Librarianship is a feminized profession, and like teaching, nursing, and social work with which it shares the occupational traits of a "semi-profession," its low status and prestige have been attributed to a negative feminine image. To date, discussion of a corresponding male librarian image, general male issues, and the broader topic of gender issues has been minimal within the profession, while serious discussion of gay male librarians and their professional identity has been virtually nil. This study compares the responses of straight and self-identified gay males to an exploratory survey of male members of the American Library Association. The topics covered by the survey include reasons for entry into the field, the existence and identity of a male librarian stereotype, and gender issues generally, including gender stratification of work and sexual discrimination and/or harassment. Self-identified gay subjects share many characteristics in common with the straight cohort, including the identification of a gay male stereotype and some denial surrounding gender equity issues. On the other hand, the tentative findings of this exploratory study raise the question of whether both gay and straight male subjects overestimate the number of gay men in librarianship. The report concludes with an update on gay issues within the profession since the survey was completed, and recommendations for further research.

What do searchers find when they look for literature on homosexuality? This question has profound implications for older as well as younger gays in their coming out, as well as in their subsequent identity development. Library records provide credible data to answer the question, since they represent relatively free sources of information, unlike data from bookstores, publishers, and some World Wide Web sites. The records of WorldCat, the world's largest union database of library records, comprise over 30 million records listed in the Online Computer Library Center. For the purposes of the study, 18,757 records listed under "Homosexuality," "Gay Men," and "Gays" were downloaded; records for "Lesbian" and "Lesbians" were not examined. Findings of the study suggest that while there has indeed been considerable growth in terms of the quantity of gay literature produced since 1969, such gains may be offset by the deteriorating quality of cataloging copy, which makes the experience of browsing records a discouraging and confusing one.

Abstract:The development of library service in the southern states occurred in a supposedly reconciliatory period of American history following the Civil War, but the reforms of Reconstruction, the indigenous remnants of "southern culture," and feelings of isolation from larger professional affairs bred dissent and feelings of estrangement between natives and outsiders. This article relates "the southern problem" to early key events in southern library development and current fractures in American cultural politics. Article:Those still dazed by the tawdriness of style, if not the content, of the 2004 election campaign, with its predictable diversions and sideshows, should consider the journalistic garbage dredged up in past presidential campaigns: Andrew Jackson shot a man who insulted his wife, Rachel Donelson, because he had claimed their marriage was not legal; James Buchanan, the bachelor president, lived for years in Washington with Alabama senator Rufus King, who was skewered in the press as "Miss Nancy"; and FDR and his First Lady were variously characterized by enemies of the administration as Jew-mongers, miscegenationists, and Communists.

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