Matthew Woods LIBR 200 Term Paper

Running Head: How Do Transgender Individuals Meet their Information Needs?
How Do Transgender Individuals Meet their Information Needs?
Matthew Cornell Woods, Jr.
San Jose State University: LIBR 200
May 15th, 2012

How Do Transgender Individuals Meet their Information Needs? 2
Abstract
The information needs of transgender people have been researched only in passing.
Transgender people, due to poverty and stigmatization, need proactive support by public
libraries to fulfill their information needs. Transgender information needs are generally
autobiographies, particularly for transsexuals, and legal information regarding
transgender topics. Most transgender people receive their information from the Internet,
risking inaccurate health information. From the limited and indirect data it can be
assumed that public libraries perform poorly, particularly due to impolite staff and a lack
of materials. Solutions proposed are sensitivity training, proactive collection
management, and active outreach to transgender people. Martin and Mehra in particular
give extensive recommendations for improving public libraries.

The Importance ofthis Study
This literature review will describe the information needs of transgender people, how
they are met, and the role of public libraries in them. It will introduce the topic of
transgenderism, defining what it means and explaining types of transgender people such as
crossdressers and transsexuals. It will then discuss the information needs of transgender
individuals by exploring their interests and how these interests are fulfilled or not. The paper’s
focus will then shift to investigating the current status of public libraries in serving the needs of
transgender people, which, unfortunately, tend to be insensitive and lacking in transgender-
specific information material. The next section will be suggestions for improving how public
libraries serve transgender people, such as how sensitivity training and proactive collection
management can counter the current problems that public libraries have in serving transgender
information needs. The study will conclude with personal observations and suggestions for much
needed future study.
Research for this literature review reveals a scarcity of data specific to the information
needs of transgender people and how well public libraries fulfill those needs. Any research done
has not only been scant but has focused on “LGBT” patrons while practically treating transgender
people as an afterthought (Adams & Peirce,2006, p.1; Beiriger & Jackson, 2007, p.48; Mehra &
Baraquet,2007, p.546; Taylor, 2002, p.86).
Transgender people are a marginalized demographic. The transgender population is
unknown both because of their ability to hide who they are and their strong desire to do so
because of stigma. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) (2009b),
the transgender population in the United States ranges from 0.25%-1% of the population. While
this number may seem small, it still places the lowest population estimate at around 750,000
people, which is comparable to less marginalized demographics such as people who speak
Arabic, Italian, or Russian at home (U.S. Census Bureau,2011). Furthermore, the distribution of

transgender people in the US is practically identical to US population centers as shown in the
NCTE report (2009a, p.4). Given that transgender people are anywhere population is, libraries
must accept the need to serve transgender patrons and not deny their existence.
Transgender people are also economically marginalized. According to the NCTE, in the
US, 13% earn less than $10,000 annually compared to the national average of 7%. This
percentage is significantly higher for non-white transgender individuals: 23% for multiracial
people, 28% for Latinos, and 35% for blacks (NCTE,2009a, p.2). 47% of the transgender
population has been denied a job, a promotion, or continued employment. 97% of those
employed have experienced some form of mistreatment such as “invasion of privacy, verbal
abuse, and physical or sexual assault” (p.2). Due to these employment problems, many
transgender people experience severe housing instability, 26% require a change in sleeping
arrangements,11% undergo eviction, and 19% become homeless (p.3). Because of this
impoverishment, transgender individuals may need library services simply to live.
Defining “Transgender”
The term “transgender” is similar to “Christian” in that it refers to a group of people who
are diverse in spite of a commonality. Simple definitions will be used for the sake of clarity and
are not intended to force individuals into categories; they are simply based on the observations of
this paper’s author. For this purpose of this analysis, “transgender” means someone whose
gender does not match his or her sex. “Gender” means how someone is socially male or female
while “sex” refers to a person’s biology. Sex is most often binary—male or female—but, as with
intersexuals, this is not always the case. In this analysis, the terms “male” and “female” will refer
to sex, while “man” and “woman” or “masculine” and “feminine” will refer to gender.
Furthermore, this analysis divides transgender people into three types: crossdressers,
transsexuals, and intersexuals. Crossdressers are people who dress as a gender different from
their sex outside of special occasions (e.g. costume parties) but who do not desire to surgically
alter their sex. Male-to-female (M2F) cross-dressers are the better-known category of

