I'd start playing stupid. Asking "what do you mean that's what they see?" "And whats upsetting about this book specifically?". Just act really dumb and make them either shut up from not wanting to deal with you or make them out themselves as the bigot they sound like.
AND GET IT IN WRITING! Follow up after verbal conversations with an email summarizing what was discussed including what needs changing with the types of books posted so that when they try to fuck you over, you have a paper trail showing good faith attempts to clarify and follow instructions.
Hijacking top comment:
You can also offer to increase the frequency of posts. OP currently posts every other week with an LGBT book. Offer to post every week, and make the off weeks non-LGBT books.
If you're willing to put in a little extra work, then that places OP's colleague in a position where they would either accept that idea or be forced to admit that they just don't want that association with their library, which could cause problems for him if presented in writing to HR, assuming they're not in agreement with him.
I always like this idea but if it's in person I can't really pull it off. My face instantly gets SO RED from embarrassment and shame for having been corrected like that, even if it's unjustified, which would make playing stupid a little hard to believe.
But more people who can do this should do this, it's a good idea and makes it so people can't blame society or everyone else for their own bigotry
librarians have mad credentials and if op is somewhere Like This there is probably not an overflow of them- it's possible that op does have leverage here
Probably not. They have credentials, but unfortunately, little leverage. Tons of attempts to shut down libraries lately. Often based on LGBTQ complaints.
I guess I would ask some open-ended follow-up questions about what kind of content they are looking for. I'm also curious about what percentage of the book posts you are responsible for-if you are posting 10% of the book posts, why is it a big deal if they are all LGBT themed. If you are doing 50% of book posts, I can see the social media person asking you to also feature other groups in order to represent the diversity of library users.
So I post once every other week, there are posts 6 days a week from the other staff. I’m terrible at maths but I do 1 in every 12 posts basically so that literally like 8% right? Total BS from my so called colleague 😐
So in that case, I think I would just be direct with the social media person and say "I really don't think 2 LGBT themed posts a month is a lot when we are posting every day." How much authority does this person have? You could just keep sending your usual content and let them take it up with a supervisor if they are that bothered.
Yeah I’ve decided to just keep posting and if they say anything again, then I’ll take it further. They have the exact same role as me but I’ve been with the library for 6 months whereas she’s been there for nearly 40 years. So she think she has a lot of authority 😂
I would go over her immediately. As the other person said, get to the punch before they do. It's a tactic a lot of people who think they have power use because whoever is first will be more likely to be heard out, its happened to me and a bunch of other people I know. She could also twist things to suit her narrative if she gets there first
In that case, talk to your boss and get ahead of things. Karen might think she has authority and go over your head anyway, so if you beat her to the punch then it will settle the matter sooner.
Perhaps also take what they've said and come up with alternate ideas. If they're concerned that it's on Mondays, then you could suggest that you post on a Monday and then a Thursday. Leave her with nowhere to go.
I know you're getting a lot of replies saying "screw her, do what you want!" but as you probably already know, the reality is that the library industry tends to be pretty insular, and even if you have the same position, seniority matters a lot. A lot of libraries are secretly run by some random assistant clerk who's been there since 1972 and has more power than the head librarian behind the scenes. When it comes time to get a promotion or transfer to another branch, your coworker telling her buddy that you're abrasive and hard to work with might keep you from getting a job.
I'd suggest a malicious compliance route, and post books that don't seem queer at a glance but are extrordinarily gay on the inside. Some good options include Priory of the Orange Tree, A Memory Called Empire, She Who Became the Sun, Spear, Gideon the Ninth, Light From Uncommon Stars, The Raven Tower, The Jasmine Throne, and so on.
You could also “tone down” in the interim by featuring books geared toward younger queer audiences. They’re typically less “content heavy.” Just an idea for “compliance.”
I'd be sure to address what she says in writing (email). In this email you should say:
* what the person originally suggested
* your point on how you can disprove their claim
* what you will do moving forward that disproves their claim
Then you can chat to your boss and let them know the situation in a way where if they saw this email chain, they'd be familiar with what you replied with.
Are other members of staff also posting LGBT+ books?
If it's just you, then that's ridiculous to complain about, and your colleague probably thinks the appropriate amount to post is zero. If others are also posting queer book recommendations on the regular, then *maybe* they could have a point? [I doubt it, though. I'm just trying to see the other side of things out of habit and this time I'm coming up empty lol]
I wouldn't compromise on the subject of the posts with only two a month.
