” The Other is an individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging, as being different in some fundamental way. Any stranger becomes the Other. The group sees itself as the norm and judges those who do not meet that norm (that is, who are different in any way) as the Other.“ Thank you Lila Melani at Brooklyn CUNY for the above quote. Check out her information – she gives a nice summation of the other.
I think libraries are very open to “removing” the other; however, are we reaching out to marginalized communities? I want to investigate libraries and information agencies on ways they deal with “otherness”. Some of it can be seen in safe zones for the LGBTQI community but what else are we doing? Are we addressing the other in our collections, through our services? What are we missing and can we ever alleviate all effects of the other?
This reminded me of a great post I read about LGBT topics on social networks like StumbleUpon. It was a great insight into something I had not previously considered! Here’s the link to it – http://socialmediahied.com/2011/02/stumbleupon-and-social-networking-sites/