1. Introduction Finding the Right Pace for Change Program Examples Book talks Displays Banned Books Pride Month National Coming Out Day Straight Allies “Did you know they were Gay?” Book Labels Discussion Group Queer Zine References Programs for LGBTQ Teens in Public Libraries By Kristy Bass School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, University of Missouri, Columbia Speed 1- Red Light Subtlety is key Avoid “loud” LGBTQ themed programs Provide displays that heighten LGBTQ universality Speed 2- Yellow Light LGBTQ themed discussion group Have teems write a queer themed magazine or blog Have a pride month display of LGBTQ titles Provide displays for other important days on the queer calendar. Invite queer authors and authors of LGBTQ books Speed 3- Green Light Push the envelope! Design exciting programs to attract a large group of teens (regardless of their sexual identity) Any program can be given a queer twist Create a gay-straight alliance Queer T.V. Night LGBTQ Web Page Gay-Straight Alliance “Living Library” project Anti-Prom LGBTQ Programs in Missouri I emailed several public libraries across Missouri these questions: Does your library currently have any programs for LGBTQ teens? Why or why not? Of the 11 librarians that responded to me, 100% said they do not provide library programs for LGBTQ teens. Here are some of their comments: “I had not thought about doing programming targeting this group. Nor have we had any suggestions for this from our patrons.” “We have trouble with getting teens to show up for programs in general... This is a small community and a good turnout is 15 teens at program. We don’t have the population or the staff to have a specialized program just for LGBTQ teens.” “We at the Licking Branch of the Texas County Library are not familiar with this program. Also, it is a reason why we are not using it here.” “We presently do not have any teen programs at our library. We tried for several years and teens did not attend. However, we order LGBT books for teens.” “There is no perceived demand. Our 30 branch system goals are based on a recent community survey processed by OrangeBoy a professional service. Serving LGBTQ audiences was not one of the major outcomes of the needs assessment. “ Kilgannon, Corey. "A Prom for Students Who Don’t Want One." Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 6 June 2011. Web. 08 May 2013. Levine, Marty. "Gay-Straight Alliance Goes City-wide." Pghcitypaper.com. Pittsburgh City Paper, 2 Feb. 2006. Web. 07 May 2013. Martin, Hillias J., and James R. Murdock. Serving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens: A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2007. Print. "NYPL Anti-Prom 2008." YouTube.com. YouTube, 17 Sept. 2008. Web. 08 May 2013. Parks, Alexander F. "Opening The Gate." Young Adult Library Services 10.4 (2012): 22-27. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 May 2013. Why do we need programming for LGBTQ teens? 5-6% of teenagers in the U.S, Today are lesbian, gay, or bisexual 90% of queer teens have been verbally or physically harassed in the last year Queer teens are four times more likely to attempt suicide and account for 1/3 of successful suicides. Libraries need to reach out to these underserved teens