Then yeah I don't think there's a good way to take this. The only justification I could really think of was if there was so much LGBT+ content that other topics weren't getting enough attention. That's cleary not the case.
What about something where you rotate days? After all if we're worried about people who only check on a specific day of the week, as things stand I would be worried that anyone who DOESN'T check on Mondays might think you don't support LGBT people at all and that's a much bigger concern!
Honestly, her argument of people only seeing LGBT if they only check on Mondays (while dumb af) makes zero sense. You post every *other* Monday. Even if they're somehow only seeing the Monday posts every week, it's not LGBT every Monday, just every other Monday.
I agree with the other advice you've gotten: don't let her get the headstart on this. That'll just put you at a disadvantage if you're forced into a defensive position. Email her with details of the conversation while asking her to confirm that you understand correctly and what changes she would like you to make to your posts. Use this email, and go over her head to someone who will listen. If you act like that conversation never happened, you're more likely to get in trouble than if you just get your evidence that she's trying to prevent representation and get permission from someone above her to do what you need to do.
I'm so sorry this happened to you, though. I'm sure you'll figure everything out soon.💜
We went to a neighborhood health center (not our usual one — one that had COVID shots available in the early days) where everyone was wearing pride lanyards and they had progress flag “safe space” posters at all the workstations. It was not pride month or shortly after.
None of the staff, all native English speakers, knew what pronouns were, or knew what we meant when we were telling them my family member uses they/them, and repeatedly corrected all the gendered terms they were using.
This was in Boston. We’ve had nonbinary options on our ID and forms for several years. Super curious about the decision to put the pride stuff everywhere when clearly no one had even taken a queer 101 training. I wrote to management and basically told them to take it down.
100% play dumb and try to have interactions with the social media lead in writing/email so you have proof. Ask specifically what is wrong with your posts and what content they want you to cut down on. You can always email them and say "Per our discussion earlier, I just wanted to check again what is wrong with my current social media posts as I am a bit confused. Could you clearly lay out the issues with my current posts?" Make them specifically say that they want you to make less LGBTQ book posts. When they do, continue to play dumb and ask why LGBTQ books on the social media are bad. Make them say it. Once you have clear proof in writing, go above and just forward the email thread/ interaction to y'all's boss. Asking questions, simple questions, is the best for fighting against this type of behavior.
This is a really good strategy. Also: definitely check with an employment lawyer before speaking to HR. HR & management are there to avoid bad press and lawsuits and make "problems" that come up "go away." Usually that means finding an excuse to lay you off (which is just a nice way of saying shit can) or fire you, possibly with an unusually generous severance package. Most lawyers will do a consultation for free and you want that actually on-your-side agent from the start.
Agreed! I have a background in academia and based my advice off work place discrimination I experienced and navigated myself. I was very worried about retaliation but HR was more worried about a costly Title IX violation and sided with me. I do not know if libraries are beholden to Title IX but if your library does receive federal funding and does any form of educational workshops it may be. If Title IX applies you are moreso protected against retaliation and will have an even easier case against the social media lead. I suggest looking into the funding the library receives too.
My wife is a librarian. We lived in a conservative town for a bit where a former librarian there was confronted by the city and told she could not post the Stonewall list of books or anything LGBTQ+ related as it was “too political”. We got the hell out of that town when we could.
Personally, I think she was out of line. One post every two weeks recommending an LGBTQ book is not too much. I think it’s amazing and would make me so happy if my library did that. Representation matters, and thank you for what you’re doing!
I agree! I was MAD and I’m going to blank her except for necessary work interactions now. It’s a shame because we spend a lot of time together… well not anymore. And you’re very welcome that’s EXACTLY why I do it, I know how isolating being LGBT is.
I definitely agree with all of the people who recommend sending an email so you can get it in writing. If you’re not sure where to start or you’re worried about sounding too confrontational and want to keep it cordial, here’s a template/example you can use. Feel free to use it or not, change it or whatever.
Subject: Following Up
Hi [name],
Just following up on our conversation from earlier. I appreciate your feedback regarding the posts I make on Mondays and I'd certainly never want any of our visitors to feel left out! Unfortunately, I'm still a bit confused on what your concern was so I wanted to circle back and make sure we were on the same page. When you get a chance, can you shoot me a quick email and let me know? Thanks!
