About Jackson

I am a recent Library School graduate from Wayne State University’s School of Library and Information Science, where I just earned my MLIS.  I have interned with Teen Librarians at four different libraries in the US and Canada.  My primary professional interest is developing programs and collections for teens/young adults, as well as readers advisory for teens–particularly LGBTQ teens–but am constantly developing new interests as I am exposed to new ideas.

I see issues of librarianship (and issues of everything, really) as political issues and get frustrated when professors, classmates or peers try to water down the issues and expect me to do the same.  Thankfully, I have connected with a lot of amazing library professionals who inspire me every day.

I am a gay man with a trans history.  This has formed a huge part of who I am, how I think, what I care about, what I do and what drives me.  This is not meant to be only a  “Queer/Trans Librarian” blog, but as a (lowercase) queer/trans librarian, I can’t separate the “queer/trans” from the “librarian,” and I don’t intend to try, so I’m sure it will come up in the places someone would least expect (and probably sometimes the places people would most expect too.)  That being said, there are a lot of other issues surrounding librarianship and literacy that I care about and if I don’t care about something yet, it’s probably because I just haven’t talked to the right person or read the right article yet.

I am incredibly committed to promoting strong trans characters and themes in teen literature.  I have spent time reviewing trans teen books and creating resources for librarians and readers on what is out there.  It is important to me to create buzz amongst smart, hip, rad transfeminists about the importance of good literature for teens going through the struggles many of us went through only a few years ago.  I have other projects in the works to hopefully encourage and promote trans lit for teens as an emerging genre, but for now, you can access (or add to) my ever-growing list of literature for trans youth.  (Please keep in mind that this is a list of literature for trans youth that exists, not necessarily literature that is good so I recommend you read, or at least research any title on the list before recommending it to anyone.  Hopefully someday there will be enough awesome teen lit for trans youth to make a substantial list of the best books.)

Other things I am: white, raised middle class, able-bodied, a hearing person, a Toronto resident, an American who has lived in California, Rhode Island (Providence) Oregon (Portland), and most recently, Michigan (Detroit) , a former vegetarian, a person who hates cucumbers, a transfeminist, an animal lover, a gay man, agnostic, a brother, a son, a friend, a dad to a cat and a dog and a lot of other things, I’m sure.

Follow this blog on Tumblr at jackdoeslibraryschool.tumblr.com, follow me on Twitter at @jacksonradish and read my reviews on GoodReads at goodreads.com/jackrad

*The posts on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions or opinions of any library, school or other institution with which I am affiliated.