A Few Words about Transgender Resources
By Lezbrarian | July 23, 2012
In my experience, gender identity can be an intensely complicated and misunderstood thing. There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding people who identify as transgender and the process they may go through to match their body to their identity. As librarians, we are dedicated to serving everyone in the community. We are bound by ethics to provide information freely, and in order to share that information we must know it or at least where to find it.
Transfolk often get lumped into the Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay community, but as information consumers, their needs are quite different. As promised in my previous post I will provide a brief overview of the Oak Park Public Library's self-evaluation statement and the steps they have taken to better serve the transgender community.
FACILITIES
Restrooms can be a very dangerous place for Transfolk, and The Oak Park library observed a need to make changes to their restroom facilities. The Library had women's restrooms and men's restrooms with locking stalls. Also had 2 single use restrooms currently labels as "girls" and "boys." It was recommended that both be signed as unisex to facilitate safe and comfortable for transgender individuals.COMMUNICATION
Staff were educated and made aware of gender stereotypes...
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More library-oriented Transgender resources here:
http://oppl.org/collections/transgender-resource-collection/library-toolkit
