Thank you for Andra Lim’s profile of the Rae Lee Siporin LGBT Center Library, “Library has come a long way” (Sept. 19). I hope this thoughtful report will encourage more students to come explore the library and the special collection it houses.
I was quoted as saying that the LGBT Library is unlike a “regular library” because it focuses on creating a “safe and welcoming” environment. I intended to differentiate the Siporin Collection from more traditional libraries in terms of its circulation policy, not to impugn the sensitivity or ambiance of any other institution.
Our library is unique in that we attempt to accommodate users who might be hesitant to self-identify for any number of reasons, but our primary purposes are to serve the students of UCLA, provide whatever information we can to anyone who needs it free of charge or intellectual interference, and to support the lifelong learning of the scholarly community. In that respect, our library really is quite regular.
Roderic Crooks, Co-president of Library and Archive OUTReach