transgender people due to the stigma of appearing feminine, which is associated with weakness.
There’s even a whole book, Sissyphobia,which discusses this form of bigotry. A male who
continuously wears feminine clothing is considered a cross-dresser,but not vice-versa. A female
has to exaggerate masculine characteristics (“butch” hair, a moustache, etc.) for Western culture
to consider her a crossdresser. This is not to say male cross-dressers don’t likewise exaggerate
their femininity, many do so to the point of androgyny or even “passing,” which is when male
crossdressers are indistinguishable from females.
While also transgender, transsexuals ultimately seek surgical alteration in order to
become one gender binary. Male-to-female transsexuals are better-known than female-to-males
on account of homophobic attitudes of dating a “trap” threatening to turn men gay. Unlike
crossdressers,transsexuals consider androgyny a “limbo state” that they want to escape from
(Johnson, 2010, p.674). Transsexuals differ enough from cross-dressers to have different
information needs, and these needs are discussed in the relevant section below. There are even
some cases where transsexuals would rather not be categorized as transgender or alongside cross-
dressers,such as with the group Transsexual Menace.
In addition to crossdressers and transsexuals are intersexuals, people born with both male
and female characteristics. They are often invisible due to the Western medical establishment
surgically altering intersexual newborns into one gender binary, as discussed in Sexing the Body
(Johnson, 2010, p.670-671). Little has been found regarding intersexuals in the literature
reviewed, so these cases will be discussed only when relevant.
Two last things must be stressed so that transgender people are not stereotyped, sexual
orientation and individuality. Being transgender has nothing to do with sexual orientation, a
male-to-female crossdresser is as likely to be attracted to only women as much as she is likely to
be attracted to men. Furthermore, the categorization of transgender people used for this essay is a
convenience. Transgender people are not only more accurately divided by age group than by

gender identity, there can be up to 61 gender and sex choices rather than this essay’s
simplification. (Beiriger & Jackson,2007, p.50-51; Johnson, 2010, p.667)
Literature Review
The literature review will be divided according to analysis by information needs and how
they are met, by the role of public libraries, and by proposed improvements to the current
situation. The most common trend for transgender information needs is an emphasis on Internet
use. Web sites can be accessed from any time of day, can be accessed through any device with
Internet connectivity (such as increasingly ubiquitous smartphones), and are better equipped to
provide updated information. In spite of the possibility of being monitored by intolerant schools
or family members, the Internet also provides a safe and easy means of networking with other
transgender people (Taylor, 2002, p90). A common specific information need is autobiography,
although Taylor mentions that more transsexuals than crossdressers prefer these since they need
social coping skills more than crossdressers,who are better able to hide their transgenderism
(Taylor, 2002, p.91-92). Because they want transitional surgery, transsexuals also want medical
information while crossdressers do not. Early in life, transgender people look for information
explaining the basics and causes of being transgender. Later in life, they become interested in
researching public policy and laws related to their rights or lack thereof (Taylor, 2002, p.93).
Articles describing how public libraries serve transgender information needs do so only
in passing; instead, articles describe how well libraries serve gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender-
queer-questioning patrons, which may as well be just gay and lesbian as every other non-
heteronormative demographic is ignored. One speculated reason is because the sexuality of
transgender people is more complex, and that their “coming out process is less episodic and more
of a continuum” (Beiriger & Jackson, 2007, p.46; Johnson, 2010, p.667-668; O’leary, 2005, p.46).
Several reasons account for transgender people being underserved, such as fear of library staff,
scarcity of transgender materials, and being disregarded as non-existent. Transgender people are
afraid to ask for help fearing unfriendly reactions, particularly anxiety among staff toward

