Beyond Dewey: Creating an LGBTQ+ Classification System at the LGBTQ Center of Durham
ISBN: 978-1-78756-474-9, eISBN: 978-1-78756-473-2
Publication date: 1 May 2019
Abstract
Books serve as important information resources and provide space for reflection and identity-building for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people. Many in this community have experienced reduced feelings of isolation through engagement with the writings of others. Providing a safe space for such engagement is vital. Library and information science (LIS) professionals are in an optimal position to meet such needs, particularly when efforts are made to implement changes based on explicitly expressed concerns.
This chapter provides a case study of the LGBTQ Center of Durham, North Carolina, to illustrate how the organization is integrating the local LGBTQ+ community into its library by using the community’s own vocabulary and interests to inform the center’s practices and policies. The chapter also offers a guide to the locally responsive, LGBTQ+-specific classification system created for the LGBTQ Center of Durham’s library collection. This classification system was designed to represent library materials for its Durham and surrounding-area users in a useful, accessible, and respectful manner – a feat that the library committee did not feel could be accomplished using existing classification systems.
Building on the case study for applicability, the author makes recommendations for how LIS professionals who wish to better serve LGBTQ+ users can incorporate the community into their library and/or collection. The author provides additional suggestions for action, with varying levels of commitment, for library professionals and volunteers. Through resource development, training, collection development, and classification revision, libraries can more closely align their practices with the needs of users of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
The author would like to recognize the extensive work done by the other members of the LGBTQ Center of Durham Executive Committee and Cataloging Subcommittee teams. In alphabetical order, the members of the Library Executive Committee include: Helena Cragg (Chair of the Board of Directors for the LGBTQ Center of Durham), Kai Ewing (author of this chapter and Chair of the Cataloging Subcommittee), Rebecca Honeycutt, and Garrett Sparks. Special thanks to Garrett Sparks and Helena Cragg for starting the library project and overseeing the addition of over 1,000 items from the library collection into LibraryThing, and thanks to Garrett for assembling the list of LibraryThing tags for CATMA analysis. Members of the Cataloging Subcommittee include, in alphabetical order: Kai Ewing, Rebecca Honeycutt, Ashley Lyons, and Renée McBride. Additional help was given by Arlene Lutenegger, who has since left the area and subcommittee. Extra special thanks to the Cataloging Subcommittee for all the work and deliberation they have put into creating the classification system and the many volunteers who have offered their time to assist with item input and classification; this system would not be nearly as representative or useful without their valuable input. A final thanks to the peer reviewer, Renée McBride; editor, Molly Mullin; and anthology editor, Bharat Mehra, without whom this chapter would be an incoherent mess.
Citation
Ewing, K. (2019), "Beyond Dewey: Creating an LGBTQ+ Classification System at the LGBTQ Center of Durham", Mehra, B. (Ed.) LGBTQ+ Librarianship in the 21st Century: Emerging Directions of Advocacy and Community Engagement in Diverse Information Environments (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 45), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 225-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020190000045017
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited