Week 14 Prompt: Urban Fiction and GBLTQ Fiction

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.

The Pendleton Community Public Library will always strive to provide diverse materials, including GBLTQ fiction and African American fiction. However, the collection management committee feels that these diverse collections should be integrated into the adult fiction collection, along with all genre and literary fiction written for a general audience. Among the reasons why are:

1. Thomas (2007) notes that “A separate section for gay and lesbian fiction might pose problems, making some readers feel exposed when browsing and other ghettoized” (p. 40). In our small suburban, yet liberal, community, having GBLTQ fiction available in the public library will most likely not be challenged. However, while having a separate place for GBLTQ fiction would provide increased visibility for the titles, it will also increase visibility of the patrons who may not feel completely comfortable with publicizing their sexuality amongst their neighbors.
2.  Providing a separate section for African American fiction could be equated to segregation of “black” fiction and “white” fiction. By having African American fiction separate, it may cause some patrons to believe that African American fiction is not of the same quality as general literary fiction or that it is not for patrons of other ethnicities.
3. From a staffing perspective, our children’s area is inundated with split collections which creates numerous shelving mistakes and increases the number of location assist questions for circulation and reference desk staff. Splitting up the adult fiction collection, beginning with GBLTQ and African American fiction, could cause an increase in an already burdensome assistance load.
4. Finding aids, bookmarks, short term displays, and a social media campaign would go far to increase visibility for urban fiction and GBLTQ fiction. Without shifting the entire fiction collection to make space for specialized sections, finding aids, if regularly updated, will be of immense assistance in allowing patrons to easily find titles to their liking.

REFERENCES

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