sexuality-related subjects. Transgender materials are scarce to non-existent, and many libraries
aren't proactive with transgender materials based on the assumption that there are no transgender
people to serve. There is even less literature proposing solutions to inadequate information
accessibility. What there is proposes proactively working against poor service and collections as
well as active outreach.
Information Needs ofTransgender People
The author found only three pieces of relevant literature describing the information needs
of transgender people, once again showing the need for further study. To keep the literature
reviewed from becoming muddled, the articles will be presented alphabetically by the first
author’s last name. This section will be ended by a summary of the generaltrend regarding
transgender information needs, elaborating on the most notable.
Adams and Peirce in Is There A TransgenderCanon? (2006) have claimed that the most
basic information needs of transgender people are based on the desire to discover something
missing about them and to avoid cognitive dissonance, which is defined as discomfort with
holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. For transsexuals, having a body suggesting one gender
role with a mind suggesting another is a primary cause of cognitive dissonance (Adams & Peirce,
2006, p.1-2). Because the dissonance between sex and gender for transgender people happens
early the research focuses on early life information needs.
The researchers used snowball sampling to find transgender people to interview, starting
with family members and fellow church members and using them as a means to expand the
study’s respondent pool. The questions were about self-discovery of the participants’
transgenderism, how they were treated in society, and where they got their information (p.3). The
first information need the researchers found was the participants’ questioning their genders and
the reasons for negatively reacting to deviation from heteronormative behavior. However, all but
one of the participants didn’t even know that questions about gender in relation to sex was a need
in the first place and so tried to conform to societal gender expectations, with the outlier in the

study having an aware and supportive family (p.4). Survey participants generally didn’t even
know what terminology to apply to their statuses and so couldn’t even begin a search (p.5). That
young transgender people need this level of assistance shows the need for support from public
libraries.
In An Assessment of The Information Needs of Transgender Communities in Portland,
Oregon (2007),Beiriger and Jackson made no prior claims regarding the causes of transgender
information needs, though they were doing data collection for the National Network of Libraries
of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region and so more interested in application than theory. With
the aid of Outside/In, a clinic for homeless and uninsured teens, they distributed surveys to 99
transgender individuals asking about their information needs. The information transgender
individuals desired was,in order of descending importance: Legal info, Health info, Support
groups, Computers/Internet, Videos/DVDs,Counselors, Info on appearance,Trans fiction, queer
politics, Queer theory, Medical journals, Anatomy books, Memorabilia, General fiction, and Non-
English material (p.50).
The researchers summarized four information needs in particular: autobiographies,
transitional surgery, trans-friendly resources,and web sites. One noted need were personal
accounts of people who have already experienced a transgendered life. Autobiographies, by
transsexuals especially, were particularly emphasized. Also important are resources on the
components of gender transition, such as sex reassignment surgery, hormone replacement therapy,
and legal resources. The summary of trans-friendly resources and web sites was too concise and
articulate to paraphrase further and so will be quoted below:
Trans-friendly information resources are an essentialneed for members of these communities, especially in
the areas of employment, medical care, and counseling. Individuals requested “[i]nformation about
transgenderfriendly business/activities,” “accessible lists of transgender friendly places . . . local work
places,” “[l]ist of Drs. and therapist[s] with trans/queer/gay/&lesbian knowledge,” and “info for trans-
parenting . . . getting into college . . . and info for aging and being trans.”
Users also declared a strong desire for information via the Internet. Many indicated that “honest,helpful
Websites,” “a list of events that are trans-positive on your Website,” and “Internet information about SRS
[sex reassignment surgery] doctors” were priorities. One individual broke it down even further by
requesting “links to Internet resources, maybe categories or with summaries–like ‘sound medical
information’ or ‘unsound advice on hormones’ or ‘good discussion of how to come out to relatives’. . . to

