Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal February 2007 Volume 5(1)

Stock policy: Fiction provision

A voice for the invisible?

Are libraries in Scotland insensitive to providing lesbians with equal opportunity for leisure reading? Jacq Goldthorp describes her research into lesbian fiction and Scottish Public Libraries.

I have undertaken research into fiction that is of particular relevance to people’s own sexual identity, i.e. lesbian fiction.[1] I asked the question, do lesbians living in Scotland have the same opportunity for leisure reading as the rest of the adult female population? What I found lead me to make two observations. Scottish public library providers lack the necessary knowledge on how to include LGBT people and their needs into the development of their services and have been apathetic in amending this situation. Many of those who manage library services are “cloaking” discrimination and prejudice with a false front of neutrality and “a one service fits all” approach. I want to present some of the evidence that lead me to make these observations.

Of the many lesbians I interviewed, surveyed and did workshops with in the pursuance of this research, only 8% of them currently use public libraries, their reasons were:
Insensitive library staff, over 54% of lesbian respondents who had used public libraries indicated that they felt they had been victims of direct discrimination by library staff and had concerns over the maintenance of customer confidentiality. One interviewee commented, “I would never have borrowed lesbian fiction from the library as I believe that my children would have been discriminated against if it was thought that their mother was a lesbian”.

There is much evidence to support the view that training and raising awareness among staff is the means to counteract negative views of minority groups and to lead to a more inclusive service. However, only 28% of the public library services in Scotland answered the survey they were sent on this issue and of those none of them had provided diversity training which included LGBT people to their staff. Equally, none of the professional training courses in library and information studies offered by universities and colleges in Scotland appear to have tackled this issue.

A recently qualified librarian from a distinguished university commented that she did not “…have a clue what lesbian fiction was”, and did not think that libraries should have to “…pander to the demands of minority groups – if people want such books they should be prepared to use interlibrary loans”. In workshops which included colleagues from England all commented on the fact that they had not received training in providing materials for LGBT people. Comments by professional staff included: “If we are sent a survey about say, disabled people, we fill it in – but if it is about LGBT people no one is interested as they are not a priority for the service.”

More than 70% of lesbian respondents commented on poor and dated collections of lesbian fiction. The following comment was typical of those received: “The selection of lesbian fiction in my local library is pathetic; for years now, I have purchased my lesbian novels from online booksellers”. A detailed analysis of the Scottish public library catalogues that are online disclosed that out of adult fictional materials less than 0.03% could have been described as lesbian or gay fiction. This is less than 150 volumes per 500 thousand. However given the problems in accessing lesbian fiction it was difficult to gain a true picture by this method alone. Therefore a snapshot was used.

A sample of 25 recently published, widely available, lesbian novels was applied to each online catalogue. Only one library service had 50% of the titles in stock (one of the smallest in Scotland); and over 80% had less than 25% of the sample titles. This perhaps makes understandable the reason proffered by one library worker from a large urban library service, as to why they did not have a separate section for lesbian and gay fiction. “It is highly unlikely we would have enough books to make up even one unit of five shelves.”

Lack of stock is more likely to be the reason why large central libraries do not have a separate section for LGBT patrons and not the often given reason that LGBT people do not want a separate section. Over 75% of lesbian respondents would have welcomed a separate LGBT section as a good way of locating new lesbian fiction and allowing them to browse for new titles/authors.

Over 85% of lesbian respondents commented that being able to search for lesbian fiction online using keywords, to enable them to bring up lists of lesbian fiction would be invaluable. In only 22% of the public library services which had an online catalogue was the keyword phrase lesbian fiction recognised. And this was not by design to aid access but by the accident of having a particularly attentive cataloguer employed by the bookseller. Where the key phrase ‘lesbian fiction’ was recognised the highest number of lesbian titles attained was 54 and this from our capital city. Many library workers commented that they did not see the need to catalogue fiction in terms of sexual orientation. To this I would respond that many other people enjoy listening to audio books besides visually impaired people. Yet when I suggested to librarians that audio books should not be catalogued as such they were appalled, commenting that how, then, would their main audience be able to locate them – precisely my point.

When it came to advocacy and promotion 100% of the lesbian respondents thought that libraries should be willing to engage with LGBT people and their support groups to find out what services they need. Over 90% felt that library services should show support by taking an active part in events in the LGBT calendar by, for example, having book displays, author talks and/or taking a mobile library to PRIDE. 100% of the lesbian respondents also thought that UK library services should, as has been done by their American counterparts with the Lambda Awards, support the creation of a literary award for UK gay and lesbian writing.
Research carried out through 2005/06 into Scottish public libraries’ engagement with any of the above came up negative. None of the public libraries surveyed or observed either actively communicated with LGBT networks over library services or took an active part in LGBT events such as Pride. This year not one Glasgay event (Oct-Nov 06) took place in public library premises. Individual local authorities do support LGBT support groups, but public library services are noticeable by their absence.

For the reader who may feel that there is little interest in lesbian and gay fiction, “The evidence is against you”, the women that I spoke to in the course of my research stated strongly that having access to lesbian fiction was a valuable support to them, and for many it had been life changing and affirming. When recently I attended a talk given by Sarah Waters at the Edinburgh Book Festival, it was difficult even to find standing room.

I leave you with a comment from a teenager: “Why should we have to fight for a good library service when others don’t have to, why should we have to justify having the same consideration as any other borrower?”

References
[1] Goldthorp, J. (2006) The Social inclusion of lesbians as borrowers from Scottish Public Libraries, explored through the visibility of lesbian fiction. M.Sc. Dissertation. Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

Information Scotland Vol. 5(1) February 2007

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