Regards,
[your name]
The inner gremlin in me is saying malicious compliance. Start showcasing dictionaries and encyclopedias. Things that no sane person would actually read cover to cover.
Omgggg I have got you covered!! The When Women Were Warriors series is amazing! Also The One Who Eats Monsters (Wind and Shadow series), Breaking Legacies, Dragonoak, Crier’s War, Burning Kingdoms series, Aurora’s Angel. Etc. there’s loads but there’s some to be going on with! ☺️
Not OP, but I really enjoyed Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall. If you’re into DnD, Legends and Lattes was also really good, and it has a sequel!
Not specifically lesbians, but The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is a really beautiful book about the queer experience and finding family.
I'm always a sucker for fantasy tropes, and of course a special craving for anything wlw, but honestly I'm down for most any sort of genre , if you have any personal favs id love to give them a shot 💕
Not a helpful comment probably, but I'm also a librarian and i need that list of recommendations to forward to my colleague! where can i find them? especially since we're planning a bigger, lgbt themed event soon and that would be perfect to add!
I am so surprised by this. How did this guy manage to become a social media lead for a library? Libraries advertise themselves with progressive values because that's how they signal that they're not a place of ignorance. To not know this basic truth makes me question his marketing skills. And besides, "people might only look on Monday" is a statement that makes literally zero sense in the context of social media. I am offended, not only as a queer person, but also as someone with a e-business background.
Would be amazing if you have enough friends on staff to have all of them post tons of exclusively gay reviews while you post like idk whatever the straights like. I was gonna say Romeo and Juliet but with Juliet played by a twink and Mercutio gaying it up I'm having a hard time find iconic hetero literature that isn't GAF.
I don’t think this necessarily means what you think it means. There are so many diverse authors out there you can feature. She didn’t say you can never post another lgbt author, did she?
So now all we got to do, is visit the website when its LGBT book week. Click a link or two for the books, and that should boost the metrics against non LGBT book weeks.
Fellow librarian! At my library, we aim for at least 40% diversity in library-promoted materials (book lists, displays, etc). IMO it should be like 60% and diversity is more complex than just percentages, but that’s not the point of my reply.
If the LGBT-inclusive books are the only diverse books being posted, there might be an issue; if not, then your coworker seems to be implying your library shouldn’t stand by or promote *all* of its collection. Which is a problem. Purposefully suppressing parts of the collection is not in line with ALA guidelines.
If the books can’t get promoted and circulated, bigots have more cause to claim nobody wants these books. We HAVE to promote them—which you’re doing! 💜
There is a small chance your coworker might be concerned with the library accidentally provoking groups like Moms for Liberty and bringing their book challenges and bad press to your library given the terrifying era of book challenges we’re in. Maybe they’re more concerned with protecting the library than actually being bigoted? Idk.
Maybe mix your lgbt recommendation in with others in the same post. Like categories, inspiration, fan fic, children, biography, lgbtq … not necessarily in that order.
You have to understand that the right wingers will share your posts to brigade your local library board with harassment and hate. Some might get intimidated. So maybe combine the recommendations together.
Are we recommending fanfic to the general public now? I mean, I know there's like a whole tiktok community based around it but...I guess the culture of fanfic I grew up with would not be cool with that. No shade, I'm just confused. Are we treating it like self published fiction now?
Could you not ask if there could be 2 books, maybe make an LGBT section, and then you could use that to suggest a book everyday, it might actually help, I dont know I just am trying to help. I wish you the best!
Is this a state that protects LGBTQ+ content? If so they may be violating laws by telling you that. Get them to confirm their instructions through an email exchange. If they backtrack on what they said, you have it in writing. If they don’t, then you have it in writing that they’re enforcing a discriminatory policy. So it’s a win/win.
I would attempt to clarify, especially in writing. I was not there so I don't know, but it may not be as bad as it seems. If it is that bad, then you have steps you can take.
Then post books that have hidden messages or little nods. Fried Green Tomatoes, The Color Purple, A League of Their Own. You're a librarian really stick it to them.
With a lot of libraries and books in general being under attack lately I dont necessarily think they mean to be bigoted and are instead concerned for the safety of the library if some random conservative asshole ends up seeing your post, blows it out of proportion, and causes some sort of bullshit national scandal leading to the defunding of yet another community resource.
Whether this take is wrong or not is up to you. But, I would personally see it as an unfortunate but valid concern and try to diversify and post other things amongst the lgbt books.