help people find what’s out there and to help know how much to ‘trust’ it or where to start.” (p.54-55)
Again we see evidence that transgender people need outside support, they want
community support and even the wisdom of experience and the Internet alone isn’t helping.
Targeting The Information Needs of Transgender Individuals (Taylor,2002) is a report
based on Taylor’s survey of transgender individuals. She admits her survey’s flaws, namely the
15% response rate and the sample bias as participants were members of online transgender groups
and therefore more likely to use online resources (p.88-89). In the survey, Taylor differentiated
transgender information needs by whether crossdressers or transsexuals preferred them, and
whether they were preferred in early and current life. Regarding early information needs,
transsexuals are focused on coping in society and transitional surgery and therefore prefer
autobiographies (38.5% > 11.1%) and general information about transsexualism (76.9% > 50%).
Crossdressers favor non-biographical sources (66.7% > 38.5%), focusing on cross-dressing
(87.5% > 30.8%), makeup & appearance (100% > 26.9%), and hair removal (87.5% > 26.9%)
(p.91-92). For current information needs, Taylor has noted that 83.3% of the survey participants
had current information needs (provide explanation in paranthesis) whereas 40% of postoperative
transsexuals did not; the remaining 16.7% without information needs represented transsexuals.
The specific current information needs are well-summarized by Taylor and quoted below:
Respondents showed dramatically increased interest in public policy related topics.Employment
discrimination against transgenderpeople (37.8% from 15.9%), transgenderactivism (28.9% from 6.8%)
and transgenderrelated hate crimes (24.4% from 4.5%) showed markedly increased interest. Conversely,
there was less interest in topics associated with the initial exploration of genderidentity issues.The causes
of transgenderidentity (33.3% from 72.7%), accepting transgenderidentity (33.3% from 59.1%),
counseling (31.1% from 61.4%), appearance (26.7% from 47.7%), and support groups (22.2% from 63.6%)
experienced particularly large drops. (p.93)
That transgender information needs shift from personal betterment to personal survival
illustrates how essential their information needs are. The studies also emphasized that many
transgender people prefer to look up information online, due to the relative convenience and
anonymity it provides (Adams & Peirce 2006, p.5; Beiriger & Jackson 2007, p.51-53; Taylor
2002, p.90). However,the studies conducted in this area only surveyed transgender people with

Internet access as opposed to those who are homeless or otherwise too impoverished to use the
Internet frequently. Many transgender people have limited Internet access due to the
aforementioned socioeconomic disadvantages. Transgender teens may only be able to access the
Internet through school computers, which are notorious for censoring content (ACLU,2011).
Home computers are possible for transgender people who aren’t closely monitored by potentially
unsupportive family members. Even these social problems assume a transgender person who can
afford a computer, especially given the aforementioned career difficulties, or who has enough
skill in online searching to find non-pornographic websites (Adams & Peirce,2006, p5). But what
exactly is there online regarding transgenderism?
The University of Minnesota wanted to learn what websites were easily findable via
Google using transgender-based keywords. Excluding what they considered unsuitable, ~65% of
the results (Horvath et al 2011, p.4), the remaining 204 sites were categorized by intended
audience: transgender people, health professionals, and the general public. Among many other
trends, over half (58%) of the sites were for transgender people, most of the HIV sites (31 of 35)
were for health professionals while most body modification sites (12 of 17) were for transgender
people, and most sites aimed at the generalpublic were educational (26 of 39) (Horvath et al
2011, p.5-7). Numerous conclusions could be reached from the data but the researchers focused
on three. 1) transgender individuals are very active online, further engagement with the
community is ideal by there are concerns of inaccurate health information; 2) “majority of health
and HIV-related webpages appeared to target health professionals” either due to the lack of
people able to care for transgender people or the difficulty of caring for them; and 3) means of
establishing a site’s credibility were underutilized (Horvath et al 2011, p.8-9).
The particular focus of Hovarth et al on accurate HIV information underlies its
importance. The Internet has done great good in enabling communities and making peer
consultation readily available through web forums such as The Transgender Boards and Susan’s
Place, as well as allowing socially apprehensive transgender people to fulfill their information

needs. However,because transgender people are likely to seek advice from their peers,who
likely don’t know enough about medicine to give good recommendations, they run the risk of
acting on bad advice. Above all, transgender people need access to authoritative information,
particularly those people desirous of undergoing sex reassignment surgery. It because of this that
aid from in-person librarians is important, and will be covered in the next section.
Trend Summary: Information Needs
Adams and Peirce,Beiriger and Jackson 2007, and Taylor all mentioned the importance
of autobiographies and both of the articles covering later-life information needs mentioned the
importance of legal information. Those and other studies have concluded the heavy use of the
Internet among transgender people, bringing individuals together into a community but also
risking transmitting inaccurate health information. For this reason information professionals
should engage with and educate the transgender community.
HowDo Libraries Serve Transgender People?
Now knowing both transgender information needs and the importance of outside support
it’s important to ask how well public libraries support transgender information needs. Universal
to articles on this topic is that they all talk about LGBT patrons as a whole but have scant data
about transgender people. While there are enough similarities to make a useful analysis the lack
of transgender representation is concerning. The articles fortunately varied in focus such that a
broad perspective of problematic library service can be analyzed. An unexpected find during the
research were two articles about how transgenderism is categorized by the Library of Congress
Subject Headings (LCSH),which in turn affects people searching for information on
transgenderism. This section will be formatted as the last one, articles in alphabetical order by
last name of first author and a general trend summary at the end, but will be split into three rather
than two subsections. The first subsection will analyze articles about library service concerning
LBGT, and by extension transgender, needs. The second subsection will feature the LCSH
articles, and the third and last subsection will summarize the general trend of library service.

