Hearing and being heard: LGBTQIA+ cross-disciplinary collection development

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share how informal cross-disciplinary outreach methods can increase the development, awareness, investment and circulation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) collection in an academic library. The authors believe the methods shown here may be used to develop any collection, as well as increase awareness and use of a collection. Design/methodology/approach Through five different low-stakes outreach strategies, the authors connected directly with campus faculty and students across disciplines to ask for suggested items to develop an endowed LGBTQIA+ collection. Outreach was performed via email to faculty and student clubs, and by attending campus facilities, events and committees. Assessment reviewed the collection’s item count and circulation reports before and after outreach. Findings Purchasing items to develop a collection does not always need to be the result of one librarian’s research. Engaging the campus community in the expansion of the endowed LGBTQIA+ collection resulted in substantial growth of items in the collection, as well as substantial growth in the collection’s circulation. Involving faculty and students from multiple disciplines in the suggestion process is one way to build and ensure a collection is relevant to a variety of interests, with an added result of increased circulation. Originality/value This approach is a unique example of how to use low-stakes engagement to discover items to purchase for a large endowment while increasing interest and circulation of the collection. The case study also explores how to embark on collection development in ways that effectively and sustainably reach beyond one academic discipline. Yet, the authors believe this study’s examples could also be used successfully within a single discipline.