Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
By Elizabeth Gartley June is GLBT Book Month! While I’m excited to take the time to celebrate LGBTQ literature in libraries, I still often find myself in the position of trying to get (and keep) LGBTQ books into school libraries so that they can be celebrated. From my own observations, schools and school libraries still […]
By Elizabeth Gartley Last week, I had the opportunity to work with two public librarians to lead a session on serving LGBTQ youth at a state conference for children’s and youth librarians. The collaboration was especially rewarding because while the three of us are librarians with a shared interest in serving LGBTQ youth, we also […]
By Elizabeth Gartley When I speak to educators about LGBTQ issues, they typically have an easier time accepting different sexual orientations than gender diversity. Most of these educators are well-meaning, and they’re not unaccepting of transgender or gender nonconforming students, but rather a little perplexed at having to challenge their own notions of gender. In […]
By Elizabeth Gartley This winter, when I was selecting nonfiction titles to purchase for this school year, I included a few LGBTQ nonfiction titles, including Stonewall by Ann Bausum, Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington, and Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin. When they arrived, the LGBTQ books sat alongside […]
By Elizabeth Gartley This week (January 18 to 22) is GLSEN’s No Name-Calling Week, a nationwide effort to celebrate kindness in schools and combat bullying. In GLSEN’s 2013 National School Climate Survey, the organization found that just over 70 percent of LGBT students surveyed had heard “gay” used in a negative way and two-thirds of […]
By Elizabeth Gartley November is Picture Book Month, an international literacy initiative which celebrates print picture books, and picture books are worth celebrating. Picture books are a powerful medium, and they are often the first form of literature that young children enjoy. Even as a middle school librarian who works with young teens, I keep […]
By Elizabeth Gartley Most educators are familiar with African American History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March, but LGBT History Month is often overlooked in October, and the experiences and contributions of LGBT people throughout the world are omitted from most history classes. But there are a wealth of opportunities to integrate […]
By Elizabeth Gartley Often, when I’m speaking with educators about LGBTQ topics, one of the first questions I’m asked is “What does the Q stand for?” The primary definition that I provide is that “Q” stands for “questioning.” By acknowledging those who are questioning, we acknowledge those people, particularly young people, who for one reason […]
By Elizabeth Gartley A few months ago, I came across the 2011 article “The Silent Message: Professional Journals’ Failure to Address LGBTQ Issues” by Elizabeth Koehler, in The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, the academic journal of YALSA. In her study, Koehler searched for LGBTQ-themed articles in nine professional journals commonly read […]
