‘I can’t even read straight’: Exploring the influences on LGBTQ+ library collections through an artificial-intelligence-mediated parallel-synthesis-scoping-review approach

A small but mature body of literature around LGBTQ+ library collections is available to researchers and practitioners. Using a novel method – the parallel synthesis scoping review – the authors have incorporated artificial-intelligence-enabled topic modelling into the traditional scoping review method to explore the underlying factors influencing the collection of LGBTQ+ materials in libraries. This review was supported by a systematic scoping search of five databases (Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts; Scopus; MEDLINE; Embase; Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), with blinded screening and data extraction. Parallel synthesis led to a framework charting stakeholders against an Outreach ↔ Censorship Continuum. It includes 16 forms of censorship and outreach, and 8 underlying influences that encourage behaviours towards either censorship or outreach. The authors further find that the framework is a manifestation of a struggle between two competing visions of safe spaces, in which librarians have used many strategies to resist censorship and ensure that their collections provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ library patrons.