RCL Blog - Research Guides and Class Pages at Dominican University

The Task Force on Gay Liberation was founded in the 1970s and is recognized for being one of the very first professional organizations in the U.S that was formally organized to protect the rights and promote awareness of gay and lesbian people. The creation of this group is credited to Janet Cooper and Israel Fisherman after meeting in 1970 at the ALA Conference in Detroit at the Social Responsibilities Round Table Session. During this meeting they found themselves looking for more representation and support for the gay community, which eventually turned into them becoming that source of support. As the organization grew their goals expanded to include the creation of bibliographies, revision of library classification schemes and subject headings, building and improving access to collections, and fighting job discrimination. Alongside this, the group continued to evolve by extending their protection and promotion of gay liberation to those who are Bisexual and Trans as well.

Iconic political figures such as Barbara Gittings, who was the second coordinator of the Gay Liberation Task Force in 1972, worked alongside Frank Kameny to contribute to the elimination of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the DSM in 1972. This in turn influenced the cataloging and classification practices for gay subjects and allowed for more nuanced narratives and perspectives to be held within the library. Gittings is also known for compiling the first Gay Bibliography, a list of gay-positive books and information resources. While her intentions were primarily to improve patron access to gay information and materials that have a positive view on homosexuality, it had a long-lasting impact on cataloging overall. The impact the Task Force had on librarianship only continued through Sanford Berman’s guidance in advising them to revise gay and lesbian subject headings and classifications. The actions that the Task Force took after this advice was given led to new ground being broken as a movement to democratize subject cataloging practices began and continues to influence present-day cataloging practices.

Today, The Task Force on Gay Liberation is now known as, the Rainbow Round Table (RRT). They are formally considered to be a part of the American Library Association and are fully committed to serving the information needs of the LGBTQIA+ professional library community, as well as the LGBTQIA+ information and access needs of individuals at large. They are dedicated to encouraging and supporting free and necessary access to all information, as reflected by the missions of the American Library Association. In addition to this, they provide awards, grants, and scholarships to those who create and provide aid in the development of queer works, studies, programs, initiatives, and so on that support the needs of the LGBTQ community. They are also known for hosting the Stonewall Books Awards which honors books of exceptional merit in the covering of LGBTQIA+ experiences.

During this month, it is important to remember that it is the people and the community we build around us that truly brings about the change we need. Acceptance is not easily won, and we must continue to actively fight for the rights of all people regardless of their sexual orientation, gender expression, personal identity, and otherwise. Alongside this, it is of equal importance to celebrate the wins of the LGBTQ community, which is why I am happy to say that for the first time ever, the Rebecca Crown Library is proudly displaying a wide range of Pride flags to celebrate the month of July.

Work Cited

American Library Association. (n.d.). Rainbow Round Table (RRT). https://www.ala.org/rrt

Brewer, S. (2018, June 5). Out of the closet & onto the shelves: Librarians and the oldest gay professional organization in the U.S. – American Library Association Archives – U of I Library. https://www.library.illinois.edu/ala/2018/06/05/out-of-the-closet-onto-the-shelves/

The fight for positive and accurate LGBT information in Librarie. (n.d.). https://about.proquest.com/en/blog/2016/The-Fight-for-Positive-and-Accurate-LGBT-Information-in-Libraries/