Library Service
Boon and Howard in Recent Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Fiction forTeens (2005)
analyzed the young adult LGBT fiction holdings in nine Canadian public libraries. Comparing
lists of selected and control titles to the actual holdings they found that LGBT YA fiction was
reviewed less than control titles (~8 to ~14 reviews) and were less available (~41 compared to
~68 copies of each title). The researchers also note that none of the YA novels have a
transgender character (p.135-136).
Ellen Greenblatt, in Barriers to GLBT Library Service In the Electronic Age (2001)
summarizes social barriers to LGBT people utilizing public library resources,listing
misinformation and prejudice of LGBT patrons, unavailability of LGBT materials, censorship of
said materials, and poor bibliographic access as the main problems. About 222 of 465 library
school graduates received no LGBT information during their education, and the likely cause of
librarians dismissing LGBT concerns. One librarian even denied that LGBT students were
present. It is likely because of this that 14% of libraries have no LGBT holdings, and 76% have
fewer than 150 titles in spite of 975 being published the preceding year. LGBT periodicals are
particularly problematic because the library has no control over what aggregators include in their
indices. Because many LGBT periodicals are for niche interests they not considered profitable
enough for inclusion. This may be why Transgender Tapestry,seemingly the only transgender-
specific periodical, is practically defunct.
In An Inductive Evaluation of A Public Library GLBT Collection (2008),Moss evaluates
the quality of the Louisville Free Public library LGBT collection and provides more information
on the non-availability of transgender resources. She compares the library’s holdings to a
checklist of 232 titles vetted by the LGBT community, only 6 of which were listed “transsexual”
titles and one was listed as “transgender.” Moss blames this on “transgender” not being an
official term until 2007, which will be discussed in detail below. The Library had only 74 of the
232 listed books, with only 3 transsexual titles and none of the only listed transgender title.

(p.153-154). While LGBT representation was poor overall the fact that transgender people are
non-represented within LGB and allegedly T is a serious problem.
Pink Perceptions (2005) is O’Leary’s study of the public library systems of Sheffield UK
and Denver CO, USA based on interviews of both librarians and LGBT patrons. However, while
“LGBT” was often used in the study none of the surveys had any transgender participants.
Regardless, this study is illustrative of neglected transgender needs and will be included.
Sheffield had far more problems than Denver but transgender patrons were poorly
represented in both cities. Of Sheffield, only two of the 27 libraries in the system had LGBT
collections and those were poorly circulated and outdated. The attitude of the Sheffield system is
one of callous indifference “that new LGBT material was considered a waste of money because it
had such low circulation numbers” (p.43). Another incriminating statistic is that Sheffield’s
ethnic minority population is 8.8% but the estimated LGBT population is 10% (p.52). The reason
given for the lack of library material is a lack of political representation from Sheffield’s LGBT
population. There’s a generalfear among LGBT patrons of asking for help lest their sexuality
become known (p.67-68). Worsening this is the catalog system that doesn’t accept keyword
searches,meaning a user must know a book’s title or author (p.46). The interlibrary loan system
was largely unknown and not advertised (p.44) and only one of the two branches with LGBT
material bothered to publicize this (p.47). While Sheffield appears to serve everyone poorly it
must be remembered that transgender people especially need library services.
While the Denver public library system was far more accommodating of LGBT patrons,
the librarians interviewed there said they found little transgender material to purchase (p.59, 62).
As with Sheffield, the Denver patrons surveyed had no transgender representation, possibly due
to self-selection as none of the local LGBT social and counseling groups replied to the
researcher’s initial inquiries. Furthermore, possible male-to-female crossdresser interview
participants at a pride parade “were too busy “primping”, were from out of town or did not use
the public library.” Some Denver respondents did note that transgender information was poor

