Navigating the Rainbow
Searching for Queer/LGBTQIA+ material? This might help!
Whether you ask our staff, browse the shelves or search the catalogue, there are a multitude of ways to find queer material in our collections. All of which are made easier by knowing a little about how librarians use headings to describe books, eBooks, audiobooks, DVDs, and more.
Genre headings
Library of Congress (LC) creates, maintains and updates an enormous collection of subject headings, used by libraries all over the world to make their collections more accessible to customers and staff. One of the main pros of using LC headings is consistency. If all the books about the All Blacks use the All Blacks (Rugby team) heading, they’ll be easier to search out, whether you’re in Otago or Ontario.
Makes sense, right? Of course, but it only works if a heading for the topic exists. And until relatively recently that hadn’t been the case with a broad array of queer material. Thankfully, this is changing.
For example, the Queer fiction genre heading is a broad, searcher-friendly heading that can be used to describe any work of fiction that includes queer characters or themes. Importantly, when these headings are created, they’re set up in a way that links them to other potential searches. So, if you look for LGBT, LGBT fiction, LGBT+ fiction, and so on, you’ll actually see everything tagged with the Queer fiction heading.
Other useful, specific headings include (but are not limited to): Asexual fiction; Bisexual fiction; Gay films; Genderqueer comics; Lesbian fiction; Transgender fiction.
In an ideal world, LC would create or update headings a lot more quicky to keep up with changes in language, culture and the world around us. Until then, librarians keep an eye on updates and use new headings to make sure everything is as findable as possible. This includes an ongoing process of adding new headings to old material, which means more stuff will pop up using these searches all the time.
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku
To capture perspectives closer to home here in Aotearoa, librarians use Ngā Upoko Tukutuku. These headings reflect Te Ao Māori and enable access for te reo Māori users. They were developed by the Māori Subject Headings Project, LIANZA, Te Rōpū Whakahau and the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.
Search for Takatāpui and you’ll find a wealth of resources covering gender identities, sexualities and other important topics for New Zealand’s queer community.
Homosaurus
Homosaurus curates a massive list of specific headings that use and reflect the language of the queer community, such as Gay romance fiction, Queer fantasy fiction, and heaps more. Libraries around the world use Homosaurus, including Princeton University Library.
While our consortium doesn’t actively use these headings right now, you might still see some pop up with items we’ve gotten from suppliers.
Words have power
All of the three options discussed above have an essential commonality: they recognise the importance of ensuring communities can access material about themselves, using words, phrases and concepts that make sense to them. This in turn makes it easier for everyone to find and enjoy the entire rainbow spectrum of content we have to share.