Serving Transgender Patrons in Academic Libraries

Dismantling structural and individual cisgenderism in Illinois libraries: a descriptive research study on cisnormativity, transprejudice and biases against transgender and nonbinary populations

“…If librarians have not had discussions about the role of privilege, not engaged in professional development on trans and nonbinary inclusion, and do not initiate conversations with their colleagues about how to best support their trans communities, they cannot know whether their version of allyship and their ideas of fair and equitable access to services reflects the needs of their trans and nonbinary user communities and colleagues or if their practices continue to benefit and uphold dominant cisnormative culture. Cisgender librarians must check their version of allyship because “well-meaning but uninformed ‘allies’” may inadvertently spread misinformation if they are not working in consultation with trans populations and doing the research to educate themselves (Krueger and Matteson, 2017, p. 11).…”

“…Trans people have not benefited from the years of advocacy on the part of information professionals to make the profession more inclusive of gay, lesbian and bi people, and much of the research in the field has “lumped in” trans into LGBT, making it difficult to determine how user needs differ across this spectrum (Angell and Roberto, 2014; Marquez, 2014). Multiple studies have examined the various and unmet needs of local trans populations and improved upon by trans and gender diverse authors (Drake and Bielefield, 2017; Kolbe, 2020; Krueger and Matteson, 2017; Krutkowski et al ., 2019; Mathson and Hanchks, 2007; Mehra, 2019; Thompson, 2016). However, even amongst the top ranked LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities, there seems to be a lack of active work and advocacy on the part of libraries to ensure there are measures in place to protect and perform basic inclusive practices for trans individuals, and a lack of acknowledgment in the role libraries can play in creating an inclusive environment for user communities (Todorinova and Ortiz-Myers, 2019).…”

“…Although the most blatantly intentional marginalization behind these systems is rooted in the past, the decision for librarians and the field to maintain them despite evidence of the harm they cause is an active choice and one that can be rectified. Libraries can push against hegemonic ideology and biases or they can, as literature suggests, continue to uphold the status quo and fall short through symbolic gestures, passivity and complicity (Adler, 2017; Drake and Bielefield, 2017; Kokozos and Gonzalez, 2020; Krueger and Matteson, 2017; Marine and Nicolazzo, 2014; Stryker, 2017; Todorinova and Ortiz-Myers, 2019).…”

Putting DEIA into practice: incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility into student employee training

“…Other librarians agree that library workers should be trained to serve patrons with differing sexual orientations and gender identities (Thompson, 2012; Wexelbaum, 2017). Krueger and Matteson (2017) also note that library workers often need training on how to use inclusive language when working with LGBTQIA patrons.…”