(p.75, 78, 84). Here the problem is insularity and indifference among the potential users instead
of the librarians.
Stringer-Stanback, in Young Adult Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenderand Questioning
Non-Fiction Collections(LGBTQ) and Countywide Anti-Discrimination Policies (2009), assesses
LGBT young adult non-fiction collections in the American Southeast (four counties each of
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) by comparing a list of titles
“drawn from past Lambda Literary Foundation Awards,ALA Stonewall Awards as well as titles
suggested from an ALA GLBTQ Round Table bibliography” (2009, p.11) works to the actual
holdings during five different years – 1996-1998, 2000, 2003 – each year chosen to correspond
with the implementation of an ordinance protecting LGBT people. Her initial hypothesis was that
LGBT anti-discrimination policies would mean more LGBT material available in libraries (p.6-
7). Anti-discrimination policies had no immediate effect on a library’s LGBT material (p.28) and
that an average of 40.4% of the listed titles were collected in the selected county library systems
(p.29), but every system had 50%-100% of the year’s title’s in 2003 (15, 19, 22, 24, 27). Though
requiring further research beyond the scope of this analysis, it appears that anti-discrimination
policies protecting LGBT people have an indirect and long-term beneficial effect on the
information needs of transgender people. While transgender-specific tiles were in the minority
every year but 2000 had a transgender-specific title (p.33-34).
Trend Summary: Public Libraries
In spite of increased transgender awareness the overall trend isn’t good. Transgender
titles were scarce to the point that they had to be measured in whole numbers rather than
percentages,and transgender people never appear to a representative degree. It should be stressed
that these articles were found while researching specifically for public library service regarding
transgender information needs. It cannot be overstated that every single one lumped transgender
in with gay, lesbian, bisexual, questioning, and other non-hetreonormative demographics
receiving more than token representation. This correlates with the late representation in the

Library of Congress Subject Headings.
Transgenderism in the Library of Congress Subject Headings
While official subject headings given by the Library of Congress Subject Headings
(LCSH) may not seem immediately related to library service they determine not only how easily
patrons can use library catalogs but may even affect how patrons see themselves. Transcending
Library Catalogs (Adler,2009) briefly describes how official categories affect self-perception,
such as when searching for “Latinas” and getting “Libraries and the socially handicapped”
(p.311-312), and Transgender Subject Access (Johnson,2010) mentions that prior to 2007
“transsexual” was a “see also” reference to “gender dysphoria,” reinforcing the notion that gender
change is wrong (p.669). It is for this reason that official subject headings will be analyzed.
In Transcending Library Catalogs,Adler compared how the Library of Congress Subject
Headings and the social network LibraryThing categorized twenty award-winning books on
transgender topics. The goal was to compare how controlled vocabularies fared against
“folksonomies.” Adler’s concise explanation of controlled vocabularies is best quoted below:
Controlled vocabularies are designed to ensure uniformity and universality within and across library
catalogs or other information retrieval systems so that locating information is predictable and precise.
Subject headings are strings of words that are created and maintained by a group of authorities, such as the
Library of Congress, to help users find materials on a given topic. Headings are generally based on standard,
contemporary American English-language usage and are intended to reflect current literature.
The LCSH is a syndetic system, meaning that it connects related terms, synonyms ,or variants by using
cross-references.It refers users from nonauthorized terms to a valid heading. Online library catalogs
provide links to “See also” and “Use” references so that users can choose the authorized terms for their
searches.Within bibliographic records, subject headings are also linked to a browseable list of works with
the same subject headings. (p.313)
While institutions maintaining controlled vocabularies are very careful about what
subject terms become official, both for the aforementioned reasons and because of the cost of
implementing any changes, folksonomies are the opposite in every way. Folksonomies, unlike
controlled vocabularies, are non-hierarchical classification systems based on informal consensus
(315-316), which cost nothing to implement and use terminology already adopted by the user
base. However,folksonomies are disorganized and vague without human oversight. As
examples, the many permutations of LGBT are not always automatically considered synonymous