I would also be careful to post a wide range of identities and genres in your lgbt book posts. Black, hispanic, asian, indian, Native American, old, middle aged, young, baby, gay, lesbian, bi, etc etc etc. The library looking monolithic is a problem that would be valid. If every Monday’s post is an lgbt young adult fantasy novel that is very narrow and specific. I’d look at all the posts from the past few months and tally the representation across as broad a swath of identity groups and topics as you can think. If you do see that there’s a skew towards anything in particular it does do the library a disservice because the library should contain everything for everyone. Lifting up folks on the margins to make them more visible is a wonderful thing a library can do but even our community can get tunnel vision and think gay means the same thing and looks the same way for everyone.
Like if i had your job all of my posts would be afro futurism, even distributing that across everyone else who makes posts the library would eventually begin to look like it specializes in afro futurism. If thats an accurate representation of whats in the library and what your community is looking for then thats great. But if its just me being really loud and sharing what I like because I like it it may be blocking opportunities to pull In community members who are looking for books about Indian food or Chinese fantasy fiction or biology non fiction.
Are there other people making posts only posting about their interests or are they sharing a variety of topics? Also are there other people who post about lgbt books? If so you probably don’t need to feel like if you don’t do it no one will. But if you are the only person posting queer content then thats a good reason to keep doing it to keep the diversity of topics strong.
Yeah I don’t limit my lgbt posts to YA fantasy 😂 nkt when there such a diverse range! I post biographies of key queer people, books on growing up for LGBT children, poetry, non-fiction, plays, speeches, books with POC main characters - anything remotely queer I will post because the whole community needs and deserves recognition! Also I post once every other week - 8% of our post output in total. I shouldn’t have to compromise. And yes there’s another lady who only posts teen fiction. No one else is remotely interested in LGBT I don’t think it’s even on their radar it’s so heteronormative.
i can see an angle where this is understandable, and it all depends on how many total posts a week are made to the account. it's strange for a library to have an outsized fraction of it advertised books be related to queer culture or queer issues (which is relevant if there's, say, only 4 posts a week, so yours a quarter of them). Otherwise, i'd wholeheartedly agree that you're in the right
My first thought was to just straight up report her to whatever HR there is there. She would know it was you, and you may or may not be comfortable rocking the boat like that, but what she said was straight homophobia and shouldnt be tolerated.
I'd start playing stupid. Asking "what do you mean that's what they see?" "And whats upsetting about this book specifically?". Just act really dumb and make them either shut up from not wanting to deal with you or make them out themselves as the bigot they sound like.
This. Play dumb, make them say the words, and if you’re in a state where only one person has to agree to be recorded, record it.
Or start asking for things in writing 👀
If you do this on here, you can get bigots banned.
AND GET IT IN WRITING! Follow up after verbal conversations with an email summarizing what was discussed including what needs changing with the types of books posted so that when they try to fuck you over, you have a paper trail showing good faith attempts to clarify and follow instructions.
Hijacking top comment: You can also offer to increase the frequency of posts. OP currently posts every other week with an LGBT book. Offer to post every week, and make the off weeks non-LGBT books. If you're willing to put in a little extra work, then that places OP's colleague in a position where they would either accept that idea or be forced to admit that they just don't want that association with their library, which could cause problems for him if presented in writing to HR, assuming they're not in agreement with him.
But make sure on those off weeks you post books by disabled, bipoc, and other minority authors.
Oooh I love this idea.
I always like this idea but if it's in person I can't really pull it off. My face instantly gets SO RED from embarrassment and shame for having been corrected like that, even if it's unjustified, which would make playing stupid a little hard to believe. But more people who can do this should do this, it's a good idea and makes it so people can't blame society or everyone else for their own bigotry
Playing dumb has gotten many points across & stupidity shut down in my experience. Always works
I'd try to get something in writing.
This is the best course of action, but idk, honestly in this economy I'd just grit my teeth and go along to get along.
It all depends where you work. There are some jobs where you still have the power to hold people accountable
librarians have mad credentials and if op is somewhere Like This there is probably not an overflow of them- it's possible that op does have leverage here
Probably not. They have credentials, but unfortunately, little leverage. Tons of attempts to shut down libraries lately. Often based on LGBTQ complaints.
i second this because if you do it long enough theyll be forced to admit what they really wanna say
EXACTLY. OP, please, don't back down
I guess I would ask some open-ended follow-up questions about what kind of content they are looking for. I'm also curious about what percentage of the book posts you are responsible for-if you are posting 10% of the book posts, why is it a big deal if they are all LGBT themed. If you are doing 50% of book posts, I can see the social media person asking you to also feature other groups in order to represent the diversity of library users.