By Month

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

December 2023

Recent Posts

Disability Pride Month at Rebecca Crown Library

“Supercrips” is a term and stereotype that refers to someone who overcomes their disability in a way that is seen as inspiring under the public eye. This person is viewed as a heroic figure and an inspiration for overcoming their “impairment” against all odds. The action of overcoming their “impairment” is often viewed as the person outright rejecting their disability or the complete erasure of the disability through the ownership of superpowers.. Being able to pass important milestones and achievements are thought of as extremely unlikely for those with disabilities. And when they are successful in life, it is typically explained away as this person having an unnatural superhuman strength or ability rather than just being an accomplished human being. There is a belief that people with disabilities must possess some magical powers or an inordinate amount of strength to live a similar life to able-bodied people. Much of this stems from the vast majority of society not being able to imagine living a life that differs from them, and the result of this is that very little is done to cater or adhere to the struggles that others may face when trying to find space and acceptance within societal structures that have not been built with them in mind. Disabilities are conditions that the dominant society has not prepared for and does not want to see. Because of this, social spaces and communities do not have the capacity to include people with disabilities. This lack of thought or care is typically a side effect of the larger issues surrounding the stereotype of “supercrip”. One that leads to the habit of a large portion of our society being overlooked and undermined. The term “supercrip”, serves as a distraction by putting the responsibility of being accepted within dominant society on disabled people rather than the actual societal structures that prevent them from being included due to the lack of accessibility rather than ability.. Furthermore the belief in this stereotype, subconsciously hints at the idea that disabled people inherently do not belong in these spaces because they themselves cannot access it. These thoughts place blame on those with disabilities and make it their responsibility to be included. Disabilities become something that has to be overcome, as though the disability is the barrier rather than the man-made obstacle or infrastructure that have physically designed these acts of exclusion for this community. What is worse is that stereotypes like “supercrip” create a sentiment that when disabled people do overcome the barriers, this is viewed as an unnatural feat that would take superhuman strength. The supercrips stereotype is really a masquerade for ableism, as explained by English professor, disability rights advocate, and author Tobin Siebers. Siebers discusses how one's disability is typically exaggerated for the purpose of affirming able-bodiedness – only through extraordinary powers, can the disabled person validate themselves according to abled normativity and standards. Societal structures and their lack of inclusionary practices are not questioned or examined, instead disabled people are viewed as being incapable of existing in the same spaces as able-bodied people, and if they do happen to succeed, their success is infantilized, commodified, and at some points completely erased. This is why it has been extremely important and valuable for the disabled community to reclaim the term by redefining what the word crip means to them. The term “crip” can be all encompassing for those with invisible and visible disabilities as well as mental illnesses, and neurodivergence. This word has even found its way into academia through the study of “crip theory”, which studies how dominant and marginalized bodies, as well as sexual identities are understood in society and how to reimagine that understanding for those facing discrimination. While such words are still being explored by those with disabilities, it is important to remember that this is not a universally accepted term and should NEVER be used by those outside of this community amongst other such terminology. When disabled people are not viewed as a “supercrip”, they tend to become a lesson for those who exist outside of the community, rather than an individual. They become a caricature of themselves for able-bodied people to reflect upon so they can say, “See here look, if “THEY” can do it, why can’t you?” Or “imagine if that was you, be thankful that it isn’t and live life accordingly”. These beliefs put disabled people on a pedestal that leaves very little room for them to be multifaceted autonomous individuals. Instead they are given a martyr narrative for able-bodied people to use for their own benefit. A consequence of not being able to fulfill this role or being too successful “despite” their disability is that many people begin to believe that there never was a disability in the first place There is a well documented pattern of people who exist outside of this community believing that people who are disabled can’t exist in society without serving the purpose of being a lesson for able bodied people to reflect upon. There is an overwhelming belief that disabled people are living a life that is less than and that they are incapable of having a fulfilling life because it does not fit into societal standards. It can go so far as having any accomplishments made by disabled people downplayed, viewed as a conspiracy, or completely denied. These harmful thoughts continue to be recycled each generation and the biggest resurgence of it exists in gen Z’s social media platform TikTok, with the trending denial of Helen Keller’s existence. This can also be seen in the overwhelming amount of videos claiming that Stevie Wonder is not really blind with “evidence” of him reacting in ways that people believe a blind person is incapable of. These beliefs then feed into the idea that disabled people are not autonomous, nor do they have the right to be because they are viewed as incapable of being so. While this concept is not new, we must ask ourselves why it is such a struggle to see disabled people as capable in their own rights, as well as why society views changing our methods as a downgrade in our standards. While there are a multitude of reasons for why these ideologies and politics exist, our job as a library is to ensure that we are actively playing the role of an ally. An ally, as defined by Dictionary.com, is “the status or role of a person who advocates and actively works for the inclusion of a marginalized or politicized group in all areas of society, not as a member of that group but in solidarity with its struggle and point of view and under its leadership.” The role of ally is one of extreme importance to the Rebecca Crown Library. Because of this, for June we will be working to celebrate disability pride month and its theme “we want a life like yours” through our in displays that can be seen in person or online through our digital collection. This theme encompasses the idea that people with disabilities are deserving of experience that they are too often denied. Please visit the Rebecca Crown Library to celebrate their stories. Work Cited Bypassing the supercrip trope in documentary representations of blind visual artists | Disability Studies Quarterly. (n.d.). https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/6485/5092#:~:text=Tobin%20Siebers%20explains%20that%20the,to%20abled%20normativity%20(111). Eisenmenger, A. (2022, October 3). Ableism 101. Access Living. https://www.accessliving.org/newsroom/blog/ableism-101/ Lollino, S. (2022, September 3). I AM NOT YOUR SUPERCRIP - facing disability. Facing Disability. https://facingdisability.com/blog/i-am-not-your-supercrip Remembering Tobin Siebers, English professor, disability studies advocate | The University Record. (n.d.). https://record.umich.edu/articles/tobin-siebers-english-professor-and-disability-studies-advocate-dies/ ...