with each other by the system (p.316), and the definition of “genderqueer” was idiosyncratic on
LibraryThing (p.326). Adler’s recommendation is for folksonomies based around controlled
vocabularies rather than choosing one or the other (p.328). Since transgender people have been
shown previously in this analysis as extensive Internet users,Adler’s solution appears optimal.
Matt Johnson’s Transgender Subject Access (2010) gives a brief history of how the
Library of Congress Subject Headings handled transgender topics and compares it to other
controlled vocabularies, important since “Transgendered people” and “Transgenderism” were not
officially recognized by the LCSH until 2007 due to the term’s relative novelty, having only been
coined in the late 1980’s (Adler, 2009, p.321; Johnson, 2010, p.666-667; Moss, 2008, p.154).
Only private institutions, each with their own idiosyncratic thesauri, cataloged the terms until
their official introduction into the LCSH (p.664-665). While the LCSH has gradually improved
over time, Johnson shares Adler’s suggestion of appending “user-generated vocabularies to be
mapped to more established and authoritative ones” (p.675).
Recommended Solutions
Presenting a litany of problems only serves to agitate and alienate the audience unless
they are given a list of solutions. This final section will present articles giving just such lists.
The articles will be organized in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name, but the general
trend summary will be tied into the conclusion. Due to this essay’s space considerations and the
extensiveness of the recommendations this analysis will only give the most cursory summaries
and will be limited to “brick-and-mortar” institutions. Because so many of the solutions listed are
similar this analysis will focus on what each article most uniquely contributes.
In Service focus committee: Transgenderpeople report (2007), Grimm et al. report on
how well the Oak Park Public Library their facility, adheres to its policies of service and
inclusiveness towards transgender patrons. While they find the library’s service adequate they
pointed out many places for improvement both throughout the report and listed in the 35-point
summary (p.13-15). One suggestion that is implemented as of 2011 is a separate heading for the

Transgender Resource Collection, which will be summarized with Wexelbaum below. Space
constraints prevent the posting of the entire 35-point list but suffice to say the report presents a
good model for other libraries to support transgender information needs.
Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender and questioning teens (2008), by Martin Jr
and Murdock, presents a more comprehensive guide for public libraries wanting to serve LGBT
teens. The book is divided into two large parts: serving LGBT teens in the library and lists of
recommended LGBT materials. The former are concisely summarized by the table of contents:
understanding the community, identifying information needs, offering effective service and safe
spaces,providing readers’ advisory and reference interviews, using guiding principles to build a
collection, identifying and acquiring collection components, integrating LGBTQ themes into
everyday programs and services, finding and implementing the right pace of change (p.v-vii). To
elaborate any more on this will literally does take an entire book. The second part of said book
provides recommended materials in the form of 34 categorized lists and an annotated
bibliography of 50 top picks (p.141-173, 176-186). While transgender titles are still in the
minority they are not neglected in this guidebook for librarians.
Mehra and Braquet are notable in having written to papers together about solutions to
public libraries not serving transgender information needs. In both of them, the authors use data
from participant observation and qualitative studies of “community narratives” to determine
social barriers to LGBT individuals, which they use as the basis for required “community actions”
librarians should do on behalf of the LGBT community. The key differences are that in A “Queer”
Manifesto of Interventions for Libraries to “Come Out” of the Closet! (2006) they provide a list
of problems and recommended library interventions related to the coming-out process (p.9-10)
and an eight-point manifesto for librarians to provide interventions designed to make libraries
LGBT community centers (p.17-19). In Library and Information Science Professionals as
Community Action Researchers in An Academic Setting (2007),they present solutions designed to
counter the “top ten” barriers to LGBT patrons (p.553-554) and a list of support services designed

to meet LGBT information needs (p.560-561). The recommendations in both articles are
extensive and can form a basis for servicing transgender patrons.
Seborg’s workshop plan Library Services for Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender &
Transsexual Patrons (2004) is a non-technical workshop with three objectives and three
emphasized skills. It also contains an outline, a bibliography, web resources,and a workshop
evaluation but these will not be elaborated on in this discussion. The workshop’s objectives are
bringing attention to LGBT needs, suggesting how to create a safe environment for LGBT
patrons, and teaching “development of quality services and materials for GLBT patrons through
example and discussion” (p.1). This third objective is the core of the workshop and the method
of teaching the three skills: providing reference services,collection development, and community
support. Providing reference services is taught through listing possible needs and identifying
possible references. Collection development is determining both what LGBT material meets the
library’s quality standards and how quality will be defined. Community support is being
supportive rather than neutral to LGBT concerns and it consists of a role-play where the
participants answer uncomfortable reference questions. Notice how collection development, and
community support tie into providing reference services. This is a valuable resource for
librarians who want to conduct sensitivity training but don’t know how.
In Redefining Diversity (2008),Switzer argues that the meaning of “diversity” regarding
student patrons, and the special services they receive, should be expanded beyond ethnic and
racial minorities and instead mean “any student who differs from the typical college student with
regard to abilities, age, gender/sexuality, nationality or ethnicity, and locale” (p.281). Though
this article is pertaining to Kresge Library at Oakland University in Rochester,Minnesota rather
than public libraries, and the demographics aren’t specific to transgender people or even LGBT
people, the guidelines are still applicable to improving service to transgender people. In that
regard what was emphasized was the creation of a social environment safe from persecution and
bigotry, known as a “safe space.” Initiating this is a campus-wide advocacy group called S.A.F.E.

