Week 14 Prompt
I’ve worked in two different public libraries that
either separated the urban fiction from the rest of the fiction, while the
other kept it with the fiction. What I noticed was the deciding factor with the
separating the urban fiction was the popularity of the urban fiction with the
community that the public library is serving. The patron’s wanted the urban
fiction separated for easier browsing. This public library is located in an
urban setting. The urban fiction was the libraries most circulated fiction, so
I think for that specific public library it works. With the other library that
is located in a less racially diverse area, the separation of the urban fiction
could be upsetting or uncomfortable for its readers. This could lead to the
patron’s feeling that their favorite genre is being segregated from the rest of
the fiction, which would lead to problems for the public library. I personally
think how the first library separated their urban fiction is understandable, because
that is the most circulated fiction in the library. The library is only making
it more accessible for the readers to pick through the titles. Although when it
comes to separating LGBTQ fiction from the rest of the fiction the motivation
behind this act is more about censorship of the fiction.
After reading both articles about the
Orange County community library’s petition to segregate the LGBTQ fiction from
the others, I noted that there is a more negative motivation behind the
request. The community members believed they were only trying to protect their
children’s young impressionable minds from the harmful “gay agenda”, because we
all know once a little boy sees another boy in a dress he is automatically
going to be in the next season of Rupaul’s Drag Race. The response of the board
to this was what I and probably other librarians and future librarians would
expect, when someone wants a book ban or in this case separated and labeled. I
can see how there is a reason that some public libraries wouldn’t consider separating
the urban and lgbtq fiction altogether, because once a library separates one
genre then it has to do so if a community petition asked for the separation of
another genre on more of a negative reason.
Cited
http://www.ktiv.com/story/37771686/2018/03/Tuesday/orange-city-ia-public-library-to-separately-label-books-with-lgbtq-themes
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/03/21/library-change-lgbtq-content-grouping-change-orange-city-iowa/445970002/
I'm so happy to hear about your experience with a library that shelved Urban Lit separately for positive ends and the contrast with how such an action would be perceived in a less ethnically-diverse area. I've been trying to put my finger on why it feels okay to me that some libraries put labels on their books like "Inspirational Fiction" (my library does this and it doesn't bother me a bit), but I then had such a visceral negative reaction to the LGBTQ labels in Orange City. I think it has to do with what you wrote about the motivations for these actions - is it to promote the books and make them easier for people to find and read, or is it to brand the items with a negative "warning" label? Thanks for your post - it's given me a lot to think about!
ReplyDeleteHi Masada! I really had to think about this issue this week since I worked in bookstores where we separated out books and I've come to the conclusion that no matter how convenient is for the patrons it's a bad thing to segregate books based on criteria like race and sexuality. I understand what you wrote about urban fiction, but I really believe that no matter how uncomfortable it will be for people to have find these books at first they need to be housed in the general population. We should not be supporting this segregation of reading material. As the articles about the Orange City Library make abundantly clear shelving books about minorities separately perpetuates the idea that they are different and don't belong in the mainstream.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, well articulated and argued post. You bring up many great points that strengthen your response. Full points!
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