Scavenging for LGBTQ2S Public Library Visibility on Vancouver’s Periphery

• Published in: Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie Vol. 111; no. 4; pp. 601 - 615
• Main Authors: Bain, Alison L., Podmore, Julie A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Utrecht Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2020
• Subjects: Access; Activism; Bisexuality; Canada; Change agents; Community resources; Lesbianism; LGBTQ people; LGBTQ2S; Librarians; Libraries; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Political change; Power; Public libraries; Sexuality; social inclusion; Social integration; Suburban areas; Suburbs; Two-Spirit; Visibility; Canada
• ISSN: 0040-747X; 1467-9663
• DOI: 10.1111/tesg.12396

This paper uses mixed methods to scavenge and analyse lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and two‐spirit (LGBTQ2S) resources and visibility in public library branches on the periphery of the Vancouver city‐region in the suburban municipalities of Surrey, Burnaby, and New Westminster. It argues that in Canadian suburbs, where access to LGBTQ2S community resources are limited, libraries are simultaneously key public sites of engagement for LGBTQ2S people and places where they continue to face dominant socio‐cultural power relations of hetero and cis‐normativity that determine the availability, visibility, and accessibility of queer materials. Scavenging for queerness within virtual and material library spaces, this paper demonstrates that suburban libraries hold the promise of information and equity while also reinforcing LGBTQ2S absence, invisibility, and exclusion. The promise of social inclusion is carried forward by a few insider activist and ally librarians who act as political change agents within library systems and specific branches by creating queer‐friendly collections, spaces, and programming. Libraries can be key public sites of engagement for LGBTQ2S people, but the availability, visibility, and accessibility of their queer materials is geographically variable. Using a case study of three suburban municipalities in the Vancouver region, this paper uses mixed ‘scavenger’ methods to evaluate and compare how peripheral library systems meet the civic promise of inclusion for their LGBTQ2S citizens.