The Pride Library Mandate

The Mandate of the Pride Library is to acquire, preserve, organize, and give public access to information and materials by and about lesbians, gay, bisexual, trans and queer communities (LGBTQ).

The Library seeks out to collect, acquire, and conserve the evidence of LGBTQ, scholarship and writings; and to aid those people who are curious or are conducting scholarly research on sexuality.

The Pride Library believes in and advocates for the freedom of information and expression in order to facilitate dialogue, debate and criticism on issues relating to sexuality and sexual expression.

The Pride Library aims to foster LGBTQ studies at Western in a coalition-building environment that occurs across traditional boundaries between disciplines, institutions and communities.

The Pride Library thus functions as:

a) a library;
b) an archive;
c) a social space;
d) the resource centre for the Gender, Sex and Culture Minor.

The main purposes of the Pride Library is:

• To foster LGBTQ studies at Western;
• To collect, document, and conserve the evidence of local LGBTQ history;
• To build the existing collection of books, periodicals, and documents;
• To create research tools for accessing published, unpublished, and online information on LGBTQ topics from the many fields currently conducting scholarly research on sexuality;
• To counteract censorship on all fronts by making LGBTQ writings, documents, images, and other resources publicly accessible in an academic context fostering dialogue, debate, and criticism;
• And to provide all of the above in a coalition-building environment that cuts across traditional boundaries between disciplines, institutions, and communities.