We’re less than one month out from Pride month, and with it, the programs, book displays, and conversations about LGBTQ+ identity and history across the USA and beyond. For libraries, Pride has traditionally been a month for joyful displays of queer books, with periodic and predictable complaints. But several years into surging book bans, escalating violence, and swift-rising fascism, it is important to prepare for the upcoming month of events to anticipate all that has, does, and might arise.
For the last several years, I’ve put together a how-to guide to Pride displays in libraries. This is intended to help library workers consider where and how to showcase LGBTQ+ books, programs, and other materials throughout June; it’s not prescriptive, but rather, a means of thinking about how to champion marginalized identities in your community next month and beyond. If you’re not a library worker, let this be an opportunity to plan not only what to do when you see a Pride display in your local library but also to take action and write to your local library board about how important it is that the libr...
English (US)