On-Campus with the goal of providing support services to students with LGBT-related problems
(p.293-295). Again, the recommendation is for libraries to be proactive.
In Wexelbaum’s column Confessions of a Librarian (2010) she interviews Bleue Benton,
developer of the Oak Park Public Library’s (OPPL) transgender-specific collection. Benton
explains that the Transgender Resource Collection is the result of an extensive proactive effort on
the part of the OPPL staff, most notable the 2007 report at the beginning of this section. Rather
than have the transgender collection in one physical location and risk patrons feeling
uncomfortable being seen browsing in an explicitly transgender area,each book was classified
normally but listed as part of a special collection that users could search via the online catalog.
That this approach is the exact opposite of Sheffield’s indifferent approach should serve as an
example for librarians wanting to serve transgender information needs.
Conclusion
It can be assumed based on the extremely limited data available that transgender
information needs are somewhat being fulfilled by the Internet but are hardly at all fulfilled by
public libraries. It should be stressed that this conclusion is a generalization based on limited
sample sizes and research focusing on LGBT patrons overall while overlooking transgender
library patrons. A lack of transgender materials and ignorance of transgender needs were seem
endemic to public libraries. Solutions focused on countering these problems as well as having
public libraries act as community centers.
This author’s recommendation is for future studies into how the Internet and public
libraries serve transgender information needs, as well as implementation of the solutions to poor
library service discussed earlier. Other avenues of research include how information needs vary
among sub-categories of transgender people (briefly mentioned in Taylor’s study), Internet access
levels of impoverished transgender people (e.g., prostitutes), or possible information literacy
programs tailored to the transgendered. With the level of knowledge about search strategies and
databases information professionals have it would only take five minutes of one’s time to change

the life of someone whose life may depend on accurate information.
References
ACLU. (2011, February). Don't filter me: Web content filtering in schools.Retrieved from
http://www.aclu.org/dont-filter-me-web-content-filtering-schools
Adams, S., & Peirce,, K. (2006). Is there a transgender canon?: Information seeking and use in
the transgender community. Canadian Association of Information Science. Retrieved
from www.cais-acsi.ca/proceedings/2006/adams_2006.pdf
Adler, M. (2009). Transcending library catalogs: A comparative study of controlled terms in
library of congress subject headings and user-generated tags in librarything for
transgender books. Journal of Web Librarianship,3(4),309-331. doi:
10.1080/19322900903341099
Beiriger, A., & Jackson, R. M. (2007). An assessment of the information needs of transgender
communities in Portland, Oregon. Public Library Quarterly,26(1-2),45-60. doi:
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Canadian public libraries providing adequate collections?. Collection Building,23(3),
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Greenblatt, E. (2001, Janurary). Barriers to glbt library service in the electronic age.Retrieved
from http://libr.org/isc/articles/12-Greenblatt.html
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(2007). Service focuscommittee: Transgender people report. Retrieved from
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Horvath, K., Iantaffi, A.,Grey, J., & Bockting, W. (2011). A review of the content and format of
transgenderrelated webpages. Health Communication,1-10. Doi:
10.1080/10410236.2011.610256
Martin, H., & Murdock, J. (2007). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenderand questioning
teens: A how-to- do-it manual for librarians. NewYork,NY:Neal-Schuman Publishers,
Inc.
Mehra, B.,& Braquet,D. (2006). A “queer” manifesto of interventions for libraries to “come out”
of the closet! a study of “queer” youth experiences during the coming out process.
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from libres.curtin.edu.au/libres16n1/MehraBraquet.pdf
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