Prompt Response 14

 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 LGBTQ fiction and Urban 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.

I am not in favor of separating LGBTQ+ fiction and Urban Fiction from the general collection. I agree completely with the points stated in the prompt as it does promote segregation and stifle new discoveries. 

My first reason is that classifying LGBTQ+ and Urban Fiction as genres the same as we would Romance or Western Fiction, diminishes those identities and lived-experiences. Reducing an identity to a genre only serves to other those communities even more than they already have. It asserts that being LGBTQ+ or a POC is the only defining characteristic of these novels which then carries the implication that such is true of the people in those communities. 

My second reason follows my first very closely in that, how would you determine what is shelved in these sections? If a mystery novel features a transgender character is it a mystery or LGBTQ+ fiction? Are authors who belong to these communities only shelved in their respective sections regardless of the content in their books? And these questions wouldn’t be unique to these works as any novel with multiple appeals would struggle to fit in one singular genre. My library doesn’t shelve any books based on genre beyond saying a book is fiction, nonfiction, young adult, or juvenile, and I think that’s how it should be. Some patrons have expressed their frustration at not having a Romance or Mystery section available to browse, so we’ve discussed the potential for creating themed displays, but organizing our shelving layout as though it was a bookstore isn’t necessary for the success of a library. 

My third reason is concerned with safety. For one, separating all those books and authors out makes it that much easier for them to be defaced or vandalized. But more importantly, if on the spine labels of these books we’re saying LGBTQ+ or URBAN, or using specific stickers, it puts readers and their privacy at risk. Imagine a young teen who isn’t out to their parents yet, the spine label of their library book would risk outting them. Or maybe someone is out and reading one of their books in public and someone approaches them with hate. I know people who would scoff if I said separating books along these parameters is dangerous, but it truly is. And it is dangerous in a way that goes beyond the library building itself.