Getting Started
It is certain that every library and librarian serving teens needs to adopt an advocacy role when it comes to serving GLBTQ youth. However, how should one commence going about the potentially daunting task of developing library services and collections geared toward GLBTQ teens?
Effectively, librarians can make great strides towards beginning to meet this population’s often unfulfilled information needs.
Upon considering that GLBTQ teens represent a vulnerable population (clearly evident upon perusing the data below)...
Issues Affecting Sexual Minorities:
...the sooner we get started, the better!!
Practical suggestions for YOUR library
Effectively, librarians can make great strides towards beginning to meet this population’s often unfulfilled information needs.
Upon considering that GLBTQ teens represent a vulnerable population (clearly evident upon perusing the data below)...
Issues Affecting Sexual Minorities:
- Prevalent use of substances - GLBTQ teens are more likely to experiment with alcohol, drugs, and tobacco products.
- Higher instances of eating disorders
- More cases of depression and suicide
- Social isolation, harassment, bullying, lower self-esteem
- Higher rates of school failure and dropouts
...the sooner we get started, the better!!
Practical suggestions for YOUR library
- Get yourself well acquainted with GLBTQ terminology, not only to ensure you are providing accurate information but also in terms of what is acceptable vs. unacceptable speech. Many gay teens often hear offensive language coming from the mouths of students, but also teachers and and administrators as well (Jones, 45). Librarians can intervene here, adopting an advocacy role on behalf of GLBTQ youth.
- Foster a safe and positive environment in the library/school media center. Let it be clearly known that the library maintains a zero- tolerance policy for offensive/hateful language and stereotypes.
- Keep your eyes peeled for unlikely sources of homophobia - just sayin' GLBTQ books have a tendency to often end up in the wrong place or are poorly/incompletely cataloged (Farrelly, 39) .
- Invite the GLBTQ community into the library and involve the whole community in providing library services to GLBTQ teens. When library users see that GLBTQ people are just normal, respectable members of the local population, the fear and ignorance toward them may begin to wane.
- Work with students, teen patrons, school/library staff, teachers, administrators, and the community to identify and actively collect GLBTQ materials that are of interest to the user population.
- Include straightforward and impartial nonfiction materials in the collection to ensure that there are authoritative and unbiased resources to educate GLBTQ populations and any other interested library users. Make sure to collect nonfiction materials across a wide range of reading levels.
- Build a collection around high-quality fiction portraying aspirational characters from diverse backgrounds, that will not only engage readers, but depict GLBTQ characters in a positive and realistic manner. Books can lead to self-affirmation for GLBTQ teens. Per Martin and Murdock as quoted in Elisabeth W. Rauch's article "GLBTQ Collections Are For Every Library Serving Teens!" “Queer and questioning teens are looking for portrayals of what it means to be queer- a way to describe what they feel, to affirm that it is normal, and to know that they are not alone”(Rauch, 14 ; Martin and Murdock 17).
- Include wide-variety of non-heterosexual identities when developing a collection of GLBTQ Young Adult Titles.
- GLBTQ materials may be indicative of one area of the collection for which circulation stats will not be utilized to drive collection development (Rauch, 13). Therefore, librarians must ensure that GLBTQ materials are present and prominently-displayed when youth seek them out.
- One way to do this is with through creating booklists and making them available in the library and online, following GLBTQ awards and encouraging GLBTQ teens to vote for their favorites, fashioning themed book displays or displays celebrating gay history and culture and placing them proudly throughout the library. GLBTQ-centric programming can also be employed, for more on this topic click here.
- Support the local Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), allowing them to use library space. If your community does not have a GSA chapter, start one in your library http://gsanetwork.org/get-involved/start-gsa.
- Spread the word throughout the community that the library is a safe place - all members of the community are welcome here and post signage to this effect.
- Host weekly social gatherings and GLBTQ -themed bookclubs for GLBTQ teens and allies alike. Having all teens participate in a book club allows them to experience GLBTQ issues from multiple unique perspectives, fostering tolerance as well as healthy discussion and growth. Furthermore, “Teens can use books like these to educate adults about the needs of gay youth, provide a forum for discussing diversity, and offer support to teens who often go it alone” (Jones, 45).
- Shelve GLBTQ materials in the young adult section, NOT the adult section. On a side note, I am not sure where I stand on labeling, as there is a fine line between making materials clearly accessible and safeguarding a patron's privacy regarding potentially sensitive information needs.
- Once again, ensure that access points for GLBTQ materials are easily identifiable. In a study conducted in Indiana, Jennifer Chance Cook identified incomplete cataloging as a subtle, albeit pervasive barrier to access.
- Fight self-censorship and the impulse to avoid controversy by purposefully excluding these materials from the collection. A subsequent form of self-censorship entails convincing yourself that you do not need to collect in these areas since users are not coming right out and asking for GLBTQ related content. Even if you don’t personally agree with it, remember that librarians must build balanced collections, and that GLBTQ teens are a significant and important segment of the user population.
- If possible, ensure that internet filtering software is not blocking users seeking access to GLBTQ-themed content. Often filtering software will impede access to legitimate GLBTQ online information sources.
Sources:
Cook, Jennifer Chance. "GLBTQ Teen Literature: Is It Out There In Indiana?." Indiana Libraries 23.2 (2004): 25-28.
Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Farrelly, Michael Garrett. "More On Serving Gay Youth." Public Libraries 46.3 (2007): 38-39. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.
Jones, Jami. "Beyond The Straight And Narrow." School Library Journal 50.5 (2004): 45. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
Martin Jr., Hillias J. and James R. Murdock. Serving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens: A How-to-do-
it-Manual for Librarians. New York: Neal Schulman Publishers, Inc., 2007. Print.
Rauch, Elisabeth W. "GLBTQ Collections Are For Every Library Serving Teens!" Teacher Librarian 39.1 (2011): 13-16.
Web. 17 Oct. 2012.
Cook, Jennifer Chance. "GLBTQ Teen Literature: Is It Out There In Indiana?." Indiana Libraries 23.2 (2004): 25-28.
Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Farrelly, Michael Garrett. "More On Serving Gay Youth." Public Libraries 46.3 (2007): 38-39. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.
Jones, Jami. "Beyond The Straight And Narrow." School Library Journal 50.5 (2004): 45. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.
Martin Jr., Hillias J. and James R. Murdock. Serving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens: A How-to-do-
it-Manual for Librarians. New York: Neal Schulman Publishers, Inc., 2007. Print.
Rauch, Elisabeth W. "GLBTQ Collections Are For Every Library Serving Teens!" Teacher Librarian 39.1 (2011): 13-16.
Web. 17 Oct. 2012.