Week 14 Prompt

Whether to pull out genres from the collection or file fiction exclusively by author is a difficult question in and of itself; however, pulling out genres such as GLBTQ and African American fiction when not generally filing by genre, raises even more questions and issues.  I understand the appeal for readers of browsing books by genre; however, many books will be difficult to locate as they could be classified in multiple genres.  In addition, I believe that pulling out genres that represent minority viewpoints and shelving them in a specific area does seem a bit like segregation of ideas.  This would make the genres easier to find for those that are looking for them, but readers who may be interested in the books may not specifically look at those genres.  In my opinion, all fiction should be shelved by author with reader’s advisory aids such as brochures, lists and displays used to help identify books in a particular interest.  In the library where I work, many fiction titles also have genre stickers on the spine which readers can use to identify specific subjects.  This could be used to identify African American and GLBTQ literature; however, I am even hesitant to suggest this with minority viewpoints as I feel like this might marginalize the author and the literature.

  For example, I consider Walter Mosley, first and foremost, a mystery writer.  His Easy Rawlins novels are well known and beloved by mystery fans.  However, he is an African American writer and his novels primarily consist of African American characters.  So, if we pull him out of the regular fiction shelves and file him in a specific location designated for African American literature, many readers trying to locate his novels may not be able to locate them immediately.  In addition, the whole concept of having an African American literature section seems to give the impression that African American literature is somehow different from regular literature and will only be of interest to a specific audience.  If the library is set up by genre in general, this further complicates the issue.  Does he belong with mystery or African American literature?  This questions is indicative of why I feel like shelving by minority viewpoint such as African American literature or GLBTQ is marginalizing.  As a reader, I would like my genre sections to include multiple world views available in that genre, neither including and excluding viewpoints.

Jeffrey Eugenides novel, Middlesex, is another example.  This Pulitzer Prize winning novel might be considered a GLBTQ novel as one of the main themes is gender identity.  However, the author is not a GLBTQ author generally and pulling this novel out of the main collection and filing it under GLBTQ marginalizes the novel and only speaks to one aspect of the book.  On the other side of the issue is the concept that novels that are primarily GLBTQ novels, when filed separately, will only be found by those purposely seeking them out as GLBTQ.  As all lovers of literature know, reading allows us to explore another worldview and shelving books from minority viewpoints separately, reduces the likelihood of this happening.

For a number of reasons, I believe patrons are best served when fiction is shelved by author and reader’s advisory resources are used to identify books with specific themes and categories for reader interest.  This allows for readers to browse the shelves and find interesting items by happenstance but also allows readers and librarians to find what they are looking for.  From a practical standpoint, it also reduces the stress on catalogers, pages and librarians in cataloging, shelving and locating items.  While this may seem like a secondary issue, if they are not able to correctly complete these tasks this can provide a negative patron experience.