Week 12/13 (?) Prompt: To Separate or Not to Separate?
Topic: "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 GBLTQ fiction and African American
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 think the answer to this question depends on the collections and how they are organized at that particular branch. If the library promotes Genre Segregation among many other genres, then this would not seem to be an odd thing. However, if the clientele of the library were primarily a race for example not African American, then it would seem as if it might be a prejudicial thing. One thing I thought about that is a little differently for the GBLTQ division, might be that a patron would not want to be seen in that section, but might actually want to read the books? I think on this issue, I would have the staff vote on whether to do this or not, and it would also depend on the size of the collection. If our library only had 2 shelves for this genre, then I would keep it in the general collection. But if we had a huge collection and many requests for the material I would separate it, if the vote was majority. I would listen to my staff about why or why not include it, and would go with the answer that I thought might appeal to MOST readers in this genre.
One other thing that could be done: When posting the genre signs along the bookshelf end caps, I would note under every Genre something like the following: "We have separated out reading genres for the ease and enjoyment of our patrons" or something similar to this. That way, patrons in the GBLTQ or African American Fiction (Or any other smaller category), would not feel offended. The library could even leave a note: "Please feel free to see the librarian if you are not comfortable with this" or "see her to retrieve a book from this selection", something on that order. This way you've covered both types of patrons, and have assisted the one who won't go into the section but may want a book.
I think the answer to this question depends on the collections and how they are organized at that particular branch. If the library promotes Genre Segregation among many other genres, then this would not seem to be an odd thing. However, if the clientele of the library were primarily a race for example not African American, then it would seem as if it might be a prejudicial thing. One thing I thought about that is a little differently for the GBLTQ division, might be that a patron would not want to be seen in that section, but might actually want to read the books? I think on this issue, I would have the staff vote on whether to do this or not, and it would also depend on the size of the collection. If our library only had 2 shelves for this genre, then I would keep it in the general collection. But if we had a huge collection and many requests for the material I would separate it, if the vote was majority. I would listen to my staff about why or why not include it, and would go with the answer that I thought might appeal to MOST readers in this genre.
One other thing that could be done: When posting the genre signs along the bookshelf end caps, I would note under every Genre something like the following: "We have separated out reading genres for the ease and enjoyment of our patrons" or something similar to this. That way, patrons in the GBLTQ or African American Fiction (Or any other smaller category), would not feel offended. The library could even leave a note: "Please feel free to see the librarian if you are not comfortable with this" or "see her to retrieve a book from this selection", something on that order. This way you've covered both types of patrons, and have assisted the one who won't go into the section but may want a book.
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