Scholar Commons

Title

Religious or Secular: Does Religious Affiliation Affect LGBTQI Collections at Private College and University Libraries?

Authors

Sophia Neuhaus, Santa Clara UniversityFollow

Document Type

Poster Session

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

This research project focuses upon private colleges and universities of different faith traditions and a control group of secular institutions. The central question in this study is whether religious affiliation influences both the college climate for LGBTQI individuals and the resources academic libraries provide to their communities. A secondary question explores how these same institutions might be influenced by the political environment of their host states. For example, do Presbyterian colleges in conservative states differ from those in liberal states? This poster session provides results based upon an examination of 200 secular, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic institutions.

After the preliminary results of this project were shared at the 2019 ACRL Conference, the author continued to work on the project. The comments section contains the changes made from 2019-2021. The supplemental files reflect those upgrades.

Comments

Changes from 2019 Poster Session to 2021 Data Files:

• Added 50 Methodists schools to the study
• A couple of small colleges went out of business and were replaced in the sample by the next school by research number for that religious affiliation
• Used 2019 IPEDS fall enrollment data
• Data for schools updated to 2021 when substantial changes from earlier data
• State political affiliation – states designated as Democratic or Republican based upon which party the state supported in at least two of the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections
• Added eVideo data, when available
• Raw data spreadsheet includes tab with additional schools within the study’s universe
• 2021 Scoring Rubric - Library scoring for “Items per 1,000 Students in Catalog” are in increments of 500 instead of 400

Recommended Citation

Neuhaus, Sophia, "Religious or Secular: Does Religious Affiliation Affect LGBTQI Collections at Private College and University Libraries?" (2019). Staff publications, research, and presentations. 221.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/library/221