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The 'Libraries in the Depression' theme for this issue was proposed on the Library History Round Table (LHRT) listserv prior to the 2009 American Library Association (ALA) meeting, and the [...]

What do searchers find when they look for literature on homosexuality? This question has profound implications for older as well as younger gays in their coming out, as well as in their subsequent identity development. Library records provide credible data to answer the question, since they represent relatively free sources of information, unlike data from bookstores, publishers, and some World Wide Web sites. The records of WorldCat, the world's largest union database of library records, comprise over 30 million records listed in the Online Computer Library Center. For the purposes of the study, 18,757 records listed under 'Homosexuality,' 'Gay Men,' and 'Gays' were downloaded; records for 'Lesbian' and 'Lesbians' were not examined. Findings of the study suggest that while there has indeed been considerable growth in terms of the quantity of gay literature produced since 1969, such gains may be offset by the deteriorating quality of cataloging copy, which makes the experience of browsing records a discouraging and confusing one. KEYWORDS. Gay literature, gay publishing, libraries, gay subject headings, search terms, databases, gay nomenclature, OCLC

The State Library and Archives of Texas: A History, 1835-1962. By David B. Gracy II. Foreword by Peggy D. Rudd. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010. Pp. [xxxviii], 226. $45.00, [...]

The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South; Or, Leaving Behind the Plow. By David M. Battles. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2009.182 pp. $40.00. ISBN 978-0-8108-6247-0. [...]