LGBTQ and Urban Fiction
The topic of separating genres has come up at the library where I work and in the past I have had a hard time really deciding which way I believe we should do it. If I am looking at it from purely a personal standpoint I would love to have books separated by genre. I love going through different sections and automatically knowing generally the type of book that I am reading. I’m a huge mood reader so I think it would be awesome to know what kind of book I feel like reading and then be able to go to that section to pick one out. Knowing right away that a book was LGBTQ, Urban Fiction, Romance, etc. would never stop me from reading a book so I never thought about the negative reactions patrons could potentially have to separating collections.
Even though I personally love having books separated by genre, I realized that having some genres shelved in their own space could cause problems with patron privacy. The article Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Fiction (Tarulli, 2018) is really what solidified my decision to not separate them, at least when it comes to LGBTQ books. After reading that article I realized that there are many people that are still exploring their identity and they may not be comfortable with others knowing what they are reading. The article mentioned that when one library was developing their Gender and identity collection, the kids really cared about what the collection was called because they wanted to make sure they were comfortable searching it in front of their parents. They also all cared about what the cover of the books in the collection looked like because they wanted to feel comfortable reading them around others. This made me realize that separating this genre from other books may keep people, both young and old, from exploring books in that collection. By keeping them shelved with other genres, patrons could browse titles more easily without worrying that others could tell what they are looking at.
I can also see why some have the opinion that it is segregating these books which is another reason why I think it would be best to not separate them. I think there are ways to spotlight different genres or subjects of books without completely separating them from the general collection. One thing you could do is add stickers to spines of books so that you can easily see what the genre or subject of a book is. This wouldn’t draw as much attention to books that might be sensitive or about personal topics but would allow patrons to easily find a book in the genre that they want. You could also really focus on certain topics or genres when you are putting out displays. This would then make LGBTQ and Urban Fiction novels more visible to the patrons that frequent the library. Additionally, choosing LGBTQ or Urban Fiction books as your book club picks would really be a great way to highlight the genres. This allows you to have good conversations about the genres and increase patron’s knowledge on certain topics.
The last reason I would keep the collections together would be physical space. My library does not have the space to dedicate a different book shelf specifically to LGBTQ or Urban Fiction books and I imagine that would be the case for my libraries. These collections could be moved to the beginning or end of our regular fiction shelves but they would probably need some sort of signage to really set them apart so that patrons knew they were a different collection.
Resource:
Tarulli, L. (2018). Readers’ advisory: Gender, sexuality, and identity in fiction: Suggesting new titles to make all readers feel like they belong. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 57(4), 248–250. https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.57.4.6701
I appreciate that you mention shelving in your response. You are right that with limited shelf space, you would really have to create good signage to help differentiate those sections, which some patrons would likely ignore and ask about anyway! In regards to your comment about adding stickers to the spines of certain collections, do you feel that even having LGBT stickers could cause an issue for some patrons who are still exploring their identity or have disapproving family?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, yea you're right. It probably would still cause some issues unfortunately, especially if kids are taking books home to disapproving families. Maybe stickers should only be used for general genres (romance, mystery, fantasy) since that is less personal. My library has stickers for westerns, mysteries, sci-fi, fantasy, and inspirational fiction. I personally wish that we could have a sticker on all the romance books too. And just last week someone came in asking about Urban Fiction books (I really wish that she would have come in this week after we had all talked about it!). If we would have had urban fiction stickers it would have made searching so much easier!
DeleteI agree with your comments about how a "Gender and Identity" section would look. That whole section really hit the nail on the head in regards to my issue with separating out LGBTQ fiction. It can in effect out people who are not ready. If a library were to create that section it would effectively signal to everyone around them, the library workers, and anyone in their life that they are queer. By separating out LGBTQ books libraries would unintentionally create a major safety issue for patrons who are not comfortable being out.
ReplyDeleteHi! I agree with the points you made about identity, privacy, and shelving. We should put a lot of thought into how our libraries are organized. Everything is important, right down to the shelving. I am not so sure about stickers. I think that they could be recognized and used as an identification marker and might out someone who isn't ready.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your viewpoint on this. You have great reasonings for not separating these genres. Patron privacy is very important, and I didn't fully think that through went I posted my initial post. There are many individuals still exploring their identity, and I can see how there could be people out there that don't feel comfortable with this separation in a library. I feel bad that I had not considered this before.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the space issue. It could definitely be tough for libraries with smaller collections to create special places for these two genres. In my head, I was thinking of the library that I work at, which has a huge collection. It makes sense for libraries with smaller collections to keep majority of their fiction collection together for spacial concerns.
Awesome response, Allison! This subject is so important from the ethical standpoint, that it's easy to forget practical issues such as space. I didn't even consider the fact that a literal space with shelving would have to be created or reorganized to make an LGBTQ or urban fiction section, and I know that this would be basically impossible at my library.
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