Young Adult Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) Non-Fiction Collections and Countywide Anti-Discrimination Policies

This study examines news articles and anti-discrimination ordinances that affect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) communities in the four most populous counties from five Southeastern states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The possible impact of such policies on the collection of non-fiction young adult materials in the public libraries in those counties is explored. The holdings of each county are compared to a list of 23 titles compiled from literary award winners selected from the time period 1996-2003 using the Lambda Literary Foundation Awards, the American Library Association Stonewall Awards, and an American Library Association GLBT Roundtable Bibliography. Findings suggest that there is no relationship between anti-discrimination ordinances and the level of collecting LGBTQ material. The evidence shows that the more demographically diverse counties made more LGBTQ titles available to their constituents. More studies investigating the impact of demographics on collection development would be helpful.

This article appears in Urban Library Journal 17, no. 1 (2011):1-27.