In-Depth Investigation of LGBT Collections in School Media Centers

Nearly every school media center serves some lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) students, many of whom are targets of bullying. In the past few years, anti-bulling initiatives have been develop and implemented in hopes of reducing bullying and the subsequent negative consequences of bullying. One step common to many anti-bullying campaigns is to increase the curricular and popular references to LGBT issues. However, we have limited knowledge about the collection of LGBT-themed materials in school media centers and how this may be related to anti-bullying campaigns. Previous research has focused on a quantitative or list-checking approach, which has yielded inconclusive information about factors that affect the collection of LGBT-themed materials in various types of libraries. The proposed research varies from this by taking a qualitative approach. School media specialists in one southern state will be interviewed in-depth to uncover their actions and perspectives on collecting LGBT-themed materials in their school media centers. In addition, this work is unique in that it seeks connections between anti-bullying campaigns and school media centers’ collections of LGBT-themed materials. This will provide us with an in-depth understanding of media specialists’ actions and perspectives, enabling us to better serve diverse populations such as LGBT students.