Celeste West

Celeste (Celestia) West (November 24, 1942 – January 3, 2008) was a librarian and lesbian author, known for her alternative viewpoints in librarianship and her authorship of books about lesbian sex and polyfidelity. She herself was polyamorous.^[1] The book She was a booklegger: Remembering Celeste West (2010) is about her.

Biography

West was born in Pocatello, Idaho.^[2][3][4] She earned her BA in journalism from Portland State University,^[5] and her master's in Library Science from Rutgers University in 1968.^[6] After moving to San Francisco, she worked as a librarian at San Francisco Public Library. In 1972, West co-founded Booklegger Press with her partner at the time librarian Sue Critchfield, and Valerie Wheat. The press's first publication was an anthology edited by West and Elizabeth Katz entitled Revolting Librarians. The anthology, which described biases in contemporary library practices and proposed alternative library models, sold 15,000 copies in three years.^[4] She also published the feminist library journal Booklegger Magazine from 1973 through 1976.^[7] Between 1989 and 2006, West worked as the library director at the San Francisco Zen Center.^[8]

Partial Bibliography

• Revolting Librarians (editor, 1972)
• Women's Films in Print (1975)
• Positive Images, Non-Sexist Films for Young People (1976)
• The Passionate Perils of Publishing (1978)
• The Public Library Mission Statement and Its Imperatives for Service (1979)
• Where Have All the Publishers Gone? (1980)
• Book of Lesbian Etiquette (1985)
• Words in Our Pockets (1985)
• Elsa: I Come With My Songs (editor of the autobiography of Elsa Gidlow, 1986)
• A Lesbian Love Advisor (1989)
• Lesbian Polyfidelity (1996)

References