New guidance from councils aims to make libraries friendlier to LGBT visitors - by hiding gender critical books

[IwantToRetire]

Libraries across the country are being advised to prevent LGBT people seeing “offensive” gender-critical books, the Telegraph can reveal.

Guidance shared as “best practice” among council-run public libraries suggests measures to be more inclusive, including hosting drag queen story hours and making toilets gender neutral, partly to relieve anxiety for women with “masculine” hairstyles.

Advice on handling “transphobic books” states that librarians should not promote works by gender-critical authors, while mitigating the “risk” that LGBT readers might encounter these “offensive” titles on shelves.
The guidance titled “Welcoming LGBTIQ+ users: advice for public library workers” also suggests that staff limit the number of gender-critical books they stock.

In a section of “transphobic” titles it states: “There have been a few titles published which claim to be ‘gender critical’ and argue for removal of trans rights.

“These authors and their work can be labelled transphobic, and the writers themselves Terfs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists). We, along with many in the LGBTIQ+ community, find these books offensive.”

The guidance was produced in 2022 by an Islington “LGBTIQ+ library” called Book 28, founded by Southwark Council librarian Isadore Auerbach George, who drew up the advice with Lambeth librarian Colette Townend and academic Dr Elizabeth Chapman, whose doctoral thesis was on “provision of LGBT-related fiction to children and young people” in public libraries.

The guidance has been provided to staff working for local authorities, with Leicestershire, West Berkshire and Gateshead council making use of the advice.

The Book 28 advice is also shared on the websites of professional bodies the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland, and charity Libraries Connected, an organisation whose membership includes every library service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

From a much longer article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/01/librarians-hide-books-from-gender-critical-authors/

Also available by pasting in the Telegraph link at https://archive.ph

You're comparing male fear of imaginary sexual abuse by other males (essentially what homophobia is) to female fear of all-too-real and commonplace sexual abuse by males.

Can't you see how offensive that is?

I think in a liberal democratic society, which sees itself as pluralistic, it's an absolute necessity that certain institutions cultivate a kind of reticence on politics, or controversial social issues. Libraries, universities, health care, and maybe in some ways even more than others, state education.

If they don't, if they start to see themselves mainly as a social justice vehicle (which libraries, museums, etc, have,) you will have pushback.

And from the state, if these institutions they start to push a particular set of beliefs that are not in line with a pretty universal perspective, you will start to see mechanisms appear to constrain that, including legal or regulatory mechanisms.

There is a pretty significant difference, too, between asking the general population to accept that there shouldn't be discrimination against people due to sexuality, or maybe gender presentation, and demanding that people need to believe a much more specific set of beliefs.

People can believe in non-discrimination of pluralism, while also not agreeing that, say, sexuality is fixed at birth, or seeing the legal/social role of marriage as being management of procreative relationships between people with difference reproductive roles, or having a religious view that outside of that, celibacy is appropriate, or that surrogacy is wrong and not an equality issue, etc.

And they will not see the role of state education as telling their kids those additional things are true, and one way or another they will try and counter it if they do. And that's actually appropriate in a pluralistic liberal democracy.

It's possible to avoid that kind of regulation if people have a sense of where to draw the line.

Wow, that video is crazy!

The horse thing is funny.

Not a library, but:

I only read ebooks via Libby.

I've noticed a shift recently. My county does not have Material Girls and only has 1 copy of Trans. But it has 4 of Time to Think, and 2 each of Irreversible Damage and Unfair Play. They don't have Hags either.

I shall get in touch and ask them to stock them - thanks to whoever suggested that. I didn't know you could do that. There is a waitlist for trans and unfair play so I'm not the only person reading them.

I spent a bit of time checking my local online library system.

Not too bad - titles by Helen Joyce, Kathleen Stock, Sharron Davies, Abigail Shrier. Not too many, and mostly either checked out or 'in transit' (hoping this is not a euphemism for 'hidden at the back').

Because I'm petty, I also checked for titles by Judith Butler, Shon Fae, Juno Dawson, Laurie Penny, Christina Whatsit.