Intern Reflection: Technical Services Internship

Greetings from Tech Services! I was lucky enough to work as an intern in the Technical Services department of Rebecca Crown Library for six months this year. And what a rewarding six months it was. Although internships are usually one year (July-June) mine was just a little bit expedited and we packed a lot in. My main responsibilities as an intern were to update displays, catalog books, weed the collection, help with events and do the bidding of the tech services overlords. I also had a lot of professional development opportunities. I joined the event planning committee and the social media team and got real experience with the inner workings of the library. I am so grateful for these experiences and will use them to guide my degree and career. One of my responsibilities was to create a monthly rotating display for the Contemplation Space. This was one of my favorite aspects of this internship. Every month I had the opportunity to scour the catalog for relevant titles to put on the shelves for a cohesive display. It was a great way to get to know the collection and then get those books on a shelf where patrons will see them. I really enjoyed making my displays as diverse and revolutionary as possible. I am particularly proud of my displays for Arab-American Heritage, Women’s History month, and Pride month. It was important for me to show students that our collection is meant to represent them, and this monthly themed display gave me that opportunity. I also learned that I really like making displays and will be taking that knowledge with me long past this internship and into future positions. ...

LOEX Reflections (Part 2)

This post continues upon a previous blog post about the May 2024 LOEX conference in Naperville, IL. This conference focuses on instruction librarianship in colleges and universities. The theme for this year was “Branching Out: Growing and Adapting your Information Literacy Practice.” The majority of the presentation slides are now available on the LOEX website and linked in this and the previous post. On Saturday I started with Cultivating an Inclusive Garden: DEI Engagement and Outreach on Display in Academic Libraries (slides) by Alex Boris, the Commons Librarian from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Amanda Breu, the Head of Access Services & Media Librarian from the University of St. Cloud State University, and Molly Olney-Zine, Instruction and Outreach Librarian at the University of Delaware. This presentation focused on the potential of book/media displays to progress diversity, equity, and inclusion. They discussed the ability of displays to improve circulation rate, reduce information overwhelm, promote inclusion, cultivate partnerships, and mimic successful approaches popular among booksellers. Breu described their work updating multiple displays around their libraries monthly. They used the Alma collections feature to create digital book displays and provided QR codes visible on the physical display to route patrons to the online catalog. The most popular displays at Breu’s library were “Banned Books, Horror/Thrillers, and Graphic Novels.” Olney-Zine created a partnership with Student Diversity and Inclusion to create student-led displays. This expanded into more partnerships with other student groups and to online displays and exhibits. The library featured displays for Women’s History Month, Asian Pacific Islander and Desi American Heritage Month, and Autism Inclusion. Part of their assessment of success was whiteboard engagement, as they placed a whiteboard near the display for students to give comments, suggestions, and responses to prompts. Boris conducted a diversity audit of her library’s collection and found it lacking significantly in culturally diverse, inclusive, and intersectional books. Slowly, she made intentional purchases that made the production of inclusive displays easier. She stressed the importance of creativity and decor in drawing student’s eyes