Week 14

Consider yourself part of the collection management committee of your local library, or a library at which you would like to work. You must decide whether or not to separate GBLTQ fiction and African American Fiction from the general collection to its own special place. 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. Feel free to use outside sources - this is a weighty question that is answered differently in a lot of different libraries. Also, it's been in the news recently. These articles (and the comments) can help you get a feel for the issue:

I would separate neither:

Reason One:


As Devon Thomas’ A Place On the Shelf explains, “A separate section for gay and lesbian fiction might pose problems, making some readers feel exposed when browsing and others ghettoized (p.40)”. Though Thomas’ comment deals specifically with LGBT issues, separating books by race could generate feelings of otherness in the same manner. There is also a plethora of privacy concerns that surround moving the books into a specific place, some members of the LGBT community are not “out” or may have to have an unpleasant social experience by having to discuss their sexuality because the bump into an acquaintance at the library. Have you ever been embarrassed by what was in your shopping cart at the grocery store? Pregnancy tests, condoms, tampons, or 3 gallons of ice cream all have an awkward shopping experience depending on your age, sex, and myriad of other factors. If you have had an embarrassing shopping experience, the ones where you definitely don’t want to see anyone you know, you can understand how ensuring that feeling never happens at the library is really important. 


Reason 2:


Separating books by race and sexuality forces the library into a decision tree of factors that make books harder to find and select. What do you do with a book that handles “African American fiction” themes, but it is written by a Hispanic, white, or Native American author? What about the black author who is writing an awesome sci-fi book? Should it be collected in African American Literature or in Science fiction? While many libraries already make these kinds of decisions with authors that write in several genres, I think considering the sexual preference and race of the author and subject matter complicates these issues. I also feel the same way about separating mysteries, science fiction, and westerns from the overall fiction collection even though that is a commonly accepted practice.

Reason 3:


I don’t want to separate books by race or sexuality because they are an important part of literature. Books with African American or LGBT authors or characters are part of the American literary tradition, so much work has been done to make people feel like they are not identified as different or ‘other’, an example could be the controversy a few years back about transgender people using bathrooms that match their gender identity. In this book controversy and the bathroom controversy, it seems to not be the members of the LGBT community calling for separation but a religious motivation from members outside of the community. Jennifer Lenzini’s online article quotes a town resident who called for the books to moved to a separate space, “I think that's what most of the people of this town who have multiple kids say, we want to be able to take them to the library, and have them go through stuff, and have them know, 'oh hidden in here is an agenda that is popular, but we as conservative Christians say no, we're not going along with that”. While the town residents’ religious motivations should not be the organizational factor for the library. The ALA’s second right reads, “Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” While this does not deal directly with storage, the moving of books based on sexual identity or race is an attempt to lower the contact with an idea, and I believe that should not be allowed in a library. I believe it is important to display and celebrate great works from African American and LGBT authors or those works that include characters who are black or LGBT. While doing an African American authors display during Black History Month is awesome, I think the inclusion of LGBT/Black authors into topical/thematically displays needs to happen more regularly. This shows that these works are not separate, but a vital part of their genres.

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Works Cited


Lenzini, Jennifer. “Orange City, IA public library to test trial-run of separately labeling books with LGBTQ themes”. KTIV. March 20, 2018. http://www.ktiv.com/story/37771686/2018/03/Tuesday/orange-city-ia-public-library-to-separately-label-books-with-lgbtq-themes. Accessed April 15, 2018.

Library Bill of Rights. ALA. January 23, 1996. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill. Accessed April 15, 2018.

Thomas, D. (2007). A Place On the Shelf. Library Journal (1976), 132(8), 40-3. Retrieved from Library Lit & Inf Full Text database.