Serving LGBTQ Teens: A Practical Guide for Librarians(Practical Guides for Librarians)

There are few places an LGBTQ teen can turn for help – searching the internet at home leaves a potentially discoverable trail, teachers may condemn youth who seek their help, and certainly, in many cases, a teen’s parents are not an option. While there have been advancements in acceptance of the LGBTQ population, there is still a firm stronghold on discrimination and teens still face the fear of potential alienation. This leaves one of the only safe places for a teen to find information and, and indeed, find themselves in the context of the world – at the library. Serving LGBTQ Teens offers the librarian a practical guide to library service to LGBTQ teens – from collection development, understanding terminology, dealing with censorship issues, programming and outreach, readers’ advisory, and even to creating welcoming displays, librarians will find the tools they need to offer exceptional services for LGBTQ teens.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. LGBTQ Teens: Making the Case to Serve this Population in Your Library Chapter 2. Let’s Build a Strong Foundation: Understanding the LGBTQ Community and LGBTQ Teens Chapter 3. A Helpful Historical Perspective of the LGBTQ Community Chapter 4. Collection Development: Will They Find Themselves at the Library? Chapter 5. Programming and Community Outreach Chapter 6. Censorship in the Library: What You Need to Know Chapter 7. Creating Welcoming and Safe Spaces in the Library Chapter 8. Surveying Current Library Offerings for LGBTQ Teens Chapter 9. Annotated Bibliography of LGBTQ Titles for Teens, Parents, and Library Professionals Glossary of Initialisms and LGBTQ Terminology Appendix: Resources for LGBTQ Teens and Allies

About the Author :
Lisa Houde is the assistant director and director of Youth Services at the Rye Public Library in Rye, New Hampshire. She is a member of several New Hampshire library organizations including the New Hampshire Library Association (NHLA), Children’s Librarians of New Hampshire (CHILIS), and Young Adult Library Services of New Hampshire (YALS); she’s a past president of YALS. Lisa has presented several times at various New Hampshire library conferences on LGBTQ library service as well as presenting book talks for the New Hampshire Flume Award.

Review :
In this solid addition to the series, Houde offers straightforward and student-centered advice to public and school librarians, starting with the most basic question: Why do we need to make a special effort to serve and represent LGBTQ teens? For many, the answer will be obvious, but nevertheless, Houde lays out research-supported reasoning as she addresses this question and many others. Since serving marginalized populations often involves managing pushback from directors and community members, including requests for censorship of LGBTQ materials, this kind of foundational information is critical. The practical suggestions on collection development, privacy, outreach, and creating a welcoming environment are spot-on. Best of all, most of the steps outlined are simple yet powerful, raising librarians’ consciousness of the needs of diverse groups and helping to provide a library space that strives to be as inclusive as possible. VERDICT School and public libraries are often a safe space for LGBTQ youth, making this an excellent guide for librarians who work with young adults, regardless of their level of practice.–Erin Downey, Boise School District, ID In this engaging book, author Lisa Houde addresses the inherent challenges and issues related to working with LGBTQ teen communities. Covering traditional library topics such as programming and collection development, she also discusses those specific to LGBTQ teens such as creating safe zones. One of the best features of the book is the huge bibliography. The annotations go beyond mere description, offering a ‘final word’ of advice about each title from the perspective of a librarian. Houde’s breezy style makes reading through this book seem like talking over coffee with a mentor. Amazing—what a valuable, comprehensive, and inclusive resource! Lisa Houde’s Serving LGBTQ Teens goes far beyond a standard bibliography for collection development to offer solutions for creating welcoming library spaces, reaching out to the community, and addressing efforts to censor LGBTQ material. Every librarian who wants to meet the needs of their diverse patrons should have this book. Lisa Houde’s book, Serving LGBTQ Teens: A Practical Guide for Librarians, takes an energetic and accessible approach to providing library services to LGBTQ+ youth. The volume is grounded in best library practice, while expanding its strategies of inclusion. Hough’s focus on safe space, honest collections, and engaging activities allows the library to function as a mirror of the best the LGBTQ+ community has to offer its members, and also as a door inviting those members into the broader community as a whole.