C&RL News March 2018 114 Aconstant concern for libraries is provid-ing a collection of resources that are relevant to its patron population. Since most libraries have budgetary concerns that must be weighed against these needs, sometimes cer- tain collection areas go underdeveloped. This is by no means the fault of the librarians, but priorities must be set and things fall behind. However, in many cases, it takes a reminder of patron needs to bring to light holes in a library’s collection. This is what transpired to me at Jackson Library at Lander University. The project is born In August 2016, the Jackson Library direc- tor asked me if we had access to the maga- zines Out and The Advocate. This was not an uncommon request, given that I was often asked to check access to resources. Once I told her that we only had digital access to The Advocate and no access to Out, I thought that would be that. I was concerned about the lack of access to these resources, but I was not in charge of pur- chasing resources like these, so I put it out of my mind. However, later that afternoon, the director asked me to start a project to assess our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen- der, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) resources. She was curious about the state of our resources in that area, since subjects pertaining to LGBTQIA concerns span dif- ferent collection development areas, and it had not been anyone’s job to keep up with these topics. I could not have been happier about this project. I was still new to my position, hav- ing only been working as a full-time librarian since the beginning of July. I knew that this was a great and important opportunity for me, especially so early in my career. Not only was this a great professional development project for me, it also excited me because I am an avid advocate of LGBTQIA rights and schol- arship. I was excited to be able to assess the collection at our library for these resources. Despite this initial excitement, what I found was disconcerting, which led to a much larger task than I originally expected. Assessing our collection From the outset, I knew that searching the collection would be a multifaceted process. Not only did I want to assess the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) re- sources in our library, but I also wanted to include the entire community in my re- search. To this end, I also wanted to as- sess the queer, intersex, and asexual (QIA) resources in our collection, as well as any other resource pertaining to the community as a whole. In addition to finding books that covered these topics, I also needed to look in many different subject areas. Since Rebekah Scoggins Broadening your library’s collection Implementing a LGBTQIA collection development project Rebekah Scoggins is teaching and learning librarian at Lander University’s Jackson Library, email: rscoggins@ lander.edu © 2018 Rebekah Scoggins mailto:rscoggins%40lander.edu?subject= mailto:rscoggins%40lander.edu?subject= March 2018 115 C&RL News I wanted to search so many different topics and areas, I knew there was not one sin- gular keyword, subject heading, or search string that I could use to find all the LG- BTQIA books we had in our collection. This meant I had to try many different searches and amalgamate those results into cohesive statistics. This process took some time. I started with a straight forward keyword search in the online catalog, then opened it up to variations on the words using truncation and different forms of the words. These words included homosexual, homosexuality, lesbian, gay, bisexual, bisexuality, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual, asexuality, and sexuality. I then followed a series of subject headings t h a t w e r e u s e d o n the books I found in our collec- tion, such as gay and les- bian stud- ies, sexual orientation, homosexu- ality , and various oth- ers. I then spent some time walk- ing through our stacks, looking in the areas where books on these topics were generally cataloged. This includes many of the HQs, ranging mostly from HQ20 to HQ80, and some in other subject areas around the library, depending on the slant of the book. After the completion of my search, I discov- ered that our collection was severely lacking in this area, both in number and up-to-date re- sources. Based on the publication dates of our collection, only very limited collection devel- opment had been done in this area during the past seven years. Aside from a smattering of titles dealing with LGBTQIA literature, history, and society, our collection was also limited in its scope. There were no titles dealing with asexuality or intersex individuals and only a slim amount of books addressing transgender individuals and bisexuality. Filling the gaps From this point, I knew I wanted to attack these gaps in our collection head on. To find out how to proceed, I went to the li- brary director and told her about my find- ings. When I explained the vast holes in our collection, she told me to start looking for books that would help fill this gap. I knew this was going to be another significant pro- cess, considering how many keywords and search strings I had to use just to assess our collection. Plus, there have been so many changes in the sexual- ity rights movement, legislature, and schol- arship in the past six or seven years, so I knew there was a lot of ground to cover. To start the next part of my project, I did extensive research into current print books that deal with the most important societal issues in this sec- tor. I also wanted to buy more books that dealt with LGBTQIA resources in different disci- plines, such as art, literature, history, and film. This search took me to the conventional places I use for collection development, such as our vendor catalog, topical book catalogs, and online book retailers, such as Amazon. How- ever, I also wanted to make sure I was getting high-quality resources that were relevant in the field and for the LGBTQIA community at large. The full LGBT History Month display, highlighting the official LGBT History Month poster, many of the books from the collection devel- opment project, and the different flags that represent