By A. Faulkner
What is your role in the GLBTRT?
Member
What does the GLBTRT mean to you?
The round table is family. It’s a place where, as a professional, I can find and meet others who have the same experience as a queer person in the library, whether it be public, academic, or special libraries.
Are you involved in ALA in other ways?
I’m currently a Board of Director for the Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) Division of ALA.
What professional work do you perform?
I’m the Principal Librarian for the Coronado Public Library and my duties are to oversee the Adult Services division of my library.
What would you like to share about your personal life?
I’ve been with my partner for 11 years now, but I still haven’t committed to getting married. Even though all our friends keep asking when it’s happening, since they know I had a ten year plan.
What are you most proud of?
I think what I’m most proud of is being able to create balanced collection at my library. Advocating for material for LGBT youth and to have accessible resources for those who might be too afraid to ask. I’ve been lucky to have an administration that was open and welcoming to new ideas.
Who inspires you?
There are so many, it’s hard to pin one person down. Professionals and activists who came before me to pave the way to make it easier for me are my heroes.
What are your goals? (Professional and/or personal.)
Professionally my career goal is to be a Director one day. Personally, I’d love to own my own home. Which seems so out of reach here in San Diego – the price keeps going up – but one of these days. I’d also like to have children too.
What do you think (or predict) is the future of libraries?
Since I was young, people have been predicting the death of libraries. Yet they’re still here. I grew up in the library – my mom was a cataloger – and if there is one thing that has been consistent since I was young, it’s change. Libraries will be around for quite a while; how we do business is changing. Reminding the public that we’re still here is a challenge, especially for those who haven’t set foot in one since they were in school. Our buildings have changed; we now are a virtual as well as a physical entity. We need to help guide people to find quality literature and real facts. We need to make sure that we continue to give a voice to the voiceless, and advocate for the rights of those who are oppressed.
In what direction would you like the GLBTRT to move in the future?
I think the GLBTRT needs to partner more with other divisions and ethnic caucus to continue to promote the awards, to make sure GLBT literature makes it into libraries across the nation.
If you could be transported into the fictional world of any book, where would you go?
I think I’d be happiest in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Though I keep thinking about all the breakfasts and food I could eat if I lived in Hobbiton.
What would be the title of your autobiography?
Bitten Tongue: The sarcastic misadventures of a boy from the Central Valley. Now I’ll have to write this autobiography.
If you could only choose one song to play every time you entered a room for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Kiss Them for Me by Siouxsie and the Banshees. Granted my music taste is quite eclectic. This is the hardest question. I like so much music and a slew of genres. Ask me again tomorrow and you’ll get a completely different answer.
If you could have a dinner party with 5 culturally or historically significant figures, living or dead, who would you invite?
Oscar Wilde, Barney Frank, Divine, Frida Khalo, and Octavia Butler
What is the meaning of life?
42, the ultimate answer for life, the universe and everything. You have to love Douglas Adams.
