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Publication Title

Queers Online: LGBT Digital Practices in Libraries, Archives, and Museums

Document Type

Chapter in a Book

Publication Date

8-2015

Abstract

An increasing percentage of LGBTIQ information seekers desire online resources over print. The rise of EBooks—cheap, convenient, and available online—have led a significant number of LGBTIQ readers to abandon libraries and bookstores for Amazon and other online EBook providers. Meanwhile, public, academic, and school librarians have been slow to assess the user needs and format preferences of LGBTIQ patrons, and continue to focus on the acquisition of print LGBTIQ books and access to these materials. While more publishers are providing EBook versions of LGBTIQ titles, and authors are giving permission to digitize “classic” LGBTIQ works, public library EBook collections such as Overdrive, as well as academic EBook collections made available through EBSCOHost, Electronic Book Library (EBL), JSTOR, Project MUSE, and ProQuest ebrary do not include the number of critical LGBTIQ titles that they should. This chapter will address the challenges of LGBTIQ EBook acquisitions, the dire need for quality LGBTIQ EBooks, and challenges to global LGBTIQ EBook access.

Comments

This chapter first appeared in Queers Online, and appears with the generous permission of the publishers, Litwin Books for LibraryJuice Press, as

Wexelbaum, Rachel, ed. Queers Online: LGBT Digital Practices in Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books, LLC. 2015. (ISBN: 978-1-936117-79-6) Number six in the Litwin Books Series on Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies, Emily Drabinski, Series Editor.

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