Plenty of books, almost all On Shelf. You can stock em, but you can't make people read em.

Does anyone know if Libraries can access / get data on searches ie which books users are searching for?

If they do, its one way of letting them know they are being monitored!!

In transit means being transfered between libraries. So, being read and requested.

You are right about not being able to make them read. I've been weeding out the youth section in my library. More than half of the fiction hasn't been borrowed in over three years. Lots of "issues" stuff with thin plots that gets pushed by publishers. I'm getting rid of it but no doubt it will be replaced by similar stuff.

For some reason the BBC decided only yesterday to cover this story https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-66441947

But this is interesting from local paper following a question from a Tory councillor based on news stories:

Cabinet member for Public Services and Communities, Coun Jenny Lynn (Lab, Park) thanked him for his question and said while some books had been removed, politics was not behind the decision.

“The decision to remove certain books from library shelves was not a political decision.

“It was a consequence of an internal human resources matter, and as such cannot be discussed further,” she said.

WRN Calderdale and Bradford, a group which says it is a “grassroots feminist network for women and girls in Calderdale and Bradford” has reported it has received a response about the issue from the council along similar lines, citing Helen Joyce as one of the authors in question.

The group tweeted: “We complained to (Calderdale Libraries) about the fact that books by gender critical authors had been removed from public view. This is what we were told.

“As taxpayers, we don’t think ‘an internal HR matter’ should dictate what we can – or can’t – read.”

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/yorkshire-library-removed-gender-critical-27483841

How bizarre, so they reason that it's a HR matter not political? Do we translate that as "one of our staff cried over these books so we decided to get rid of the books to mollify them"? If so, its clearly open to political manipulation from activists.

My guess was that they had a trans member of staff that was either upset by the books or could potentially be upset by them.

It's a library, and it's completely inappropriate that a snowflake member of staff could influence what books are on display.

Assuming my guess is correct...

This isn't political? Then if they had a conservative Christian working there, would they remove all the LGBT books from display if they were found to be upsetting?

What books will they remove from display?

The copy of Material Girls I requested is available for collection. My local library is pretty much self-service where the reserved books are put on a "for collection" shelf by the entrance. I may leave it on display for a couple of days before I check it out.

So a librarian was so upset by some books in their library that what - they said they couldn't go into work? And rather than refer the employee to mental health services, they removed the books from display?

Bloody hell.

Enabling an overwhelming sense of victimhood in adults is really unhealthy.

If it is the case that the librarian was so upset by the presence of gender critical books that the latter needed to be removed, the librarian needs to find a new job.

remember when you were little and good librarians would recommend good books to the kids?

So could a vegan decimate the cookery sections?

A more positive and professional response from Robin Tuddenham CEO.

twitter.com/WRNCalderBradf/status/1689230323077267457?t=9eJkfqn2l-MQvvpVv9bd-w&s=19

I don't have children so there should be no books on pregnancy or being a parent and no children's books, either.

Maybe, but looks like a bit of face saving after the initial response by the relevant Council member. Did they really think they could just say because its X (something we have just made up) it cant be discussed.

If it was just the one library you might think, yes an individual member of staff had a meltdown and removed / stopped ordering GC books. Or maybe its catching as staff in all the other libraries are having similar breakdowns.

So yes it would be good to have a proper response, but surely it should have had to be dragged out like this.

There is usually a section on hobbies. They can get rid of all the books on anything I am not interested in because I am more important than anyone else.

Also I don't like fantasy fiction like GoT, so they can rid of all of that too.

I mean - where does it end?

My library has a big LBGTQ display - has done for ages - it used to be right by the entrance which I thought was a bit .... if bringing children in, now moved to by the upstairs entrance. It is much more of a 'T' display. The books on mental health or healthy living for example are not displayed in the same way. The feminist books are right at the back upstairs and Helen Joyce book Trans is in the store! I'm busy requesting various books - but feel like a one armed band in my area. How do I find GC local groups?

There's a list of local ReSister groups on the ReSisters United web site home page https://resistersunited.org/