Category 22: An essay anthology
Out Behind the Desk: Workplace Issues for Lgbtq Librarians
Author: Tracy Nectoux (ed.)
Publisher: Litwin Books, LLC
Publisher: Litwin Books, LLC
Published: May 15, 2011 (first published 2010)
Page count: 294
Genres: nonfiction
Page count: 294
Genres: nonfiction
Date read: January 28, 2018
Number of times read: 1
Format: paperbackSource: Laurier Library
Summary
Out Behind the Desk: Workplace Issues for LGBTQ Librarians is an anthology of personal accounts by librarians and library workers relating experiences of being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or queer at work. A broad spectrum of orientations and gender identities are represented, highlighting a range of experiences of being and/or coming out at work.-- via Goodreads
Out Behind the Desk: Workplace Issues for LGBTQ Librarians is an anthology of personal accounts by librarians and library workers relating experiences of being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or queer at work. A broad spectrum of orientations and gender identities are represented, highlighting a range of experiences of being and/or coming out at work.-- via Goodreads
Review
At the tail end of 2017, I decided to be super ambitious. (Meaning crazy stupid...) I decided that as part of the professional Twitter chat I co-host on library-related issues, we should run a virtual book club! I seem to have momentarily forgotten that I hate being told what book to read when at the time that I came up with that idea...Anyway, I was responsible for picking most of the books and I picked this one for January and then cut it right up until the say of the chat to finish reading it. Not because it was bad or boring, but because of the above hatred of being told what to read and by when. Plus also the PDF I had made for myself (my ILL was due back before I finished the book) was way too small on my Kobo and I couldn't get it to zoom so I had to read less of it at a time because it made my astigmatism act up.
Overall I thought it was a really good anthology. There were a lot of fantastic essays in it and I walked away wanting to learn more and get more involved. To me, that's the mark of good nonfiction. How much does it make me care about the subject it's about, and what does it make me want to do about it. I chose this book specifically because it has a personal interest to me. I'm bi, but I keep that pretty quiet and I don't date so it's never really a topic that comes up unless I'm specifically talking about LGBTQ issues. I've never been involved in the LGBTQ community in a meaningful way but I've always wanted to learn more about it and about how to maybe get involved. So when I found out there was a book out there about the LGBTQ experience in libraries I was very interested in reading it. And I got what I wanted out of it, it was really worthwhile for me. I learned about the history of LGBTQ people in the library profession.
The two major disappointments that I had with this book were mainly with the content. Firstly the fact that it's from 2010/11 means it's eight years out of date, and in the States especially, there's been an awful lot of upheaval in relation to LGBTQ rights and experiences in the intervening years. I'd like to see a sequel done now, I feel like that would be a very valuable book to have, and very powerful. The other thing about the content that really annoyed me is something that annoys me about a lot of LGBTQ content - bi-erasure, it's a thing, I wish it weren't a thing, and it's annoying as all hell. There was little bi content in this book and what there was, was not so great. There was even less relatable content for Trans librarians.
Because I was using this book for a book club I actually took a lot of notes about it. Twelve pages worth of notes to be precise. Looking back at my notes now after almost a year, there are definitely some essays in the anthology that I would probably go back to for reexamination.
Do you read books about your industry or for your work?
Overall I thought it was a really good anthology. There were a lot of fantastic essays in it and I walked away wanting to learn more and get more involved. To me, that's the mark of good nonfiction. How much does it make me care about the subject it's about, and what does it make me want to do about it. I chose this book specifically because it has a personal interest to me. I'm bi, but I keep that pretty quiet and I don't date so it's never really a topic that comes up unless I'm specifically talking about LGBTQ issues. I've never been involved in the LGBTQ community in a meaningful way but I've always wanted to learn more about it and about how to maybe get involved. So when I found out there was a book out there about the LGBTQ experience in libraries I was very interested in reading it. And I got what I wanted out of it, it was really worthwhile for me. I learned about the history of LGBTQ people in the library profession.
The two major disappointments that I had with this book were mainly with the content. Firstly the fact that it's from 2010/11 means it's eight years out of date, and in the States especially, there's been an awful lot of upheaval in relation to LGBTQ rights and experiences in the intervening years. I'd like to see a sequel done now, I feel like that would be a very valuable book to have, and very powerful. The other thing about the content that really annoyed me is something that annoys me about a lot of LGBTQ content - bi-erasure, it's a thing, I wish it weren't a thing, and it's annoying as all hell. There was little bi content in this book and what there was, was not so great. There was even less relatable content for Trans librarians.
Because I was using this book for a book club I actually took a lot of notes about it. Twelve pages worth of notes to be precise. Looking back at my notes now after almost a year, there are definitely some essays in the anthology that I would probably go back to for reexamination.
Do you read books about your industry or for your work?
Overall Rating
 |
| 4 bolts |
No comments:
Post a Comment