[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Sexuality in Libraries Group
Newsgroups: soc.libraries.talk
http://groups.google.com
Sexuality in Libraries Group
http://www.croydononline.org/hs/bissues/who.htm
Who and What is SILG?
http://www.croydononline.org/hs/bissues/who.htm
Who and What?
Why was SILG setup?
Following the successful Burning Issues conference examining public
library services to lesbians and gay men in 1996 several library staff
met informally to take forward some of the ideas raised during the
course of that day. Those present felt that this would be a useful
vehicle for exploring ways library services can work with each other
to improve the quality of services already available and develop new
ones. A more formal forum was set up and the Burning Issues Group was
duly established.
Some lesbians, gay men and bisexuals feel unable to be open about
their sexual orientation for fear of losing their jobs, their homes,
their children or the support of family and friends. For these reasons
although lesbians, gay men and bisexuals form significant minorities
of people in many library catchment areas, attempts to accurately
quantify population figures have been unsuccessful.
As service providers and as members of staff, library employees need
to be aware that no legal protection from discrimination or incitement
to hatred exists for lesbians and gay men. Stonewall, a national
lobbying organisation working for equality and social justice for
Lesbians and gay men found that one in six lesbians and gay men has
suffered discrimination in the workplace and nearly 10% of the 200
surveyed said that they had lost a job because of their sexual
orientation.
In December 200 it was decided that changing the group's name was
needed to improve its visibility in response to queries from
interested and practicing professionals. The new name, Sexuality
Issues in Libraries group (SILG), was chosen as it gives a better
indication to the information world what our "Burning Issues" are.
Our four core aims
* To improve the quality of library and information services for
lesbians and gay men and thus improve use and quality of library
and information services overall
* To work in partnership with relevant agencies to develop
strategies and policies for service development and training
* To share and encourage best practise
* To be open and available for any library worker, or anyone,
interested or involved in this area of service provision
Library Stock Policy
Material about lesbian and gay bisexual issues and written by
lesbians, gay men and bisexuals should be bought as part of a quality
targeted library stock. The same guidelines of quality and relevance
as apply to other groups should be applied to these groups, and
provision should be made for special categories, for example ethnic
minorities. All subject areas should be considered in selection and,
as with other user groups, the stock should aim to meet that
particular information, leisure and education needs of homosexual and
bisexual people of all ages and cultures. This will include
information about local and national groups, supported material on
"coming out" to parents and both popular and literary fiction and
non-fiction.
Main Who and What Organisations Diary Resources Contact
This page was last updated on 30th March 2001
http://www.croydononline.org/hs/bissues/who.htm
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>