Queer affordances of care in suburban public libraries

Abstract

Public libraries are more than the materiality of their built form and collections. Within ever-widening mandates to enhance social inclusion and citizen emotional and physical well-being through micro-political practices of care, this paper addresses the resourceful community resilience that insider activist and ally librarians may foster for LGBTQ + suburbanites. Turning its attention to Canadian suburban public libraries in three case study peripheral municipalities (Mississauga, Brampton, and Ajax) in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), this paper draws on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with librarians to identify affordances of care selectively available for sexual and gender minorities. Following its original usage in psychology of perception scholarship, affordances are understood as the perceived differential, functional, and relational possibilities of objects, places, and people for action. The range of affordances of care discussed in this paper include: LGBTQ + -positive space iconography; LGBTQ + Pride book displays, reading lists, and book marks; and LGBTQ + book clubs, writing workshops, and story times. These empirical examples are used to explore the performative progressive limitations of suburban public libraries.