Serving

LGBTQ Families and Youth

in the Library

Cate Loveday
LIS 723

Why This Population?

Same sex couples live in 99% of all the
countries nationwide (2000 U.S. Census)
There are at least 2 million children being
raised by same sex couples in the United
States- and probably many more (2010 U.S.
Census)
Of the 1.6 million homeless American Youth up
to 40% identify at LGBTQ.

43%

report being kicked out by parents after they

have come out
http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/straight-guide-to-lgbt-americans

How Can Librarians Help?

Familiarize yourself with offensive terms and stop

using them

GLADD has put together a list for reference

http://www.glaad.org/reference/offensive

Ensure that no staff members react negatively when

any patron, regardless of age, requests or checks out
LGBTQ materials.
Respect your patrons' rights to choose their own selfdescriptors. Use their preferred terminology when
possible.
https://youthserviceslibrarianship.wikispaces.com/GLBTQ+Youth

LGBTQ Families

Estimated that a quarter of all same-sex

households include children under 18
2008 GLSEN Report Involved, Invisible,
Ignored

Very

involved in their childs school

64%

Volunteer In Classrooms
94% Attend Parent Teacher Conference Nights
http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/us-censussnapshot-2010/
http://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/Involved%2C%20Invisible%2C%20Ignored%20Execu
tive%20Summary.pdf

Services for LGBTQ Families

Storytime
Picture

books that reflect diverse

families and experiences

Services for LGBTQ Families

Parenting Resources
Bibliographies

Services for LGBTQ Families

Create bibliographies or displays

June

is LGBTQ History Month

November is National Adoption
Month

Look to other organizations that

work with children and families
National

Association for the Education

of Young Children

LGBTQ Youth

Be an ally for LGBTQ Youth

Human

Rights Campaign

Promote a non-bullying zone to make the

library a safe space
Teaching

Tolerance

Services for LGBTQ Youth

Partner with the High Schools Gay

Straight Alliance Club
Attend

meetings for book clubs or book talks

Find ambassadors to be part of your Teen
Advisory Board at the library

Services for LGBTQ Youth

Poetry and Prose Readings
Include LGBTQ positive materials in regularly
scheduled Book Clubs and Movie Nights
Create bibliographies and displays

https://youthserviceslibrarianship.wikispaces.com/GLBTQ+Youth

Collection Development

ALA
Gay

Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender

Round Table (GLBTRT)
Rainbow List
http://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/

Stonewall

Award

Collection Development

Blogs
Im Here, Im Queer, What the Hell Do I
Read?
www.leewind.org

Gay

YA

www.gayya.org

Queer

YA

http://daisyporter.org/queerya

Gay-Theme

Picture Books for Children

http://booksforkidsingayfamilies.blogspot.com

Other Resources

Human Rights Campaign

Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

http://www.glaad.org/

PFLAG

http://www.glsen.org/

GLADD

http://www.hrc.org/

http://community.pflag.org/

Teaching Tolerance

http://www.tolerance.org/

What did I take away from this?

What would be my first steps?

Parenting

Resources
More mindful of collection placement

Thoughts on Inclusion