Críticas Magazine

Loida García-Febo

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered immigrant library customers
March 9, 2008

How public libraries serve this population? 

 In order to better serve my customers, I started to search for public libraries serving GLBT Spanish-speaking seniors. Result: nada. I changed the search terms: public libraries serving GLBT seniors (no mention of Spanish, Latino or immigrant). Results: zero. This cannot be possible, I said. I reviewed my findings and found that San Francisco Public Library has a Gay and Lesbian Center. Well, they must serve seniors! They do have structured services for the community: note collections and events. They also have sites for children and teens. Great!

Besides resources from SFPL, I did find an online booklist about Lesbian & Gay Fiction by Baltimore County Public Library. The New York Public Library’s Gay and Lesbian Studies offers help for researchers on their A Guide to the Collections of The New York Public Library. 

What about professional associations?

REFORMA’s Latino Young Adult Bibliography includes titles about Gay teenagers.

REFORMA President’s Program at ALA-Anaheim will be about ensuring services to the Spanish-speaking GLBT community.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Round Table of the American Library Association

and its Rainbow Project provide lists of books and many resources to help planning programs and services. 

Two Community Organizations to work with:
SAGE, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders and The LGBT Center in New York which is the second largest LGBT center in the world.

 
I still want to hear from public libraries with structured services (websites, booklists and events) for the GLBT community. If anyone out there has any information- post a comment or email me!

Posted by Loida García-Febo on March 9, 2008 | Comments (0)