About Que(e)ry

Mission Statement:

Que(e)ry’s goals are:

• to raise financial support and awareness for queer libraries, archives and museums

• to encourage community among queer information workers and their friends and allies

• to celebrate and encourage diverse representations and contributions of queer people in the cultural record and in the information professions

• to demystify and challenge stereotypes about libraries and library workers

• to promote the relevance and accessibility of library collections and services to queer communities

• to engage critically with information policy, philosophy, and professional issues relevant to queer library users, collections, and library workers

History: 

Que(e)ry was founded in 2010 by Amber Billey, Tara Hart, and Matthew Haugen, inspired and supported by the Desk Set. Since its first party in June 2010 in Brooklyn, NY, Que(e)ry has expanded and continued its work to bring attention and support to hidden queer collections, and to provide a fun social space for queer librarians (and all who love them). Librarians, archivists, artists, educators, filmmakers, library school students, metadata specialists, museum professionals, scholars, historians, writers, and bibliophiles of all genders and orientations have made their way to Que(e)ry events in Brooklyn and Manhattan. In 2013, we welcomed a San Francisco sibling party, and brought our party on the road for the first time to Chicago for the ALA Annual conference. In 2016, Que(e)ry began publishing and collaborating on resource lists.

With the support of our partygoers, as well as that of several generous local businesses, venues, volunteers, performers and like-minded organizations, we’ve held dozens of parties across the U.S., raising over $20,000 for queer-centered and queer-inclusive collections and related causes, such as:

• The Tom of Finland Foundation Archives (Los Angeles)

• The Lesbian Herstory Archives (Brooklyn)

• The Leather Archives and Museum (Chicago)

• The LGBT Center Library and Archives (New York)

• The Transgender Library and Archives (Houston)

• Latinx History Project (Washington, D.C.)

• Southerners on New Ground (Atlanta)

• Charis Circle (Atlanta)

• GLBT Historical Society (San Francisco)

• Lambda Archives (San Diego)

• LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana (New Orleans)

• Last Call: Dyke Bar History Project (New Orleans)

• The Queer Zine Archive Project (Milwaukee)

• Gerber-Hart Library and Archives (Chicago)

• The Quatrefoil Library (Minneapolis)

• Burlesque Hall of Fame (Las Vegas)

• Interference Archive (Brooklyn)

Press:

Lambda Literary Interview, 2011

Contact:

For press, donor, or volunteer inquiries, email us here.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter, our old Tumblr Site, and LibraryThing.

See Photos of past Que(e)ry events on Flickr.

See Que(e)ry's website through time via the Wayback Machine and the Library of Congress's Web Archive.