to the books. Her team produced reader advisory brochures to accompany the displays that gave recommendations in different genres, which all included a wide range of perspectives, as well as bookmarks with the QR code to request acquisitions. Next, I attended Generative AI: Teaching Students the Applications, Risks, Best Practices, and Alternatives (slides) by Tracy Coyne, the Distance Learning and Professional Studies Librarian, at Northwestern University. Coyne has facilitated student workshops on understanding and responsibly utilizing GAI. She utilized Ethan Mollick’s definition of generative AI as “a word completion tool,” that predicts “what the next word in a sentence should be so it can write a paragraph for you, what an image should look like based on a prompt.” She outlined that students may use GAI to write emails, generate ideas, get an overview of a topic, translate text, and seek improvements to their writing. She mentioned Elicit, Consensus, and Research Rabbit as rising tools in generative AI research. She described the positives of GAI, including “natural language prompts, remembers whole conversations, brainstorming, generates keywords” and other helpful features that speed up repetitive tasks, arrangement, and starting points for writing. The negatives and limitations are troubling, including “incorrect answers (“hallucinations”), false citations, outdated content, plagiarism and copyright infringement, labor, privacy” and a lack of critical thinking and the presence of human biases. The effects of biases create notoriously racist, sexist, and prejudiced outcomes. Coyne showcased the AI-generated response to “toys in Iraq” as photos of toy soldiers with guns, as featured in the Washington Post. Her lessons suggested the use of the C.L.E.A.R method to write prompts, which stands for Concise, Logical, Explicit, Adaptive, and Reflective. Students were taught to evaluate information for authority, purpose, accuracy, and bias. The lessons also worked to better familiarize students with the library resources to show them how their databases can lead them to more accurate information with ease. She suggested using GAI to generate boolean searches that are then used in library searching. I then attended Seeding Success: Growing Information Literacy through Curriculum Integration by Scott Schumate, Coordinator of Resource Management and Digital Services, and Jenny Harris, Assessment and Information Literacy Librarian, both from Austin Peay State University. These librarians are embarking on two separate credit-bearing library courses: LIBR 2001: Empowering Information Seekers in the Digital Age and LIBR 2400: Ethical and Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Like many librarians throughout the conference, they reiterated the difficulties and limitations of “one-shot” library instruction. As teachers, the librarians can’t create ongoing relationships with the students in the same way that they are able to in semester-long classes. This allows them the privilege of memory regarding where the student’s understanding is and where it can progress to. One of the activities practiced in Schmate’s class stood out to me as an especially useful tool in comprehending GAI. The students were all given a paper that was written by ChatGPT and told to grade it. Reversing the classroom in this way puts students in the position to think critically about the quality of a generated essay. It also prompted the students to conduct the research themselves to find the missing sources for any claims made in the essay. This experience was enriching and inspiring. I look forward to creating my own research as I progress in my career. The academic library field is in an interesting transition period, particularly regarding artificial intelligence. As the field adjusts to the changes in how the scholarly community relates to information systems, it is inspiring to see so many passionate and talented librarians working to help students reach their fullest potential. ...

