On May 12th, 2021, I attended “Open Resources for LGBTQ Studies,” facilitated by Elvis Bakaitis and Kate Angell from the Mina Rees Library at the CUNY Graduate Center. This workshop provided an overview of finding openly-licensed or freely accessible subject-specific resources, including archival repositories, OER textbooks, open access scholarship, and some CUNY-based resources. OER advocates and users often note the significant gap in LGBTQ+ open resources, so I wanted to share a few of the resources that were explored during this workshop:
- Digital Transgender Archive
“The purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world. […] By digitally localizing a wide range of trans-related materials, the DTA expands access to trans history for academics and independent researchers alike in order to foster education and dialog concerning trans history.” - The Homosaurus
“The Homosaurus is an international linked data vocabulary of LGBTQ terms that supports improved access to LGBTQ resources within cultural institutions. Designed to serve as a companion to broad subject term vocabularies, the Homosaurus is a robust and cutting-edge vocabulary of LGBTQ-specific terminology that enhances the discoverability of LGBTQ resources.” - Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies
“This textbook introduces key feminist concepts and analytical frameworks used in the interdisciplinary Women, Gender, Sexualities field. It unpacks the social construction of knowledge and categories of difference, processes and structures of power and inequality, with a focus on gendered labor in the global economy, and the historical development of feminist social movements. The book emphasizes feminist sociological approaches to analyzing structures of power, drawing heavily from empirical feminist research.” - Lesbian Herstory Archives + Lesbian Herstory Archives Audiovisual Collection
“The Lesbian Herstory Archives is home to the largest collections of materials about lesbians in the world.” - LGBTQ Studies Commons
“The Digital Commons Network brings together free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide. Curated by university librarians and their supporting institutions, the Network includes a growing collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work.” - LGBTQ+ Studies: An Open Textbook
“This textbook is designed to provide an introduction to and an overview of LGBTQ+ Studies for the introductory level college student and the curious public. […] Designing an openly licensed textbook for LGBTQ+ Studies embodies the spirit of the political struggle for the rights of gender and sexual minorities that also animates the field itself. This textbook is designed to be free for everyone to use; it is community-oriented, and a cultural production grounded in the struggle to challenge stereotypes, silences, and untruths that have long been circulated about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans* folk, queer and non-binary peoples, our histories, and our cultures.” - Making Gay History podcast
“The Making Gay History podcast mines Eric Marcus’s decades-old audio archive of rare interviews — conducted for his award-winning oral history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement — to create intimate, personal portraits of both known and long-forgotten champions, heroes, and witnesses to history.” - QZAP: Queer Zine Archive Project
“The mission of the Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) is to establish a “living history” archive of past and present queer zines and to encourage current and emerging zine publishers to continue to create. In curating such a unique aspect of culture, we value a collectivist approach that respects the diversity of experiences that fall under the heading “queer.””
Additional Information
- Archiving Black Lesbians in Practice: The Salsa Soul Sisters Archival Collection, by Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz
- As More States Require Schools to Teach LGBTQ History, Resources for Teachers Expand, by Olivia Waxman
- Supporting LGBTQ-Inclusive Teaching: How Open Materials Can Help, by Sabia Prescott
- Tour of QZAP & Interview with Chris & Milo, Co-Founders
And much more!
For more information on LGBTQ-related resources, please contact the Information Technology and InterLibrary Loan Librarian and liaison for Gender and Sexuality Studies Kel Karpinski (they/them) at kkarpinski@citytech.cuny.edu
For more information about OER and other open resources, please contact OER Librarian Cailean Cooney (she/her) at ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu
Print this page
Thanks Jo for sharing these resources and drawing attention to the programming of our colleagues at the G.C., Elvis Bakaitis and Kate Angell!
And a nerdy librarian point, thanks for pointing the City Tech community to librarians they can reach out to with subject expertise!