GLBT Is Now LGBTQ and We Have Something for You!

Changes have been afoot in the GLBT collection at the Main Library this year. We’ve added a DVD section in our Film & Audio Department on the second floor and launched a name change that reaches all of the locations that have this genre section. The collection is now labeled “LGBTQ” to be more inclusive and representative of the people that we serve.  Plus, we have new “loud and proud” stickers labeling the various materials.

      

I’ve been working on updating some of our LGBTQ themed booklists to create bookmarks for Pittsburgh PrideFest on Sunday. (The library will have a table with activities and great people, so be sure to stop by!) While reviewing the collection, I was stuck by the assortment of genres, subjects, and topics available. We have the typical romance and erotica titles, as well as a good selection of general fiction. But we also have fantasy, horror, science fiction, short stories, mysteries, thrillers, African American titles, historical fiction and a wide variety of nonfiction, including biographies and memoirs, travelogues, travel guides, wedding planners, parenting guides, spiritual works, self-help and history.

I’m not sure anyone would expect the variety this collection offers. But we are always looking to add more. If you have suggestions for authors and titles you’d like to see added to our LGBTQ collection, please contact me on the First Floor at the Main Library.

Happy Pride Week!
-Melissa M.

We’re Here. We’re Queer. Get Used to it!

June is LGBTQ Pride Month and June 9-16 is Pride Week at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Here at the library we pride ourselves on providing access to information and entertainment for everyone. While all of our locations have materials for those wanting to read about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues, two of our library locations, the Main Library in Oakland and the Allegheny location on the North Side, have separate GLBT genre collections. These collections contain both fiction and nonfiction books and cover all areas of LGBTQ interest. There are mysteries, historical fiction, love stories, family dramas, and erotica. Nonfiction topics include travel, wedding planning, religion, medical, history (or herstory) and biographies.

For LGBTQ Pride month, I created a display for the First Floor, New & Featured. I presented a selection of biographies, memoirs, and tell-alls. Here are some selections from that display…

A Year Straight: Confessions of a Boy-Crazy, Lesbian Beauty Queen by Elena Azzoni

Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers by Cris Beam

Coal to Diamonds by Beth Ditto

Family Outing: What Happened When I Found Out My Mother Was Gay by Troy Johnson

Finding the Real Me: True Tales of Sex and Gender Diversity – Tracie O’Keefe and Katrina Fox, editors

The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders by Keith Stern

Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies by Mikey Walsh

Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir

And my absolute favorite title on this display…
Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever by Joel Derfner

Happy LGBTQ Pride Week and Month!
-Melissa M.