I don't know everything, but I like to pretend I do. On the topic of LGBTQ, banned, or otherwise "questionably" characterized books, my response is very uniform: buy a sticker, mark the book, put it on the ding-dong shelf with books of that same reading level. Some libraries in my area have moved to a subject grouping for their children's books. I feel that this can be very helpful for small hands that know what they want to read about, but might not fully understand the traditional organization by author and they benefit from subject grouping. I'm not even a little interested in implementing that at my library. I'm not a coddler-- I'd prefer to spend some time helping kids learn the discovery of searching for books and navigating the system. To the parents that are upset that books like I am Jazz are on our kids' shelves, let me publicly state my belief that your child reading about differences won't make them transgender or gay or bi-sexual. It will help them to see what you've been {hopefully} teaching them all along, we're all different and that's what makes us special. It might teach tolerance. It might be an introduction to humans that they never would've met in their community. It might just be a written representation of what they already feel, but it won't make them something they're not already.
I firmly believe that segregation has no place in a library. We do have a fiction separated from nonfiction; youth books separated from adult books; we do have reference off by itself; we do have sci-fi and westerns in their own, marked zones; we do have a large print section, but that is the extent of it. {Looks kinda long when spelled out like that!} Organizing/Separating materials for the purpose of ease of finding is great, but separating because we feel a topic or title is too scandalous or controversial isn't okay. I understand that it becomes a question of motives at that point and motives are hard to prove, but that's my stance. While we could say that we want it to be really easy for people to find the LGBTQ titles that they seek, I believe we can meet that same need by using a sticker system, just like we do for Top 100 Books, Banned Books, Mysteries, Westerns, Sci-Fi, etc. and not go down the path where the items are segregated. The issue here becomes the patrons that get upset that a title of a theme that they have deemed questionable is in their space and they or their child grabs it. To this I say, "Put it back." In searching for a title, you'll have many put in your path that aren't your tastes or you don't want your child reading. You have that right. So does everyone else. Our shelves are not meant to make any one person happy. They are meant to serve a wide variety of taxpayers.
Reading about the mess in Iowa definitely made me cringe to think about having to defend these choices to my community. I run a small library in a very Christian community, but I think people are a bit afraid to cross me. LOL A couple years ago, I subscribed to High Interest Teen Novels as one of my Junior Library Guild categories. What I didn't know was that every title they would send me that year had a strong LGBTQ theme present. No, my community didn't like it. Yes, I kept the titles. No, I didn't continue the subscription. My reasoning was this: the titles didn't circulate. I now have a dozen+ titles that appeal to this segment of the population. If the need emerges, I can purchase more. To be frank, I didn't mark these titles differently even though I've recommended that in this response. They are right in there with all the other titles and youth are free to make their own selections. At the end of the day, the choosing of reading materials falls on the shoulders of the parents and the readers; our job is to have the titles available.
Plo, A. (2016, November 22). Public Libraries Online. Making the library a positive place for LGBTQIA patrons. http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/11/making-the-library-a-positive-place-for-lgbtqia-patrons/
Yorio, K. & Ishazuka, K. (2018, October 26). School Library Journal. Shelving debate: to separate or integrate. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=shelving-debate-separate-or-integrate
I firmly believe that segregation has no place in a library. We do have a fiction separated from nonfiction; youth books separated from adult books; we do have reference off by itself; we do have sci-fi and westerns in their own, marked zones; we do have a large print section, but that is the extent of it. {Looks kinda long when spelled out like that!} Organizing/Separating materials for the purpose of ease of finding is great, but separating because we feel a topic or title is too scandalous or controversial isn't okay. I understand that it becomes a question of motives at that point and motives are hard to prove, but that's my stance. While we could say that we want it to be really easy for people to find the LGBTQ titles that they seek, I believe we can meet that same need by using a sticker system, just like we do for Top 100 Books, Banned Books, Mysteries, Westerns, Sci-Fi, etc. and not go down the path where the items are segregated. The issue here becomes the patrons that get upset that a title of a theme that they have deemed questionable is in their space and they or their child grabs it. To this I say, "Put it back." In searching for a title, you'll have many put in your path that aren't your tastes or you don't want your child reading. You have that right. So does everyone else. Our shelves are not meant to make any one person happy. They are meant to serve a wide variety of taxpayers.
Reading about the mess in Iowa definitely made me cringe to think about having to defend these choices to my community. I run a small library in a very Christian community, but I think people are a bit afraid to cross me. LOL A couple years ago, I subscribed to High Interest Teen Novels as one of my Junior Library Guild categories. What I didn't know was that every title they would send me that year had a strong LGBTQ theme present. No, my community didn't like it. Yes, I kept the titles. No, I didn't continue the subscription. My reasoning was this: the titles didn't circulate. I now have a dozen+ titles that appeal to this segment of the population. If the need emerges, I can purchase more. To be frank, I didn't mark these titles differently even though I've recommended that in this response. They are right in there with all the other titles and youth are free to make their own selections. At the end of the day, the choosing of reading materials falls on the shoulders of the parents and the readers; our job is to have the titles available.
Plo, A. (2016, November 22). Public Libraries Online. Making the library a positive place for LGBTQIA patrons. http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/11/making-the-library-a-positive-place-for-lgbtqia-patrons/
Yorio, K. & Ishazuka, K. (2018, October 26). School Library Journal. Shelving debate: to separate or integrate. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=shelving-debate-separate-or-integrate
I like your sticker idea as identification. My library separates out fiction, nonfiction, sci-fi, westerns, mysteries, paperbacks, biographies, and large print but I also don't think LGBTQ or urban fiction should be separated out of the general fiction section. I don't think my library has enough titles in either genre to warrant separating them but even if we did, I don't see the need for it. Maybe a sticker system is the way to go!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good pragmatic approach. I've often felt the response I would like to give to people who challenge a book or don't like a particular book is to say, "Then don't read it," but I wonder how that would be taken by patrons. It sounds like you handle things similarly and are still employed, so it may not be that big a deal, at least in your library.
ReplyDeleteYou are a very no nonsense lady and that's respectable! I agree with Don, it's pretty robust and I'm glad it's worked out for your so far. The sticker system seems helpful, especially if you want to keep the status quo, but give patrons a heads up.
ReplyDeleteI love your candor! I think you are absolutely right, and I love that you bring up personal examples from your community to back up your reasoning. Excellent job and full points!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love, love, love! (Although I do grumble when looking for sci-fi books in the C'ville Library, wishing I could go to one sci-fi section and browse instead of having to do such hard work as looking up a favorite author or title and using the helpful "search for similar" button.)
ReplyDeleteLibrarians are my heroes.
--Kristel