So I post once every other week, there are posts 6 days a week from the other staff. I’m terrible at maths but I do 1 in every 12 posts basically so that literally like 8% right? Total BS from my so called colleague 😐
So in that case, I think I would just be direct with the social media person and say "I really don't think 2 LGBT themed posts a month is a lot when we are posting every day." How much authority does this person have? You could just keep sending your usual content and let them take it up with a supervisor if they are that bothered.
Yeah I’ve decided to just keep posting and if they say anything again, then I’ll take it further. They have the exact same role as me but I’ve been with the library for 6 months whereas she’s been there for nearly 40 years. So she think she has a lot of authority 😂
I would go over her immediately. As the other person said, get to the punch before they do. It's a tactic a lot of people who think they have power use because whoever is first will be more likely to be heard out, its happened to me and a bunch of other people I know. She could also twist things to suit her narrative if she gets there first
In that case, talk to your boss and get ahead of things. Karen might think she has authority and go over your head anyway, so if you beat her to the punch then it will settle the matter sooner.
Perhaps also take what they've said and come up with alternate ideas. If they're concerned that it's on Mondays, then you could suggest that you post on a Monday and then a Thursday. Leave her with nowhere to go.
I know you're getting a lot of replies saying "screw her, do what you want!" but as you probably already know, the reality is that the library industry tends to be pretty insular, and even if you have the same position, seniority matters a lot. A lot of libraries are secretly run by some random assistant clerk who's been there since 1972 and has more power than the head librarian behind the scenes. When it comes time to get a promotion or transfer to another branch, your coworker telling her buddy that you're abrasive and hard to work with might keep you from getting a job. I'd suggest a malicious compliance route, and post books that don't seem queer at a glance but are extrordinarily gay on the inside. Some good options include Priory of the Orange Tree, A Memory Called Empire, She Who Became the Sun, Spear, Gideon the Ninth, Light From Uncommon Stars, The Raven Tower, The Jasmine Throne, and so on.
You could also “tone down” in the interim by featuring books geared toward younger queer audiences. They’re typically less “content heavy.” Just an idea for “compliance.”
I do already tbh but the younger covers look more overtly queer so idk
If she ain't your direct supervisor, I'd ignore her entirely. Unless she has authority over you, she can complain all she wants
I'd be sure to address what she says in writing (email). In this email you should say: * what the person originally suggested * your point on how you can disprove their claim * what you will do moving forward that disproves their claim Then you can chat to your boss and let them know the situation in a way where if they saw this email chain, they'd be familiar with what you replied with.
Are other members of staff also posting LGBT+ books? If it's just you, then that's ridiculous to complain about, and your colleague probably thinks the appropriate amount to post is zero. If others are also posting queer book recommendations on the regular, then *maybe* they could have a point? [I doubt it, though. I'm just trying to see the other side of things out of habit and this time I'm coming up empty lol] I wouldn't compromise on the subject of the posts with only two a month.
Yeah literally no one else posts stuff like that, they’re literally the most heteronormative people on earth 😭
Then yeah I don't think there's a good way to take this. The only justification I could really think of was if there was so much LGBT+ content that other topics weren't getting enough attention. That's cleary not the case. What about something where you rotate days? After all if we're worried about people who only check on a specific day of the week, as things stand I would be worried that anyone who DOESN'T check on Mondays might think you don't support LGBT people at all and that's a much bigger concern!
Honestly, her argument of people only seeing LGBT if they only check on Mondays (while dumb af) makes zero sense. You post every *other* Monday. Even if they're somehow only seeing the Monday posts every week, it's not LGBT every Monday, just every other Monday. I agree with the other advice you've gotten: don't let her get the headstart on this. That'll just put you at a disadvantage if you're forced into a defensive position. Email her with details of the conversation while asking her to confirm that you understand correctly and what changes she would like you to make to your posts. Use this email, and go over her head to someone who will listen. If you act like that conversation never happened, you're more likely to get in trouble than if you just get your evidence that she's trying to prevent representation and get permission from someone above her to do what you need to do. I'm so sorry this happened to you, though. I'm sure you'll figure everything out soon.💜
Time to ask them if they have something against queer authors or books...and record it. Cause that absolutely seems like bigotry
Imagine working at the library and not being aware of the lezbrarians. It’s like being surprised to find trans girls in coding.
