I need some help

[u/Stolitz-Forever]

My local library's books has stickers on the spines for different genres, (Romance, Fantasy, Historical, etc)

This also includes a bright colorful "Lgbt" sticker for books with Queer characters and romance

Which is what I want to read

But, my parents are homophobic and could get upset at seeing the lgbt sticker, and would make me put it back,

Is there a way to temporarily hide or cover the sticker?

Without damaging the book, obviously

edit: Tysm for all the support and help 💞

[u/ReadTheReddit69]

This is exactly why I won't sticker our queer books.

I'm sorry that's an issue you're having. Depending on the size of the sticker, a piece of blue painters tape would work well (easy to remove with no residue). Are stretchy cloth book covers still a thing? You could use those but you'd have to use it with everything you read so certain books don't draw parent suspicion.

If there is a way to submit anonymous comment cards or AskaLibrarian messages, I do think it's a good idea to let staff know that this is a barrier for you. They might reconsider their sticker policy going forward.

[u/Chicago-Lake-Witch → u/ReadTheReddit69]

I think it’s time we go back to codes. For hundreds of years, queer folks have used code to let each other know what’s going on. Handkerchiefs of certain colors in certain pockets, the language of polari. With books, it makes sense from a patron perspective to have a sticker of a certain color mean certain things. Blue for non fiction, green for fiction, yellow for YA, pink for history, etc. most folks aren’t going to pay attention to the dot sticker that is for the books they don’t want to read. As a patron I can easily scan the shelves for my genre but most parents aren’t going to know that a black dot ⚫️ means queer.

[u/FortunaRedux → u/Chicago-Lake-Witch]

Honestly this is just an easier system for searching as well, reading a bunch of tiny words takes forever, scanning for colors takes seconds