The Queer Liberation Library, or QLL (pronounced “quill”) for short, is an upcoming, Ohio-based digital library focused solely on carrying queer-related eBooks and audiobooks.
The library, which is staffed entirely by volunteers, is currently raising funds in anticipation of their planned October 2023 launch.
“We’re really committed to making it a collection that reflects the diversity of queer lives and imaginations,” said Amber, a librarian and a member of the QLL team.
The Buckeye Flame sat down with the QLL team to discuss their project, why they feel it is important and how people can support them. Click play directly below to listen to our chat or read our conversation underneath.
Could you all introduce yourself and your position is in the Queer Liberation Library?
Kieran: My name is Kieran (he/they) and I am the founder and delegation manager.
Amber: I’m Amber (she/her). I am a librarian, so I bring a lot of the experience of the library world. I’ve worked in public community and academic libraries. And I’ve also been doing some of the research as we’ve needed it along the way to help build this project.
Erik: My name is Erik (he/him). I’m an Aries. The team lovingly refers to me as the business gay. I work in the private sector in consulting and have been able to come on the team and help scope the project that we’re trying to do and build the product of the library.
Amber: We also have a few team members that weren’t able to be here today. But you can find everybody on our website under the about tab.
What is the Queer Liberation Library? Can you give a run through of what it is you are building and why?
Amber: Queer liberation Library is a digital library by and for the queer community. So that means that all of the materials in our collection are going to be queer in some way, shape, or form, and that all of those materials will be digital. It will have eBooks and audiobooks and will be accessible anytime, anywhere for queer folks across the entire country, as long as you’ve got Wi-Fi and a device that can access the internet.
What kinds of books will you have? Will there be materials besides books?
Amber: We go into a little bit more detail about the materials that will be in our collection, and our entire approach to how we’ll go about acquiring those in our collection development policy, which is also available on our website. But to summarize, it’s mostly going to be books, both fiction, all genres, and nonfiction. And we’re really committed to making it a collection that really reflects the diversity of queer lives and imaginations.
What differentiates the queer liberation library from a neighborhood public library?
Amber: The biggest difference between us and your local public library is that our entire collection, our entire library, as I mentioned before, will be queer, whereas only a fraction of your public library’s collection is. And, you know, there are a lot of really fantastic public libraries out there that are actively working to include stories and LGBTQ voices. But there are also others that for a lot of reasons, whether that’s really tight budgets or a hostile board, aren’t able to do that. So our hope is that we can reach some of those people that aren’t being served as well by their local library, or who’s access may be actively threatened by the ongoing censorship at the moment.
Why did you decide to embark on this project? Did the rising anti-LGBTQ+ political climate play a role in that?
Kieran: I would say that it definitely played a role but isn’t necessarily the only factor. Amber and I both have experience volunteering specifically in queer libraries in Canada. As much as like, the current political climate is very much a threat and maybe where the germination of the seed of the idea came from, it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I was thinking about it for years before the censorship and before the LGBT backlash has gotten so much worse in the last couple of years. But I know that Amber and I have been thinking about queer libraries for longer than that.
Amber: I think it’s been about what, five years or so?
Kieran: -ish. In terms of the original, like, oh, maybe we could do one of these. The current political climate definitely lit a fire under our butts to actually do it instead of just thinking about it and talking about it. It’s becoming very clear that something like this needs to exist so that people can access information about themselves.
Why did you choose the name queer liberation library?
Kieran: We wanted to ground the library both in history and in the future at the same time. We’re intentionally referencing the Gay Liberation Front from the 70s and the initial queer movement from the past and trying to bring that attitude into our current time where we maybe need to be a little less friendly in our activism. We know that queer ‘s a bit of a divisive term in the community, but we definitely chose queer on purpose. We use it with love for everyone in the community, whether they identify specifically as queer or not. We’re using it both as an indicator that we’re not of heteronormative versus normative values. Both queer as an identity but also to queer as a verb. And then liberation- that’s just the goal, you know, that’s the idea. That’s the hope, that’s the pray. That’s sort of where that all came together.
Could you talk about when the library will be launching and how people can access it and use it?
Erik: Right now we are in the midst of our first big fundraising push. The size of the amount of people we can service through the library and the size of our collection are directly correlated to how much we can raise during this initial fundraising push. We are hoping to launch the library in October 2023. There is somewhat of a gap between the end of our fundraiser on July 7 and October, but we are a 100% volunteer team. Our entire board is giving up their Sunday mornings and their afternoons to make this a reality. We’re initially hoping to partner with Overdrive, who runs the Libby app. So you’ll be able to access the library and sign up for a library card both on our website and the Libby application itself. And it will be free to use so long as we have the funds to continue allowing members on.
How can people find out more and help support the project?
Kieran: To find out more you can check out our website at queerliberationlibrary.org. And from there you can donate to our fundraiser. That would be awesome. We are fiscally sponsored and a 501c3. So any donations are tax deductible. The other places you can reach us would be our social media pages. We’re on Twitter, we’re on Instagram, we’re on Tumblr at queerliblib.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Amber: I would just add that we’re really excited to be able to do this and to build this for the whole community. All of the messages that we’ve gotten so far, especially since launching the fundraising campaign, whether it’s in the little drawings that you can put in the donation comments and gifts and messages across social media, have been really touching. It’s driven home even more why people care about this, why they’re excited about it, and why it matters to them. 🔥
Ignite Action
- Learn more about the Queer Liberation Library by going to their website and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Tumblr.
- Support the Queer Liberation Library by going here.
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