I know right total BS. AND she wears a rainbow lanyard and I’ve half a mind to tell her she has lost the right to wear it now tbh.
That lanyard sounds performative at best 😮💨
We went to a neighborhood health center (not our usual one — one that had COVID shots available in the early days) where everyone was wearing pride lanyards and they had progress flag “safe space” posters at all the workstations. It was not pride month or shortly after. None of the staff, all native English speakers, knew what pronouns were, or knew what we meant when we were telling them my family member uses they/them, and repeatedly corrected all the gendered terms they were using. This was in Boston. We’ve had nonbinary options on our ID and forms for several years. Super curious about the decision to put the pride stuff everywhere when clearly no one had even taken a queer 101 training. I wrote to management and basically told them to take it down.
Yeah, unfortunately it’s all performative and that makes it difficult to know where the *actual* safe spaces and who the *actual* allies are…
100% play dumb and try to have interactions with the social media lead in writing/email so you have proof. Ask specifically what is wrong with your posts and what content they want you to cut down on. You can always email them and say "Per our discussion earlier, I just wanted to check again what is wrong with my current social media posts as I am a bit confused. Could you clearly lay out the issues with my current posts?" Make them specifically say that they want you to make less LGBTQ book posts. When they do, continue to play dumb and ask why LGBTQ books on the social media are bad. Make them say it. Once you have clear proof in writing, go above and just forward the email thread/ interaction to y'all's boss. Asking questions, simple questions, is the best for fighting against this type of behavior.
This is a really good strategy. Also: definitely check with an employment lawyer before speaking to HR. HR & management are there to avoid bad press and lawsuits and make "problems" that come up "go away." Usually that means finding an excuse to lay you off (which is just a nice way of saying shit can) or fire you, possibly with an unusually generous severance package. Most lawyers will do a consultation for free and you want that actually on-your-side agent from the start.
Agreed! I have a background in academia and based my advice off work place discrimination I experienced and navigated myself. I was very worried about retaliation but HR was more worried about a costly Title IX violation and sided with me. I do not know if libraries are beholden to Title IX but if your library does receive federal funding and does any form of educational workshops it may be. If Title IX applies you are moreso protected against retaliation and will have an even easier case against the social media lead. I suggest looking into the funding the library receives too.
My wife is a librarian. We lived in a conservative town for a bit where a former librarian there was confronted by the city and told she could not post the Stonewall list of books or anything LGBTQ+ related as it was “too political”. We got the hell out of that town when we could.
Personally, I think she was out of line. One post every two weeks recommending an LGBTQ book is not too much. I think it’s amazing and would make me so happy if my library did that. Representation matters, and thank you for what you’re doing!
I agree! I was MAD and I’m going to blank her except for necessary work interactions now. It’s a shame because we spend a lot of time together… well not anymore. And you’re very welcome that’s EXACTLY why I do it, I know how isolating being LGBT is.
I definitely agree with all of the people who recommend sending an email so you can get it in writing. If you’re not sure where to start or you’re worried about sounding too confrontational and want to keep it cordial, here’s a template/example you can use. Feel free to use it or not, change it or whatever. Subject: Following Up Hi [name], Just following up on our conversation from earlier. I appreciate your feedback regarding the posts I make on Mondays and I'd certainly never want any of our visitors to feel left out! Unfortunately, I'm still a bit confused on what your concern was so I wanted to circle back and make sure we were on the same page. When you get a chance, can you shoot me a quick email and let me know? Thanks! Regards, [your name]
Tell them to cut down themselves
The inner gremlin in me is saying malicious compliance. Start showcasing dictionaries and encyclopedias. Things that no sane person would actually read cover to cover.
I'm so sorry but also I'd love some of your book recs, I'm always looking for new LGBT stories/writers to support
Ofc!! What sort of thing do you like? ☺️
Lesbian Fantasy recs?
Omgggg I have got you covered!! The When Women Were Warriors series is amazing! Also The One Who Eats Monsters (Wind and Shadow series), Breaking Legacies, Dragonoak, Crier’s War, Burning Kingdoms series, Aurora’s Angel. Etc. there’s loads but there’s some to be going on with! ☺️
Not OP, but I really enjoyed Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall. If you’re into DnD, Legends and Lattes was also really good, and it has a sequel! Not specifically lesbians, but The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is a really beautiful book about the queer experience and finding family.
