The Intersection: Intellectual Privacy and Equity for Queer Library Users

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, librarians and library and information science scholars debated protecting privacy, providing extensive openness and access, upholding intellectual freedom principles, and advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion. Libraries – particularly their LGBTQI2SA+ materials, programming, and even opportunities to support these communities – are under siege. This comes at a moment when librarians and other library employees – like others in public-facing roles – face ever-increasing scope, asked to serve as social workers, educators, and providers of basic needs as well as librarians, with ever-thin budgets. Furthermore, libraries have, of necessity, relied on remote, digital solutions to meet the needs of their communities through the pandemic, increasing their patrons’ and stakeholders’ exposure to digital surveillance. These concurrent crises throw into sharp relief the enormity of libraries and their patrons’ challenges. This comes as the threats to LGBTQI2SA+ people and communities continue to increase around the world: ● Over 650 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced across the United States to date. ● The murder of Trans* people is at an all-time high in Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States. ● 71 countries “ban” homosexuality (Brown, 2023). The cascading pandemics of COVID-19, anti-queer attacks, resource restraints, and digital surveillance also highlight the critical need for a thoughtful, nuanced approach to longstanding ethical dilemmas. This paper will focus on the relationship between intellectual privacy and equity for queer library users (including but not limited to LGBTQI2SA+ people) and the impacts of our cascading pandemics on these users and their relationship to library services and marketing. Keywords: LBTQ; Privacy; Acess;