APPENDIX B:  Notes toward future research

Information Science Studies of Adult Webmastering

This study has just begun to examine the depth and sophistication of Web subject cataloging of sexually explicit materials.  The Web does not have the restrictions of libraries to contextualize (alchemically treat) their materials into some more tame and docile existence.  The sexually explicit materials on the Web include a lot of “pornography,” and a lot of interest in the usual topics of information retrieval – so that users can easily find the desired types and formats of pornography, at the right price.    According to a recent New York Times article,[1] “sex sites” are about 18 months ahead of the rest of the Web’s eCommerce for innovations in technology and marketing techniques, as well being one of the few sectors that actually make money.  A further study of the categories used in adult websites will also be interesting, and of use both to the adult Web industry as well as filtering efforts.  

Adult Bookstores

Adult bookstores have long been in the business of providing their patrons access to “pornography.”  A closer look at their organization and usage patterns will also yield important results. 

Indexing of Sexually Explicit Periodicals

Discourse communities have their set of serials where the voice of the discipline is published.  Most of the trade journals of the sex-positive community are not indexed.  African American serials such as Ebony were not indexed in the major sources such as Gale and Wilsons until about 1975.  Gay and Lesbian librarians have been lobbying for indexing of major newsmagazines such as Out and Advocate.  It is time for articles in important sexually explicit magazines to have a centralized indexed presence, something like the Sex Index proposed by Sanford Berman.  Looking for special libraries that index these materials in-house and finding ways to combine databases would make an interesting and useful cooperative project.  Creating a cooperative, standard set of subject headings for sexuality collections similar to The Multilingual Thesaurus of AIDS and HIV-Related Terms is another way that this project will be enabled.  A great start would be to translate Trefwoordenlijst from Dutch into English.

Other Sexuality Libraries and Collections

I did not have time to visit all of the sexuality collections in the world.  I did find a number of citations and descriptions of sexuality libraries whose inclusion would benefit further study.  I will briefly describe some I would like to visit next. 

The Katherine Dexter McCormack Library at Planned Parenthood, the Cornell University Human Sexuality Collection, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States [SIECUS] library are all located in New York.  That the perspective of reproductive education is not more strongly represented is a significant gap.  I did contact Amy Levine, the SIECUS librarian, for a fruitful telephone interview.  The New York Public Library also has a collection of popular sexually explicit materials. 

In Chicago the Playboy corporate library is an important general collection.  A search for other similar corporate libraries would be an important addition. The Gerber-Hart Library and Archives is a significant Gay and Lesbian collection. The Leather Archives & Museum, also in Chicago, is an example of a community-based sexuality collection that is not entirely GLBT in orientation.

The Museum of Sex in New York has ambitious archival plans.  The Museum Erotica in Copenhagen, as well as the Erotic Museum in Amsterdam, display an intriguing set of materials, including some saved from Nazi predations. 

In Los Angeles the Vern and Bonnie Bullough collection at Cal State University Northridge is important, as well as the ONE Institute collection in Los Angeles. 

In Europe there are more sexology collections such as the Robert Koch Institut Archive for Sexology in Berlin and the Trimbos Institute in Utrecht.  Famous (or infamous) historical collections are housed and cataloged in the "Private Case" in the British Library, as well as the National Library of France l'Enfer Collection. 

Other academic sexology programs must have collections in support of their students.

There are also significant collections in Asia and the Middle East which would benefit from contemporary analysis.