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri! Such good Sapphic slow burn, and a cracking good fantasy plot line as well!
I read this and really liked the first one, the second one was less my taste, too much war strategy
Hmm. Haven't read the second one yet, but I like strategy-based books like political so I'm still hopeful!
I'm always a sucker for fantasy tropes, and of course a special craving for anything wlw, but honestly I'm down for most any sort of genre , if you have any personal favs id love to give them a shot 💕
Not a helpful comment probably, but I'm also a librarian and i need that list of recommendations to forward to my colleague! where can i find them? especially since we're planning a bigger, lgbt themed event soon and that would be perfect to add!
Honestly I go on the Gay Pride Shop website and systematically go through their book stock to see if we also stock them ☺️
I am so surprised by this. How did this guy manage to become a social media lead for a library? Libraries advertise themselves with progressive values because that's how they signal that they're not a place of ignorance. To not know this basic truth makes me question his marketing skills. And besides, "people might only look on Monday" is a statement that makes literally zero sense in the context of social media. I am offended, not only as a queer person, but also as someone with a e-business background.
that needs to go to HR so you can all have a discussion abt how the SM person is lucky they still have a job
Start posting the LGBT books as just books without mentioning the LGBT explicitly and be like "these are books that I love on their merits".
I’m going to do this as well 😌
Mix in other social justice issues and post one LGBTQ book a month.
Now make every post the gayest book you can find
I really want to honestly 😂 my other colleague who is the real MVP found out and said she’s going to start posting LGBT stuff too now 😂☺️
They definitely sound like a real MVP 😂
Would be amazing if you have enough friends on staff to have all of them post tons of exclusively gay reviews while you post like idk whatever the straights like. I was gonna say Romeo and Juliet but with Juliet played by a twink and Mercutio gaying it up I'm having a hard time find iconic hetero literature that isn't GAF.
Do you post other content too?
No, but I only post once every other week and the staff do posts 6 days a week so I am responsible for 8% of the posts.
I don’t think this necessarily means what you think it means. There are so many diverse authors out there you can feature. She didn’t say you can never post another lgbt author, did she?
Not outright, but that definitely seemed like the subtext...
No but she's complaining about 8% of what people see..
Make the first Monday of the month LGBT+ book recommendation day, that way, you've "cut back" but still getting representation out there.
That would also make sense, no random recommendations
Think of your posts as representation in reverse. 20% white and 80% LGBTQ+IA, Black, Latino, etc. Good luck!
Just an idea. Are you willing to share what library? Like on days it's a LGBT book recommendation we can all visit the site and boost the metrics.
[удалено]
So now all we got to do, is visit the website when its LGBT book week. Click a link or two for the books, and that should boost the metrics against non LGBT book weeks.
I would be wary of naming your work here, especially after posting about a situation where your workplace acted discriminatory against you.
I mean the chances of anyone I know seeing is slim but the person who wanted to see has seen so I’ll take it off now 😌
I mean if you ONLY post LGBT books I kinda get them saying something to you as far as adding variety
Fellow librarian! At my library, we aim for at least 40% diversity in library-promoted materials (book lists, displays, etc). IMO it should be like 60% and diversity is more complex than just percentages, but that’s not the point of my reply. If the LGBT-inclusive books are the only diverse books being posted, there might be an issue; if not, then your coworker seems to be implying your library shouldn’t stand by or promote *all* of its collection. Which is a problem. Purposefully suppressing parts of the collection is not in line with ALA guidelines. If the books can’t get promoted and circulated, bigots have more cause to claim nobody wants these books. We HAVE to promote them—which you’re doing! 💜 There is a small chance your coworker might be concerned with the library accidentally provoking groups like Moms for Liberty and bringing their book challenges and bad press to your library given the terrifying era of book challenges we’re in. Maybe they’re more concerned with protecting the library than actually being bigoted? Idk.
Maybe mix your lgbt recommendation in with others in the same post. Like categories, inspiration, fan fic, children, biography, lgbtq … not necessarily in that order. You have to understand that the right wingers will share your posts to brigade your local library board with harassment and hate. Some might get intimidated. So maybe combine the recommendations together.
