Trans and Gender Diverse Voices in Libraries

Book cover

This book centers the lived experiences of trans and gender diverse people in LIS work and education. All authors and editors are self-identified trans and gender diverse people. The book can be ordered through Library Juice Press here. Find an interview with the editors on the New Books Network podcast here.

Below is the table of contents, with links to sections that can be read for free (Introduction and chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, and 49).

• Introduction (Adolpho, Krueger, & McCracken)
• Section 1: Personal Experiences
  • 1. Reflections of a Non-binary Asian-American in LIS. Alvina Lai. Keywords: Asian American, Chinese American, non-binary, early career librarian, tokenization
  • 2. “And What Would We Have Been If We Were in the Stacks?” A. Gamble. Keywords: cataloging, internet culture, poetry, school libraries
  • 3. Multiple Identities in a Trench Coat: Navigating Library Systems While Black and Trans. Bran Eveland Cron. Keywords: coming out, first-generation students, anti-Blackness, non-binary, microaggressions
  • 4. On Fear, Professionalism, and Being That Trans Guy Library Technician. Caleb Nault. Keywords: health science libraries, library technician, student, fear, visibility
  • 5. A Different Breed of Cat: Finding My Queer Self. Karl G. Siewert. Keywords: genderqueer, non-binary, coming out, exploration, self-definition
• Section 2: LIS Education
  • 6. I Don’t Want to Write This, or, Against Explanation. Jess Epsten. Keywords: MLIS student, academia, genderqueer librarian, invisible labor, burnout
  • 7. Being Seen. Blanca Hernandez. Keywords: student, BIPOC, microaggressions, LIS classroom experiences
  • 8. “Freaky Gender Fluidity”: Navigating Distance Education as Nonbinary LIS Students in a Default Cisgender Environment. Anonymous. Keywords: LIS students, online learning, nonbinary, transphobia in the classroom, experiences with LIS faculty
  • 9. Genderqueerness in Bloom. Monica Hunasikatti. Keywords: Desi, South Asian Indian, generqueer, non-verbal communication, fashion
  • 10. Genderqueering the MLIS. Anonymous. Keywords: student, genderqueer, nonbinary, misgendering, being out in academia
  • 11. Operationalizing Bias. Calvin Cantina. Keywords: LIS PhD programs, transphobia in education, medical issues, librarians against information science
  • 12. Two Sides of a Coin: Individual and Institutional Support for Non-Cisgender LIS Professionals in Academic Institutions. Kai Fay. Keywords: academic libraries, graduate school, online learning, transitioning, transphobia in the classroom
  • 13. No Gender, No Title. Notte A. Gherl. Keywords: library school, public libraries, queerphobic policies, gender expression, genderqueer
  • 14. A Nonbinary Experience of an LIS Program: Advice for Faculty. Zara Offner-Hernandez. Keywords: LIS education, nonbinary, navigate, inclusion
  • 15. Gender Class at Zoom University. Viola. Keywords: non-binary, LIS education, online learning, Zoom
• Section 3: Public Libraries
  • 16. A Conspicuous and Wondrous Bloom. Nathaniel Heyer. Keywords: transition at work, coming out at work, public libraries, patron interactions, library instruction
  • 17. Holding onto Dreams. A.E. Baker. Keywords: coming out at work, public libraries, nonbinary
  • 18. Embodied Multitudes: Resistance and Healing Beyond the Margins. M. Reed. Keywords: Indigenous migrant experience, gender fluid and queer, white supremacy culture, trauma, healing through decolonization
  • 19. Standing Out. Jayne Walters. Keywords: public libraries, trans woman, coming out at work, role model
  • 20. I’m Not. Alex Byrne. Keywords: masculinity, non-binary identities, public trans narratives, trans (in)visibility, perceived men in youth services
  • 21. Transphobia and Healing in a People-Pleasing Profession: Reflections from a Public Library Employee. Cal the Saprotroph. Keywords: burnout, codependency, coming out, accountability, allyship
  • 22. Isosceles Triangle Out of the Box. Mondo Vaden. Keywords: intersectionality, DeafBlackTrans, gender euphoria, DEI
  • 23. Transgender Circulation Blues: Service Positions in Librarianship and Transphobia. Remy Biggs. Keywords: circulation, management, community service, social justice
  • 24. Call Me by My Pronouns (and I’ll Call You by Yours). Ari Mahrer. Keywords: nonbinary, pronouns, public libraries, presentation, transmasculine
  • 25. Luck of the Draw: Coming Out, Transition, and How a Supportive Work Environment Helps. W. Arthur Maurici. Keywords: public libraries, social transition, transition at work, patron interaction, supportive work environments
  • 26. A Rainbow Sticker on Every Door: A True Story. AC Hunter. Keywords: public Libraries, Australia, casual contracts, non-binary
