LGBTQIA+ Issues Discussion #3: Collection Development
16 July 2024
In week 4, you are asked to identify resources for LGBTQIA+ Collection Development. Pick your favorite 3 and give a brief description and how they are useful. (Make sure to include links!)
I'm quite glad this module nudged everyone towards finding some good queer collection resources, since other than the assortment of publisher newsletters I'm subscribed to, I only seem to stumble across queer books either whenever a writer I respect recommends something(s), or simply sheer happenstance. I'm also collection what everyone's putting forth in a spreadsheet for future reference, which I suggest everyone do instead of having to dig around a bunch of Canvas pages like I'd been doing 'till recently.
Anyway, I'll start with something that I knew of before but never used until now: the Queer Comics Database, which is exactly what it says it is: a database of 600-something queer comics, tagged and searchable by gender identity, romantic/sexual orientation, age group, genre, character ethnicity, and more; all somehow retrofitted into a WordPress site. This includes comics published through traditional publishers, independent presses, and even webcomics. I'm not sure whether it's largely maintained by the creators themselves or crowdsourced by the user submission form, as it's lacking a lot of standouts from the latter two categories, but the focus on traditional publishing likely makes it useful to find things that can be easily vetted for "respectable" public display. Nonetheless, it's still a fantastic resource.
Another kind of database, and one I'm hoping will be useful for my collection evaluation assignment is the AroAce Database, which is, of course, is a database of aromantic and asexual characters in fiction books. Its search parameters are more focused around searching specific characters than the stories they're in, an approach I find a little strange, yet are equally robust, allowing searches by what type of asexuality or aromanticism, narrative importance, relationships to the character(s) around them, and even if their aroace-ness is explicit or confirmed by their author. From my estimation, a lot of the books therein are self- or indie-press-pubbed, which is a nice bonus if you're making an effort to pick stuff up from authors without wide recognition.
And speaking of small publishers, a personal highlight for me has been finding the University of Wisconsin-Madison's list of Women’s, Feminist, and LGBTQ+ publishers through one of Dr. BG's presentations. There seems to be a complete absence of comics publishers, which is very strange (or perhaps not given that this is from academia), but the focus on prose fiction covers a pretty significant gap of my queer self-publisher knowledge. It's also morbidly nice to have the list of publishers that have shuttered their presses over the years, if only to know why whatever obscure formative book of someone's suddenly becomes difficult to find if such a fate befalls its publisher.