By Cristina E. Mitra–
As a public librarian, I believe access to high-quality information is critical to a democratic society. This is just one of the many reasons I burst with pride every day of my job as the program manager of the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center of San Francisco Public Library (SFPL)—an institution that champions access every day. The Hormel Center’s long-standing partnership with the San Francisco Bay Times is a shining example of the library’s newly reimagined mission: “to connect our diverse communities to learning, opportunities, and each other.”
I am thrilled to announce that the Hormel LGBTQIA Center of SFPL has made important progress in our cornerstone project to digitize Coming Up! and San Francisco Bay Times issues from May 1979–January 2012. This project is all about giving access to our diverse public to crucial, historical issues that document, celebrate, and represent our enduring LGBTQIA+ community. (As you might know, you can already access back articles of the San Francisco Bay Times at https://sfbaytimes.com/ and entire back issues at ISSUU, https://issuu.com/sfbt)
Through a series of grants received from the California State Library’s preservation initiative, California Revealed, coupled with support from the Hormel LGBTQIA Center endowment, these issues will be digitized and available to the public on the California Revealed site:
https://californiarevealed.org
Great news! The first batch (May 1979–December 1989) is now available at
https://bit.ly/4eNv54P with access to issues from May 1979–January 2012 forthcoming by late 2025.
When we connect people and provide access to high quality information, such as that which is found within the issues of the San Francisco Bay Times, we create a more informed, and more importantly, a more compassionate public to create a more democratic society.
During these times, when LGBTQIA+ materials are under intense scrutiny and barriers to access to LGBTQIA+ books are proliferating, our efforts to ensure that future generations will know what was happening for LGBTQIA+ San Franciscans in the late 1970s through the early decades of the 21st century are a powerful countermeasure against erasure and censorship of our LGBTQIA+ communities.
Stay up to date with our progress by following the Hormel LGBTQIA Center on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/queersfpl.
Making History PRIDE 2024
Published on June 27, 2024
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