  • 27. What’s a Gender Like You Doing in an Institutional Bureaucracy Like This? Hypatia Jones. Keywords: transphobia, coming out, urban libraries, children’s services
• Section 4: Academic Libraries
  • 28. I Remember, or the Transmigration of Hazel Jane Plante. Hazel Jane Plante. Keywords: academic libraries, trans women, transition at work, coming out, transphobic events
  • 29. Thirteen Books. Avi Bauer. Keywords: transmasculine, law libraries, passing, disclosure
  • 30. My Name Is Max. Max Bowman. Keywords: self-deprecation, coping, isolation
  • 31. On Being Seen, on Being Legible, on Being: A Black, Agender Perspective on a Career in Libraries. Adrian Williams. Keywords: agender, non-binary, Black American, academic libraries
  • 32. Nail Polish Epiphany. Mark Bieraugel. Keywords: non-binary, clothing, professionalism, gender expression, authenticity
  • 33. Survey Headaches. Katherine Deibel. Keywords: survey, self-identification, academia, inclusive data collection, microaggressions
  • 34. Thank You for Calling the Research Assistance Desk, This Is… L.E. Eames. Keywords: agender, phone reference, academic libraries, library instruction, voice dysphoria
  • 35. A Queer Queer: Academic Librarianship as an Autistic Nonbinary Person. M.P. Green. Keywords: disability, Autism, Spectrum Disorder, non-binary, academic libraries
  • 36. Boundary Setting as a Non-Binary Librarian and Facilitator. Amy Gilgan. Keywords: non-binary, genderqueer, boundaries, facilitation, library instruction
  • 37. METALLIC INGENUE: Reflections of a Trans Woman on Transition, Stealth, the LIS Field, and Heavy Metal. Larissa Glasser. Keywords: academic libraries, trans women, coming out, disability, heavy metal studies
  • 38. Gender Inclusivity Trainings at Academic Libraries: Two Case Studies. Kylie Terra Burnham. Keywords: gender 101, workplace training, allyship, transitioning, coming out
  • 39. Classroom Disrupted: Being Trans and Disabled in Library Instruction. Debbie Krahmer. Keywords: academic libraries, information literacy instruction, disabilities, trans elder
  • 40. 650_0‡a Libraries ‡x Moral and ethical aspects ‡v Handbooks, manuals, etc. jocilyn wagner. Keywords: ethical dilemma, hypothetical scenario, career trauma, dossier building, overcoming professional adversity
• Section 5: Archives and Special Collections
  • 41. Trans Archival Practice: Cultivating Public Memory, Investigating Professional Boundaries. Aiden Faust. Keywords: transmasculine, coming out, community archives, academic libraries
  • 42. Getting the Trans Thing: Assigned Identities, Invisibility, and Anonymity. Gideon Goodrich. Keywords: non-binary, archives and special collections, ethical description, misgendering, cisnormativity
  • 43. Reflections: An Indigenous Non-Binary Experience in Archives and Libraries. Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey. Keywords: non-binary, archives, public history, personal reflection, Indigenous
  • 44. Appreciative and Cautious: Thoughts on Community, Libraries, and the Spaces Between. Sophie Ziegler. community archives, oral history, trans history, Louisiana Trans Oral History Project
• Section 6: Professional Reflections
  • 45. Visions of Liberation: Notes by a Trans Puerto Rican Librarian on LIS Oppression. Khalila Chaar-Pérez. Keywords: transgender BIPOC, social justice, LIS education, vocational awe, counternarratives
  • 46. Asking the Bigger Question: The Problem with LGBT+ Allyship in Libraries. Jordan Dias Correia. Keywords: serving transgender patrons, transphobia, transgender support in libraries, library social media
  • 47. Remixing LIS Leadership: Considering Gender-Variant BIPOC–Are we there yet? kynita stringer-stanback & Lorin K. Jackson. Keywords: Audre Lorde, BIPOC, DEI, disability
  • 48. LIS-Gendering: A Dialogue on Gender Diverse Labour in Libraries & Archives. Brian M. Watson, G Trupp, Magnus Berg, & M’issa Fleming. Keywords: equity, workplace environment, microaggressions, trans competency, precarious labor
  • 49. Bursting into the Building. Freyja T. Catton. Keywords: job searching, disability, nonbinary, accessibility, surveys
  • 50. all i am is grieving. kas. Keywords: transphobia in LIS, the paradox of tolerance, institutional trans-antagonism
  • 51. Towards an Illegitimate Present. Caleb Simone. Keywords: trans imaginaries, normativity, legitimacy, futurity
• Section 7: Leaving Libraries
  • 52. Burnout and the Binary. Evan Held. Keywords: burnout, leaving the library profession, changing careers, nonbinary, workplace protections
  • 53. Pushed Out: Why I Left Libraries and Stayed Gone. Loren R. Klein. Keywords: paraprofessional, coming out at work, public libraries, leaving the library profession