LGBT OPAC Guide

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LGBT Research Guide

Finding LGBT in the Library's Online Catalog

SUBJECT SEARCHING KEYWORD SEARCHING OTHER SEARCHES FINDING LGBT FICTION

The extent of UIUC Library's book, serial, and electronic holdings of LGBT materials is difficult to estimate given the highly interdisciplinary nature of studies in this field, but they are considerable and growing. Formats include books, journals, magazines, newspapers, video recordings, government documents, CDs, and DVDs. The majority of materials is housed in the Main Bookstacks and in the following departmental libraries: Education and Social Sciences, English, History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library,which also has microfilm holdings of LGBT newspapers, Modern Languages and Linguistics, and the Undergraduate Library. The collection supports the teaching and research needs of faculty, students, and scholars in a variety of disciplines across campus, and materials are frequently loaned to users in other Illinois academic and public libraries. In turn, the holdings of 54 other academic libraries in Illinois are also available for direct requesting by UIUC Library users via Illinet Online. For additional information, see the UIUC Library collection development statement for LGBT Studies.

Locating LGBT materials in the Library's online catalog (Illinet Online) is less challenging today than it was twenty years ago thanks to updated Library of Congress (LC) subject headings and the availability of keyword searching in the online catalog. It is certainly a more rewarding experience than in years prior to 1950 when all materials in this area were listed under the now obsolete LC subject heading "sexual perversion" in the old card catalog. (The curious may want to refer to A Chronology of LGBT Related Terms in the Library of Congress Subject Headings.)

SUBJECT SEARCHING

Despite the improvements noted above, a few challenges in subject searching remain; for example, even in 2003, the Library of Congress (to whose subject headings the UIUC Library adheres) has yet to adopt either Transgender or Queer; as valid subject headings, and Intersexuality is still cross-referenced to the term Hermaphoditism. A partial list of useful LC headings for subject searching in Illinet Online follows below. Consult information literacy guides and handouts for specific information about performing subject searching. Users may find the information in Using WorldCat to investigate how LC subject headings are related to one another helpful in mining additional LGBT related LC subject headings.

* African American lesbians
* African American gays
* Asian American gays
* Gays (refers to lesbians AND gays as a group)
* Gay (as an adjective - Gay bars, Gay couples, Gay parents, etc.)
* Gay men
* Gay liberation movement
* Gays' writings
* Homophobia
* Homosexuality (refers to the sexuality of lesbians AND gays)
* Bisexual men
* Bisexual women
* Bisexuality
* Gender identity
* Lesbian (as an adjective - Lesbian clergy, Lesbian mothers, etc.)
* Lesbianism
* Lesbians
* Lesbians' writings
* Sex change
* Sodomy
* Transsexualism
* Transsexuals
* Transvestism
* Transvestites

KEYWORD SEARCHING

Keyword searching allows you to search one or more fields of a bibliographic record in the online catalog without having to know the "authorized" subject heading. While it can be a very useful type of search, particularly if the term you are using is specific, it can reap many irrelevant records if the term has multiple meanings or uses. For example, a keyword search on the specific term Transgender , which is not an LC subject heading, across all fields will currently yield over 70 relevant records (but only records in which the term appears somewhere). However, a keyword search on the term Dykes will, indeed, retrieve records for Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For series, but also all books in the Library's collection about the kind of dykes that hold back water, geologic dykes, or writers whose last name is Dykes. Nonetheless, keyword searching can provide a good access point. If it retrieves one record relevant to your topic, you can then click on that record's subject headings link to find additional relevant records. For additional information on keyword searching, consult information literacy guides and handouts.

FINDING LGBT FICTION

Until recent years, the Library of Congress (and hence most libraries) did not add subject headings to works of fiction (novels, short stories, poetry, plays). Luckily, this is beginning to change and now topical (e.g., "Gay men--Fiction), geographic (e.g., "Chicago (Ill.) Fiction"), and genre headings (e.g., "Lesbian mystery stories") are being added to new works of fiction. However, most older fiction still does not have subject headings. Fortunately, many excellent bibliographies and Internet resources are available to help you access LGBT fiction. Some useful fiction subject headings to try in Illinet Online are:

* Lesbians Fiction
* Gays Fiction
* Gay men's writings
* Lesbians' writings
* Bisexuals' writings
* Transsexuals' fiction

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