{"id":16426,"date":"2017-02-01T17:43:26","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T22:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16426"},"modified":"2017-02-01T17:43:26","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T22:43:26","slug":"library-wants-lgbtq-views-on-how-to-better-serve-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/library-wants-lgbtq-views-on-how-to-better-serve-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Library wants LGBTQ+ views on how to better serve community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir
\n<\/strong>
\nLGBTQ+ youth often feel they don\u2019t have the safe spaces to speak out on the issues that matter to them, and how the community can best address those needs. But, the Aurora Public Library wants you to know they are one of those safe spaces and they want to hear from you.
\nThis month, the Aurora Public Library (APL) will launch a series of workshops with LGBTQ+ youth and adults to hear more about the needs of the community and how the Library can serve.
\nAPL recently launched its new strategic plan entitled \u201cA Place of Possibilities,\u201d which will help guide the direction of the library through 2021. The strategic plan focuses on community-led initiatives and dynamic conversations with the community on what the Library is, and what it could be.
\n\u201cWe want to learn about our strengths, our gaps in service, needs and priorities,\u201d says Claudia Olguin, Coordinator of Community-led Initiatives for APL. \u201cIn other words, we want to learn how APL can better serve the LGBTQ+ communities.\u201d
\nOver the past three years, APL has been working to improve their LGBTQ+ collections when it comes to books, movies, and other media. They have received positive feedback, particularly from youth, to say these efforts are appreciated, but they know there is more that can be done, whether it is special programs or ways to adjust service to make APL even more accessible.
\n\u201cPart of the reason why we\u2019re doing this is because we happen to have a staff member, me, who can offer at least one point of view,\u201d says Polly Ross, APL\u2019s Children\u2019s Librarian, a member of York Region\u2019s lesbian community. \u201cBut, obviously this is an area where one point of view isn\u2019t enough. As the Children\u2019s Librarian, what I want to do is make sure LGBTQ families and young people feel welcome and find the books they need. In general, I would like us to be more aware that the assumptions we\u2019re making aren\u2019t always correct when we deal with people. That is something everybody in public service needs to begin to think about when it becomes more and more accepted that gender and sexual identity are a continuum. We\u2019re dealing with that, along with everyone else, pretty much, especially in North America.\u201d
\nThe next steps in addressing that are the focus groups.
\nThe first focus group will take place at the Library on Wednesday, February 15, from 7 \u2013 8.30 p.m., with a conversation open to LGBTQ+ youth in the Aurora community. A second focus group, geared towards adults, will take place Wednesday, March 15 at the same time.
\nFor Claudia and Polly, it is very important to begin first with the youth, but they do face some challenges in reaching this demographic.
\n\u201cPolly and I were discussing how we could set up the groups and we came up with the idea of having two focus groups because maybe a 17-year-old wouldn\u2019t feel as comfortable being in the same meeting as a 12-year-old, or maybe the needs wouldn\u2019t be the same,\u201d says Claudia.
\nAdds Polly: \u201cI definitely wanted to have one for youth because this is a place where I really think we can make much more of a difference. If you\u2019re a high school student and you\u2019re just coming out, or you\u2019re just transitioning, nobody ever really feels safe, but those people feel really unsafe. If we can be a safe place and offer books that say, yes, this is okay, this is how you\u2019re allowed to be, and be a place where they can be who they feel they are is really important.
\n\u201cIf the youth want to come, I want them to know that they are safe, 100 per cent. If they don\u2019t want to identify themselves, that is okay. We\u2019re not going to demand to know people\u2019s names, where they\u2019re from, or how they identify. If there is anything you think we can change to make things better for you, please get up your courage and come. We would really appreciate it and do our absolute best to make you feel safe and comfortable.\u201d
\nWith the Library focusing on technological literacy as well as traditional literacy, there is also room for gender literacy, they say.<\/p>\n

To reserve your spot in either focus group, visit www.aurorapl.ca or drop in on the evening itself.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LGBTQ+ youth often feel they don\u2019t have the safe spaces to speak out on the issues that matter to them, and how the community can best address those needs. But, the Aurora Public Library wants you to know they are one of those safe spaces and they want to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/2017-02-02-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4gW","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 16:23:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}