The purpose of this paper is to examine collegiate information barriers and perceptions of academic library climate among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) college students in the USA.,The primary method used for this investigation was an online crowdsourced survey of 105 participants who attended two and four-year colleges in the USA. The questionnaire used free word association where participants shared information barriers encountered on colleges’ campuses. Responses from each questionnaire were interpreted using open coding.,Information barriers around sexuality continue to be a challenge for non- heteronormative information seekers on college campuses. One-third of students had distinctive information needs around their sexuality and experienced information barriers from both the institution and social stigma. The study reveals an evolution in sexual minority students’ sense of self, which has moved beyond the binary identity of gay/lesbian explored in previous studies; students identified bisexuality as a salient information need, and described a campus environment that often erased bisexuality. The academic library was described as an information barrier due to inadequate sexual minority-related resources.,Academic librarians as well as higher education professionals, such as recruitment/admissions officers, student counseling services, student health and student affairs, can leverage the results of this study to help establish a more inclusive and welcoming information environment that empowers students for academic and personal success.,A limited number of studies in information science have focused on sexual minority college students’ information behaviors and even fewer on information barriers. This study presents new insight and deeper understanding of the collegiate information environment of LGBT identified students in the USA.

中文翻译：

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“很难找到”：LGBT大学生的信息障碍

本文的目的是研究美国女同性恋，男同性恋，双性恋和变性者（LGBT）大学生的大学信息障碍和大学图书馆气候的看法。该调查的主要方法是对105位参与者进行在线众包调查曾在美国的两年制和四年制大学就读。问卷使用自由词联想，参与者共享在大学校园中遇到的信息障碍。每个问卷的回答均使用开放编码进行解释。性行为的信息障碍仍然是大学校园中非异性信息搜索者的挑战。三分之一的学生在性方面有独特的信息需求，并且经历了来自机构和社会的污名化的信息障碍。这项研究揭示了性少数族裔学生自我意识的发展，这种变化已经超越了先前研究中探讨的同性恋身份的二元身份。学生将双性恋视为重要的信息需求，并描述了一个经常消除双性恋的校园环境。由于与性少数族裔相关的资源不足，大学图书馆被描述为信息障碍。学术图书馆馆员以及高等教育专业人员，例如招生/招生干事，学生咨询服务，学生健康和学生事务，可以利用这项研究旨在帮助建立一个更具包容性和热情的信息环境，使学生有能力获得学术和个人成功。信息科学领域的研究很少，主要集中在性少数族裔大学生的信息行为上，而关于信息障碍的研究则更少。这项研究提供了对美国LGBT识别学生的大学信息环境的新见解和更深刻的理解。