Rainbow List

About me:

This is the official MySpace presence of the Rainbow List, a join task force of the American Library Association's Social Responsibility Round Table and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table. Officially sanctioned starting at the 2007 ALA Annual Conference, the Rainbow List will create a recommended list of books dealing Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trangendered and Questioning issues and situations for children upto age 18. Our first list was released during the 2008 Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia, covering the past three years of new books for youths and teens.

The Rainbow List of Books for Youth: Policies and Procedures – 2007

Charge-
To select from the year’s publications, books with positive gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans-gendered/queer-questioning (GLBTQ) messages for young people from birth to age 18, and to annotate selected titles.

Purpose of the List-
The list presents well-written and illustrated books with strong gay/lesbian/bisexual/ transgendered/queer-questioning messages published in the past 18 months that are recommended for young people from birth through eighteen years of age. It is a list of quality fiction and nonfiction titles that present positive views of alternative lifestyles.
Fiction and nonfiction should have readable text and a format appealing to children and/or teens. Titles must be accurate and able to stand on their own. Although the list attempts to present a variety of reading tastes and levels, no effort will be made to balance the list according to subject, area of interest, age or genre.

Target Audience-
The list is prepared for the use of young people, from birth through eighteen years of age. Adults who work with young readers may also find it of interest.

Nominations-
Books may be nominated by any committee member; consideration requests can be made by any interested party. Field consideration requests ( those made by people not on the committee) must be nominated by a project member in order to be eligible for voting. Consideration requests may be sumbitted via email to rainbowlist@gmail.com. Requests must include complete bibliographic information: author/editor, illustrator if applicable, title, publication date, number of pages, publisher, price, and ISBN as well as a brief (one to two sentences) annotation. A field consideration request is just that, a request for consideration for inclusion on the list; it does not guarantee that the book will be nominated for inclusion on the list, or that it will make the list. Books must be read by a committee member before being nominated. Published reviews may accompany nominations or consideration requests, but annotations are to be written by the nominating person.
Nominations shall be sent electronically to all members of the project. Nominations must be received by October 31.

Eligibility-
A book must have a copyright date during the current calendar year or have been published from July to December of the previous calendar year to be considered for the list. The only exception will be the first annual list to be published at ALA Midwinter 2008 at Philadelphia, PA; that list may go back to 2005. A book originally published outside the United States will be considered according to its U.S. publication year. Books must be distributed in the United States to be considered for the list. Revisions of previously published titles will be considered if the revision is to such an extent as to make the book substantially different from the previous edition. Any book discussed at the ALA Midwinter Meeting is ineligible for nomination the following year. The book list announcement will be at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Project Members-
The project consists of nine members who are appointed on a staggered basis to maintain a balance of new and continuing members. Project members are appointed to a two-year term by the committee. After this two-year term, the project member may be appointed to a second two-year term. In order to serve on this Project, members must actively seek books, nominate and read nominated books, and attend ALA Midwinter conferences. Project members must be a member of both GLBT-RT and SRRT.

Availability of Lists for General Distribution-
The final list of selected titles will be available, as a press release, from the ALA Public Information Office the morning following the project’s last meeting. Other print and non-print media will be used to publicize the list, such as magazines directed at teens, GLBTQ issues, and library professionals.