Queerlit – a database for LGBTQI literature

The completed research project Queerlit – a database for LGBTQI literature, was carried out from 2021 until June 2024 and funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. The project was headed by Jenny Bergenmar, professor of literature at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion at the University of Gothenburg.

The Queerlit project aims to make fiction with LGBTQI themes searchable through a database. One of the project efforts has been to create a thesaurus for a more specific subject description of LGBTQI literature. The Queerlit database is a subset contained in LIBRIS, the Swedish national library database, and it has also been made available with an interface that allows more specific searches than currently possible in LIBRIS. In developing the database, the LIBRIS data model with linked data has been used.

KvinnSam has contributed various skills to the project, including subject indexing in the LIBRIS environment. The database currently holds over 2 000 titles. The running of Queerlit will be managed in part by KvinnSam (adding new titles) and in part by the Gothenburg Research Infrastructure for Digital Humanities – GRIDH (site maintenance). New titles will be suggested and prepared by a group within the Expert Network for Working with LGBTQ+ Issues in the Library. The work concerning the thesaurus will be managed by an editorial board including KvinnSam representatives.