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INSIGHT
Any colleagues who understand your point of view and respect your values are a boon, but the addition of understanding other experiences in your life can really enhance the relationship.
Beth Montague-Hellen is the Head of Library & Information Services at the Francis Crick Institute, London.
ANY of us find that there are points in our careers where we are out on our own. Maybe you’re the only librarian in a pri-
mary school, or you’re embedded into a research group. Maybe your goals and values are different to everyone else’s, you’re the only research data librarian in an open access team, or you’re involved in community engage- ment in a library that’s primarily inward facing. Or maybe you feel like you’re on your own simply because of who you are.
Prior to becoming a librarian, I worked in the biological sciences and frequently found myself the only woman in the room, and even more often found myself the only out gay person. Now that I’m a librarian, the gender balance has shifted, but I can frequently find myself feeling like I’m ‘the only gay in the library’ as a colleague used to refer to themselves. The situation can be even starker for black or brown, disabled or trans library workers and information professionals.
Survey
Actually, for LGBTQ+ library workers in a library of any reasonable size, it’s almost always not true that you’re alone in your identity and experiences, it might be that you’re just not aware of the identities of your colleagues. The CAUL (The Council of Australasian University Librarians) 2023 EDI survey looked at the number of people working in libraries who identified as LGBTQ+ and found that 28per cent identified as a ‘non-heterosexual identity’ and eight per cent identified as possibly or definitely trans. Given that the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that 4.5 per cent of Australians are LGBTQI+, it rather seems like we gravitate to libraries. But even given this over abundance of LGBTQ+ folks in libraries, it can feel quite isolating being queer in a library. Particularly when it is often hidden from
Winter 2025 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 45
acquaintances and work colleagues. So, what can we do about it? Build community.
Connect
I’ve personally always found joy in connecting and working with LGBTQ+ colleagues. Any colleagues who understand your point of view and respect your values are a boon, but the addition of understanding other experiences in your life can really enhance the relationship. It was this that encouraged me to take up the position of Chair of the CILIP LGBTQ+ network, over the last two years this position has given me a wonderful opportunity to meet and connect with LGBTQ+ colleagues and allies from across the library sphere. This issue of Information Professional is highlighting the benefits of CILIP membership, and the chance to volunteer on network committees is undoubtedly a highlight for me. The CILIP LGBTQ+ Network committee meetings that I chair always start with the best of intentions, but often descend into off topic discussions. Whether it was possible to dress your cat up in a Halloween costume
took up a sizeable chunk of our last meeting.
Opportunity
We spend so many hours of the day in our working (or volunteering) lives that it’s important to make human connections. As much as some leaders might like to replace people with AI, we are not robots, and in order to work well, most of us need to work with others. In the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network I’ve found the opportunity to work with others across all library sectors and regions of the country. Particularly Merseyside for some reason. We’d never normally have the chance to work together, but here we are all pulling towards the same goal, that of giving LGBTQ+ librarians a support network and a way to feel less lonely if they do happen to be the only LGBTQ+ library worker they know.
If this kind of community sounds good to you, we’re always on the look out for new enthusiastic members. We’re particularly looking for a new chair, so if that’s something that sounds interesting, get in touch at
chair.lgbtq@
cilip.org.uk. IP
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