Queer Fear: the place of the LGBTI+ community in sintra's municipal library

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62758/re.v3i3.199

Keywords:

Public Libraries, LGBTI , Sintra, Portugal

Abstract

The public library has a duty to welcome the LGBTI+ community through specific products and services. This research is based on queer needs, trying to understand how they relate to the public library and focusing on the library's existing collection and the services it offers, which can help to identify the level of reception of the LGBTI+ community. For the Sintra Municipal Library case study, specific research tools were developed: an observation grid, which compared the desired reality with the reality observed in the library; a checklist of classic queer books (1886-2002), organized for this study in order to evaluate the library's collection; reflective field notes, as a way of monitoring the case study; and a recommendations grid, the result of extensive reflection on the current state of the Sintra Municipal Library's products and services and consisting of a set of measures derived from Portuguese sources of support. Divided fundamentally into the evaluation of the collection and services, the research revealed a public library with the necessary foundations to become an inclusive space for gender diversity. The lack of knowledge about the LGBTI+ community and their information needs is still a reality, so only through collaboration with national and regional LGBTI+ organizations can the current situation be improved. However, respect for the LGBTI+ community and their needs on the part of BMS librarians is a fundamental aspect.

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Published

2023-12-21

How to Cite

Nogueira, I., & Revez, J. (2023). Queer Fear: the place of the LGBTI+ community in sintra’s municipal library: . Revista EDICIC, 3(3), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.62758/re.v3i3.199

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 3 (2023): Special Issue: Information Literacy, digital humanities and gender studies: trends and challenges

Section

Research Papers

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