the subsets within the LGBTQIA movement. C&RL News March 2018 116 This led me to look through other univer- sity catalogs, book reviews from official organizations, a s w e l l a s readers, blogs from LGBTQ- IA communi- ty members, and any other p l a c e t h a t I could find infor mation about titles in this subject area. A f t e r w e e k s o f searching and mak- ing wish lists of the resources I wanted to buy for the library, I took my list back to the director. The list was much larger than what I could buy in one month for a par- ticular department or on the same subject matter, so I expected to have to purchase titles over time. How- ever, I was allowed to use funds from a dis- cretionary collection development fund to buy a large portion of resources to get the project started. From my initial wish list, I selected almost $1,700 in new materi- als to enrich our library’s LGBTQIA resources.1 After this initial push, LGBTQIA resources would then be a part of my normal monthly collection development. Once the books arrived, I knew I want- ed to show- case this new collection to our students, faculty, staff, and commu- nity members. With our new books, I devel- oped multiple book displays highlighting o u r c o l l e c - tion, which were each left up for many s u c c e s s i v e weeks in our library. I also cre- ated additional visual and textual resources, including LGBTQIA symbols, icons, histo- ries, movement dates, and other important information, that I presented and ex- hibited along with the new and existing books in our collec- tion. This helped me create dynamic and interactive displays within our library. While these displays were up, I saw an increase in the circu- lation of these materi- als and often had to fill empty spots, left by borrowed books from the displays, with more materials from our new collection. Detail of the LGBT History Month display, showing a display poster that highlighted important dates in LGBT history, as well as some of the books bought for the collection development project. A second LGBTQIA display, highlighting additional materials that came in from the collection develop- ment project. (continues on page 126) C&RL News March 2018 126 Conclusion While we do not have the power to dic- tate how a space is viewed, we can “set a tone and invite people in” by provid- ing interesting topics and interactive dis- plays.2 Doing so allows everyone the op- portunity to cocreate the library’s space and culture in a way that values and gen- erates self-expression. Students especially have what TESOL scholars refer to as a willingness to communicate, or a readi- ness to volunteer ideas and opinions with others. What they need are chances to do so in an environment where they can feel comfortable and confident in their contri- bution being valued and free from judg- ment.3 Interactive displays in the library are one way of offering and developing that environment together. Notes 1. Brian Mathews and Leigh Ann Soist- mann, Encoding Space: Shaping Learning Environments that Unlock Human Potential (Chicago: ACRL, 2016) 24. 2. Ibid., 101. 3. P. D. MacIntyre, Z. Dörnyei, R. Clé- ment, and K. A. Noels, “Conceptualizing Willingness to Communicate in a L2: A Situational Model of L2 Confidence and Af- filiation,” The Modern Language Journal 82, no. 4 (1998): 545–62. Larger implications The magnitude of this collection develop- ment project reaches beyond the general im- portance of normal library collection develop- ment because of the university community that I serve. Lander is a small, regional Southern state- assisted, four-year university in a very rural area. In these kinds of remote, Southern areas that are typically steeped in religion, bringing access to current and unbiased information about sexual- ity, LGBTQIA history, and the LGBTQIA rights movement is extremely important. The point of higher education is to enrich and broaden the minds of our students and community, and I believe that making this topic visible and avail- able is just the beginning of getting this topic out there and accepted. Also, since we as an institution are responsible for the information and research needs of our students, this collec- tion development project was instrumental and necessary for our community. It was also neces- sary to pinpoint and resolve such a glaring gap in our resources. Implementing this in your library There are many of you who may want to tackle this kind of targeted collection development project. I was very lucky to have a wonderful and understanding director who allowed me free range on this subject, as well as fiscal assis- tance for the project. For your library, I suggest starting with the idea. Look in your collection for an area that you think has, for one reason or other, been overlooked. You may already have a topic that you can work with or you may want to increase your LGBTQIA resources like I did. No matter what your topic, the first step is to research what books are needed in this subject area. Hunt down the best resources that cover this topic, and make a wish list. Some of you may not be able to make a large purchase like I was, but that doesn’t mean you cannot make a difference. Try to order as many books as you can at any point in your purchasing process. Even if it is a few books a month, over time, you will be able to fill any holes in your collection. And don’t be afraid to tackle difficult topics or subject areas. These are the areas where people learn, grow, and are challenged by ideas outside their comfort zones. Through these kinds of initiatives, you can, little by little, make a dif- ference, not only in your collection, but for your university as a whole. Note 1. To see the full list of the books we bought for Jackson Library, visit http://bit. ly/2z1oJwA. (“Broadening your library’s collection,” continues from page 116) PMI Print ad: 6” x 9.25” (trim) Together, these publications deliver comprehensive information on key project delivery approaches— predictive, agile and hybrid. The PMBOK® Guide—Sixth Edition is available in 12 languages: English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), Arabic, Hindi, Russian, and Japanese. 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