‘‘ LGBTQ+
Equality and discrimination discussion A
T the end of 2021, the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network Committee was once again pleased that uklibchat were
keen to run another LGBTQ+ themed open discussion on Twitter. Our second uklibchat in November 2021 was focused on LGBTQ+ equity and discrimination in library, knowledge and information spaces.
In summary, from the discussion, it was clear that organisations can show their support for LGBTQ+ staff in ways that aren’t demanding, and in ways that also serve to show that LGBTQ+ people are valued. A few ideas that were shared included:
l The setting up and facilitation of organisation-wide LGBTQ+ staff networks that allow LGBTQ+ people to discuss issues impacting upon them, in the context of the organisation and also their broader lives;
l Making an active step to positively support and highlight relevant national and international awareness days to all staff in the organisation. eg. Transgender Awareness Week, Lesbian Visibility Day and International Pronouns Day;
l The development of organisational LGBTQ+ policies and guidance, which can be fed into by staff most impacted by those policies;
l It provides an authoritative voice on disability issues within the LIS community, with opportunities for its members with lived experience of disability to participate at events and within public discussions.
l The development of dedicated diversity and inclusion roles able to champion LGBTQ+ people within the organisation.
Even though our focus is library, knowledge and information work (LKI), it’s helpful to look beyond
January-February 2022
our own sector when supporting LGBTQ+ people. We can take advantage of policies, guidance, and resources from organisations whose expertise and sole focus is supporting LGBTQ+ people. For example, take a look at Stonewall, Gendered Intelligence, and the Consortium of LGBT Voluntary & Community Organisations.
The discussion also delved into ideas around how library collections and knowledge resources could be developed to overcome bias and further represent LGBTQ+ people. A few ideas that came up included:
l Developing selection policies that specifically aim to source and include LGBTQ+ material in the collection. This could partially be achieved by purchasing material from publishers and bookshops with an LGBTQ+ focus. Book 28 Library was cited as a useful resource for identifying relevant material in this area. It was felt that the more LGBTQ+ material we purchase, the more publishers are likely to cater for the market by publishing other related books;
l We can build collections beyond buying books and printed materials. There are plenty of free relevant online resources we as librarians, knowledge and information workers can signpost to. For example, LGBTQ+ websites, podcasts, support and wellbeing groups;
l Organising human library events representing a range of sexual and gender identities to promote an appreciation of identity diversity;
l How to make collection items easily discoverable on the library catalogue and in the library. Suggestions included addressing biases in classification by using tools such as
homosaurus.org to add useful tags to catalogue records; producing LGBTQ+ themed reading lists that are visible on library websites and in the library. LGBTQ+ library events can
Ash Green (@ciliplgbtq,
cilip.lgbtqnetwork@cilip.
org.uk) is a CILIP LGBTQ+ Network Steering Group Member.
also provide an opportunity to promote relevant areas of the library collection.
The discussion also acknowledged that sometimes resistance to these ideas can be met. But this resistance can be countered by highlighting positive examples of work that other LKI organisations are doing and the positive feedback they have received as a result. If you are looking for examples, please take a look at the LGBTQIA resources for library workers at
https://bit.ly/3INSphV. Even though it’s not clear how many LKI organisations are undertaking activities such as these to drive change, it was still welcoming to see from the uklibchat discussion that some organisations are making progress in terms of supporting LGBTQ+ staff, developing inclusive and diverse collections, and positively representing LGBTQ+ people. If you’d like to read the full Twitter chat it can be found at
https://bit.ly/3rgwKcl. As well as it being our second collaboration with uklibchat, it was also our last, as the team behind uklibchat have decided to call time on the initiative. We would like to say thanks to uklibchat for the opportunity to work with them, and also for all the interesting and useful LKI discussions they have hosted over the past 10 years. IP
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 25
Even though our focus is library, knowledge and information work (LKI), it’s helpful to look beyond our own sector when supporting LGBTQ+ people.
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