Thing 16 - Advocacy & Publishing

Recently I've been working as an advocate for the LGBT community, particularly as represented in our public libraries. A small group of us have started building a project to create an 'alternative scene' for the LGBT community & we have been successful in convincing the local libraries of the importance of the library role in this type of project. The aim of the project is to make the LGBT scene more inclusive in itself as well as making public services more socially inclusive as a whole, to create cultural & community partnerships, to raise awareness of the Community's issues & needs within the "straight" community. Public libraries are therefore a vital element of this project, & it is just as important to the libraries to be involved. The public library is supposed to be one of our social & community hubs that can act as a base point or link for everyone, particularly those belonging to disenrachised or minority groups, through to a wide range of communities or information without bias or prejudice. It is also just as important for libraries, particluarly in the current climate of cuts, to be able to maintain their social inclusion infrastructure & enable themselves to build relationships with different audiences & generations.
Which is why we thought a library project might be the best place to start as it would offer us the chance to make contact with a wider audience as well as having the opportunity to take the project in a number of different directions.
So at the beginning of the library stage of the project we conducted a survey of the LGBT services & stock available - sadly I could've counted on 1 hand the number of gay/trans books/DVDs availble & as for lesbian literature (zero). Our first job therefore was to lobby the library to raise awareness of the lack of support & representation of the LGBT community & get them on-board to begin building our community project. So far we have created a whole new LGBT collection, inc. books & DVDs for all elements of the community, which was launched last Thursday with a film screening & drop-in session. As part of the project, & as a result of my being able to develop my blogging skills through this course, I was given the opportunity to be responsible for some of the marketing, including creating an LGBT in Libraries blog (http://lgbtinlibraries.blogspot.com/ ). Now that the collection is up & running the library part of the project will, hopefully, continue to develop to include new services such as LGBT reading groups that will not only bring more people into the library but will also (fingers crossed) bring more people to join the LGBT Community Project. Greater public support is going to be a big issue for the next stage of the project as it will involve working in partnership with the whole LGBT community to find out what they want in an alternative scene, as well as lobbying the local Single Equality Coalition & various council departments to help us begin to set it up & keep it running (gulp!). If there's anyone out there who has had any experience of convincing local councils to support community projects, any advice on how to persuade them to at least hear us out & hopefully come on-board gratefully received. Thanks.