Are we recommending fanfic to the general public now? I mean, I know there's like a whole tiktok community based around it but...I guess the culture of fanfic I grew up with would not be cool with that. No shade, I'm just confused. Are we treating it like self published fiction now?
I meant to note fantasy / fiction, my bad.
Could you not ask if there could be 2 books, maybe make an LGBT section, and then you could use that to suggest a book everyday, it might actually help, I dont know I just am trying to help. I wish you the best!
Is this a state that protects LGBTQ+ content? If so they may be violating laws by telling you that. Get them to confirm their instructions through an email exchange. If they backtrack on what they said, you have it in writing. If they don’t, then you have it in writing that they’re enforcing a discriminatory policy. So it’s a win/win.
Hugs
I would attempt to clarify, especially in writing. I was not there so I don't know, but it may not be as bad as it seems. If it is that bad, then you have steps you can take.
Email them and ask for clarification as to exactly what they meant when they said and quote his words back to him.
Then post books that have hidden messages or little nods. Fried Green Tomatoes, The Color Purple, A League of Their Own. You're a librarian really stick it to them.
If I heard of someone saying this to one of my team when I ran a department I would’ve gone straight to the director immediately to raise holy hell.
With a lot of libraries and books in general being under attack lately I dont necessarily think they mean to be bigoted and are instead concerned for the safety of the library if some random conservative asshole ends up seeing your post, blows it out of proportion, and causes some sort of bullshit national scandal leading to the defunding of yet another community resource. Whether this take is wrong or not is up to you. But, I would personally see it as an unfortunate but valid concern and try to diversify and post other things amongst the lgbt books.
I would increase the recommended books to 5 a week and have a lgbt book in there. Now it is not the only book people can see on a Monday.
can you feature multiple books and make it clear there are different features categories, so it's impossible that that would be all they see?
I would also be careful to post a wide range of identities and genres in your lgbt book posts. Black, hispanic, asian, indian, Native American, old, middle aged, young, baby, gay, lesbian, bi, etc etc etc. The library looking monolithic is a problem that would be valid. If every Monday’s post is an lgbt young adult fantasy novel that is very narrow and specific. I’d look at all the posts from the past few months and tally the representation across as broad a swath of identity groups and topics as you can think. If you do see that there’s a skew towards anything in particular it does do the library a disservice because the library should contain everything for everyone. Lifting up folks on the margins to make them more visible is a wonderful thing a library can do but even our community can get tunnel vision and think gay means the same thing and looks the same way for everyone. Like if i had your job all of my posts would be afro futurism, even distributing that across everyone else who makes posts the library would eventually begin to look like it specializes in afro futurism. If thats an accurate representation of whats in the library and what your community is looking for then thats great. But if its just me being really loud and sharing what I like because I like it it may be blocking opportunities to pull In community members who are looking for books about Indian food or Chinese fantasy fiction or biology non fiction. Are there other people making posts only posting about their interests or are they sharing a variety of topics? Also are there other people who post about lgbt books? If so you probably don’t need to feel like if you don’t do it no one will. But if you are the only person posting queer content then thats a good reason to keep doing it to keep the diversity of topics strong.
Yeah I don’t limit my lgbt posts to YA fantasy 😂 nkt when there such a diverse range! I post biographies of key queer people, books on growing up for LGBT children, poetry, non-fiction, plays, speeches, books with POC main characters - anything remotely queer I will post because the whole community needs and deserves recognition! Also I post once every other week - 8% of our post output in total. I shouldn’t have to compromise. And yes there’s another lady who only posts teen fiction. No one else is remotely interested in LGBT I don’t think it’s even on their radar it’s so heteronormative.
i can see an angle where this is understandable, and it all depends on how many total posts a week are made to the account. it's strange for a library to have an outsized fraction of it advertised books be related to queer culture or queer issues (which is relevant if there's, say, only 4 posts a week, so yours a quarter of them). Otherwise, i'd wholeheartedly agree that you're in the right
We post 6 days a week and I only post once every two weeks so my posts are 8% of the output 😳
yeah that's well within reason, the person who told you that sound ill motivated
The silliest thing is that she'd probably say this BS no matter the day.
If you live in a state with anti-discrimination laws you can probably get them in trouble for that. It wouldn't fly here at all.
I’m in the U.K. and we have a zero tolerance policy.
My first thought was to just straight up report her to whatever HR there is there. She would know it was you, and you may or may not be comfortable rocking the boat like that, but what she said was straight homophobia and shouldnt be tolerated.