Publications and Research

Document Type

Book Chapter or Section

Publication Date

1995

Abstract

The proliferation of publications in the lesbian, Gay, bisexual, and transgender press has allowed the weaving of a well-informed network of previously isolated individuals and communities, empowering and unifying lesbian, gay, and other sexual minorities," Dan Tsang and Polly Thistlethwaite wrote in the introduction to the 'Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender' section of Katzes' 1995 edition of Magazines for Libraries. This title review of the queer periodicals of the day was intended to serve as a guide and justification for 'mainstream' libraries' collection building. The number and range of titles in Thistlethwaite and Tsang's collaborative entries (1989, 1992, and 1995) far exceeded any mainstream library collection known to either of the authors who were nevertheless hopeful that libraries would expand their gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender periodical holdings to better serve their communities. "Lesbian and gay publications form the infrastructure of the communities." Tsang's expertise about the 'alternative press' grew from his librarianship, his scholarship, his activism, journalism, and his extensive personal collecting; Thistlethwaite came to know the queer press by tending the periodical collection at the Lesbian Herstory Archives. The entry in this edition expanded its title to include Bisexual and Transgender. It also notes the ascendance of well-marketed gay 'lifestyle' publications, and the rise of small press zines and erotic magazines by people of color in counterpoint. The introductory essay mentions the advances in coverage for glbt periodicals by mainstream indexers as a result of activism and advocacy by the American Library Association's Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Comments

This work was originally published in "Magazines for Libraries", edited by Bill Katz and Linda S. Katz and published by Bowker. It is made available here with permission of the editors

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