Displaying pride at the Rebecca Crown Library

The month of June, otherwise known as Pride Month, is a time for us to celebrate the accomplishments, beauty, strength, and resilience of the LGBTQ community. Every year a different theme is taken on to help acknowledge all the work this community has done, with this year's theme being “Reflect. Empower. Unite”. Oftentimes as librarians, we like to reflect upon the work we have done as an institution for society by asking, “What positive impact has the library had on queer people?”. All in all, it can be said that the library provides a safe space, offers important materials, resources, and representation, hosts queer-based events, and more. Keeping all of this in mind, I find the library's ability to organize and build community to be one of its greatest strengths in regards to supporting LGBTQ people and materials. The best example of this is in the creation of “The Task Force on Gay Liberation.” The Task Force on Gay Liberation was founded in the 1970s and is recognized for being one of the very first professional organizations in the U.S that was formally organized to protect the rights and promote awareness of gay and lesbian people. The creation of this group is credited to Janet Cooper and Israel Fisherman after meeting in 1970 at the ALA Conference in Detroit at the Social Responsibilities Round Table Session. During this meeting they found themselves looking for more representation and support for the gay community, which eventually turned into them becoming that source of support. As the organization grew their goals expanded to include the creation of bibliographies, revision of library classification schemes and subject headings, building and improving access to collections, and fighting job discrimination. Alongside this, the group continued to evolve by extending their protection and promotion of gay liberation to those who are Bisexual and Trans as well. Iconic political figures such as Barbara Gittings, who was the second coordinator of the Gay Liberation Task Force in 1972, worked alongside Frank Kameny to contribute to the elimination of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the DSM in 1972. This in turn influenced the cataloging and classification practices for gay subjects and allowed for more nuanced narratives and perspectives to be held within the library. Gittings is also known for compiling the first Gay Bibliography, a list of gay-positive books and information resources. While her intentions were primarily to improve patron access to gay information and materials that have a positive view on homosexuality, it had a long-lasting impact on cataloging overall. The impact the Task Force had on librarianship only continued through Sanford Berman’s guidance in advising them to revise gay and lesbian subject headings and classifications. The actions that the Task Force took after this advice was given led to new ground being broken as a movement to democratize subject cataloging practices began and continues to influence present-day cataloging practices. Today, The Task Force on Gay Liberation is now known as, the Rainbow Round Table (RRT). They are formally considered to be a part of the American Library Association and are fully committed to serving the information needs of the LGBTQIA+ professional library community, as well as the LGBTQIA+ information and access needs of individuals at large. They are dedicated to encouraging and supporting free and necessary access to all information, as reflected by the missions of the American Library Association. In addition to this, they provide awards, grants, and scholarships to those who create and provide aid in the development of queer works, studies, programs, initiatives, and so on that support the needs of the LGBTQ community. They are also known for hosting the Stonewall Books Awards which honors books of exceptional merit in the covering of LGBTQIA+ experiences. During this month, it is important to remember that it is the people and the community we build around us that truly brings about the change we need. Acceptance is not easily won, and we must continue to actively fight for the rights of all people regardless of their sexual orientation, gender expression, personal identity, and otherwise. Alongside this, it is of equal importance to celebrate the wins of the LGBTQ community, which is why I am happy to say that for the first time ever, the Rebecca Crown Library is proudly displaying a wide range of Pride flags to celebrate the month of July. Work Cited American Library Association. (n.d.). Rainbow Round Table (RRT). https://www.ala.org/rrt Brewer, S. (2018, June 5). Out of the closet & onto the shelves: Librarians and the oldest gay professional organization in the U.S. – American Library Association Archives – U of I Library. https://www.library.illinois.edu/ala/2018/06/05/out-of-the-closet-onto-the-shelves/ The fight for positive and accurate LGBT information in Librarie. (n.d.). https://about.proquest.com/en/blog/2016/The-Fight-for-Positive-and-Accurate-LGBT-Information-in-Libraries/ ...

Displaying pride at the Rebecca Crown Library

Leave a comment

Commenting on blog posts requires an account.

Login is required to interact with this comment. Please and try again.

If you do not have an account, Register Now.

Displaying pride at the Rebecca Crown Library

Leave a comment

Commenting on blog posts requires an account.

Login is required to interact with this comment. Please login here and try again.

If you do not have an account, Register Now.

Login is required to interact with this comment. Please and try again.