FAQs
Some of our Frequently Asked Questions.
If you have a question that isn’t here, please feel free to reach out to librarian@queerliberationlibrary.org for clarification!
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Queer Liberation Library (QLL, pronounced “quill”) is a queer digital library that makes queer literature, information, and resources available to our library members across the United States.
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Any word spoken with hatred towards someone is a rude thing to say. However, we are choosing to continue the strong tradition of reclaiming words used against us. When we say queer, this is a statement of love, pride, and power for our non-cisheteronormative siblings.
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This offers our users a fast way to navigate away from our site if they ever suddenly find themselves in an unsafe environment to be browsing LGBTQ+ materials. Our Quick Exit bar takes you to weather.com, a site we hope is neutral.
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We are a devoted team of beautiful, brilliant, and variously-skilled queer people. Read about what we stand for and who we are here.
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So glad you asked! A queer library is a special library that focuses on supporting and representing the LGBTQ2IA+ community. This means our holdings, resources, and programming will be titles written for, created by, and/or of interest to people in the LGBTQ2IA+ community.
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This library is different from your public library because we are not bound by local, regional, or state funding or politics to provide these resources.
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We have both ebooks and audiobooks for patrons to check out!
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Yes and no. The top banned books always include queer titles, and that’s important to acknowledge and fight back against. We want everyone to have access to LGBT literature. There has been a wave of anti-queer and anti-trans efforts and legislation in the last few years, and as librarians and queer people, we believe that access to information is vital to the queer community. While banned books are certainly part of that equation, it’s also true that even if books aren’t banned in an area, they may simply not be purchased or prioritized, whether due to a tight budget or due to homophobia. The readers in those areas deserve access to LGBT stories no matter the reason.
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We’re so glad your public library is able to supply those titles to your local, geographic community! However, even in your community, someone who is closeted or in an unsafe home may not feel comfortable to browse or check out the LGBT shelves at your library. Our priority is to reach the people who currently do not have access and to help make queer literature accessible to those people, while still respecting the privacy and complexity of the queer experience. By donating, those are the people you’re supporting!
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You can donate right here!
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We’d love to accept, though the process is a little complicated since we're a digital library. Because we can’t accept physical copies, PDFs, or other digital files at this time, in order for you to donate a copy of your book, we can accept a monetary donation for the cost of the number of copies you’d like to donate. Send us an email at librarian@queerliberationlibrary.org to let us know you're interested in donating the cost of your book!
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We are! We are a fiscally sponsored nonprofit through NOPI – Nonprofit Incubator!
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Yes! You can apply for QLL membership here.
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No! Becoming a member is free of charge. However, if you can, we’d really appreciate it if you could make a donation so we can keep this service free for those who can’t donate!
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It may take up to one week for us to process your membership applcation. If 7 whole days go by and you haven’t heard anything from us, check your spam folder, and then email librarian@queerliberationlibrary.org for support.
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For now, QLL is US-based and focuses on serving the United States queer community. We hope and plan to be able to provide global access at some point in the future, but at the moment we cannot do so.
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In order to access the collection, you’ll need the Libby App on your device or you’ll need to sign in to the OverDrive website. For information on how to get Libby, check out the OverDrive Resource Center here.
If you have any other questions that were not answered in this FAQ, please email us your question at librarian@queerliberationlibrary.org and we will get back to you as soon as we can!