from countries other than the U.S.
- Biographical and autobiographical books
- Teen and YA novels
- Graphic Novels by and about the LGBTQ+ community
- Books by LGBTQ+ authors
The other option that would go hand in hand with this idea is to have updated annotated bibliographies and reading lists to offer to people interested in these topics, split out into various subcategories that mirror the ones listed above. Instead of having a separate permanent section of the library collection, this would still allow people to have easy access to the materials the library has to offer, without having to rearrange the way the library collection is organized.
Zach,
ReplyDeleteI am glad I was not the only one that had trouble with this assignment. But, ultimately as you said and I wrote the same thing, 'we need to address the needs of the community'. I suppose it comes down to 'how we accomplish it' and I think it varies by locations (size) and demographics of the people we serve. The one librarian I talked to said, the different branches 'pick their battles'. Again, every situation is different. Your idea of an annotated reading list is a great way of solving the issue nicely.
I'm with you on the topical section with rotating selections! I think that might actually give those books a wider berth, if people see them like that instead of being permanently shelved apart.
ReplyDeleteIntersting ideas! I really like the idea of including annotated bibs that would include the books with those topics. It might even be helpful to have the annotate bib in sections by age appeal as well: adult, youth mature, youth, picture books, etc. Again, knowing your demographic is KEY to organizing a collection for them.
ReplyDeleteGreat points! I really like your topical section that can feature displays with urban and lgbt themes. Great ideas and full points!
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