I am using the library I work at to answer this question. It is a smaller Class B library. If I had patrons requesting that we only separate LGBTQ and urban fiction books I would tell them no for these reasons:
- We do not separate any other book based on its contents and will not do so for only two genres. We separate all of our fiction by author then title in our adult and young adult collections and separate our children's books by reading age ranges (jE fic, jER, jI fic, j fic, etc.) that are then organized by author. We also already put genre stickers on many of our different books like mystery, romance, fantasy, science fiction, and westerns and could always look to see if we could start putting stickers on newer works for these two genres. If we were to separate these collections it could cause unwanted discrimination and judgment on those who enjoy these genres. If we keep all the collections organized how they are now, by author and title, then patrons can freely browse for books without feeling like people are watching them.
- If we were to separate these two genres we would do the entire library and that would require all new labels, lots of manpower, possibly more shelves and new signage, and a lot of taxpayer money going to fund this project. The library does not see it in their best interest to use the budget or our staff's time to do this project. It would easily confuse many of our patrons and require far more manpower than we have. We value every penny that is given to us and would rather spend our budget on collection development, new programming, and online resources. We may also need to shutdown our library to move the collection and shelving around and we would rather keep our doors open to the public.
- If parents are concerned about their children reading works in these two genres we remind them that we are a public library that is here to serve the entire community. Parents are in charge of monitoring what they allow their children to read or watch from our collection. We encourage parents to come in with their children. If they feel like they need to set parameters of what their children should and should not read they can always come in with them to look over the books or search for descriptions in our catalog. As board member Mabel Mantel of Orange City, Iowa (2018) states to parents, "You have to set the parameters and you have to make the decisions and you have to enforce them," she said. "Not us. Not the library board that meets one hour a month" (The Oklahoman).
- Many people are against street lit because it has violence and not a lifestyle that is considered nice. Urban fiction needs to start being viewed as many of the writers of the genre say, as a way to show the consequences of the lifestyle and that it is not worth those consequences. These books are often based on real life stories that have every right to be in fiction. They are also stories that connect with a large group of readers. We want all people to feel like they have representation in our library and will not discriminate because the story is not what the majority sees as right. As librarians you all trust us to provide access to information and resources. This also means you trust us to purchase books for all ages.
- Separating only street lit and LGBTQ books from the rest of the collection is saying that they are wrong and that is setting up for hurt people and making our library come off as bias and insensitive. It is also setting the library up for censuring if the public feels like they should be able to tell the library how collections should be developed. In Iowa concerns of indoctrinating children and needing to ask about purchasing LGBTQ materials have been brought up with some books in the children's room (Des Moines Register, 2018). In Orange City they are accusing the library of trying to indoctrinate children because there is a book about transgender in the collection. This is not the case. If it is anything like the library I work at they just want to have representation for all people. In regards to purchasing LGBTQ books but only doing so if the library seeks the public's input I think that is not okay and why would patrons want this. This specific genre is being targeted because of the content and people who are in the book. It has nothing to do with the petitioners wanting the books separated. They want them taken out of the collection so their children never read them. We believe, as librarians, that the freedom to read and watch is a right for anyone at any age. We purposefully purchase books in all genres and formats so we do not discriminate. We ask that the public takes this into account when making complaints about the books.
References:
Libguides. (2020, December 7). Urban fiction: About street lit. Durham Tech. https://durhamtech.libguides.com/streetlit
Munshi, N. (2020, December 7). Urban fiction: Words on the street. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/08785ece-86ee-11e5-9f8c-a8d619fa707c
Hi Abby,
ReplyDeleteI like your suggestion to add spine labels (or stickers) to LGBTQ and Urban titles as opposed to shelving them separately. Our library makes use of spine labels, too, and I think that this is a great compromise. I also appreciate your mention of the time, money, and manpower it would take to reorganize the fiction section by genre. People don't often think of the logistics of such a huge change.
We have stickers that go on our spines for some of our genres where I work. It comes in really handy when you are searching the stacks. I know from helping reorganize where books are located that it takes so much time and effort to move collections, let alone separate them into multiple areas. It just seems like a huge undertaking when I think about it. Our children's room just got a small reorganization and it took all three of the lovely ladies who work in their a while to weed and shift everything. Thanks for the comment!
DeleteAbby
Hi Abby,
ReplyDeleteI also thought of all the staff hours and money that would go into separating these books. The costs for labels, signage, and other materials needed would quickly add up. The tech services department would need to re-catalog the books and staff would need to label them and rearrange shelving, which takes a lot of time! On top of that, someone would need to take the time to decide which books fall into those categories.
The tech services department would have a really hard time with this project if the building was still open and they were required to keep purchasing new books. Where I work the staff is already small so this task would be hard to complete without some outside help. Thanks for the comment!
DeleteAbby
I think you're absolutely right; if the library separates out urban and LGBTQ fiction from the rest of the collection, it is only right to separate all other genres too. Otherwise, it would be discrimination. Why only those two genres and not the rest? Your post makes people look at this from a practical business standpoint, which is a perspective I hadn't thought of. If a library decides to split its whole collection up by genre, then everything will need to be rearranged. That is timely, costly, and unnecessary. The time it would take just to decide which genre each book would fit into would be a ridiculous waste given that many books are classified as multiple genres. It's just not practical.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you! I also think that if authors write multiple genres it would be hard for patrons to find all the books by one author. I think being able to browse all of fiction in one area is how many patrons find new authors or series to dive into. Thank you for making some great points!
DeleteAbby
I think the reasons you put together against separation are sound, especially for a smaller library. Since there aren't already separation measures in place, it just doesn't make sense to go through all the trouble of recategorizing and reorganizing everything! By redoing everything now, it would definitely show some kind of bias, whether the librarians/patrons had good intentions or not. The freedom to read and request books is a huge thing and libraries remaining neutral means that we can support various platforms and viewpoints without the added hardship of personal opinions or morals getting in the way. Great work!
ReplyDeleteYes! All of your comment is exactly how I feel about this topic. I think a big thing that people are not even considering is the time and cost of separating genres. Also, where I work we are small enough that our library could not physically do this because of space not being available. If we were to do this I think many genres would have to be heavily weeded and authors would be taken out to accommodate for the new system. I also think letting people read what they choose is a big reason why I am so against this. If we separate the books then people will feel self-conscious about going to those sections and not check out the books. If we keep them together then people will feel more comfortable browsing the aisles. Thanks for the freedom to read perspective!
DeleteAbby
Hi Abby,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea on having stickers on the spine of the books to separate them from one another, such as mystery and science fiction. That is a good way to help with the question of should LGBTQ and Urban fiction books be separated from the rest of the collection or not. Now even though there will be concerns from parents it is still the library's job to serve the entire community that the library resides in and I'm glad you brought that up. It seems that a lot of patrons tend to forget that from time to time.
I love that you brought up not only ethical reasons -but practical ones as well. Very well written! Full points!
ReplyDelete