As students celebrate LGBT history month in October, many are noticing the increased LGBT resources available to students and those interested in these types of studies.

This fall, a LGBT/Queer minor was introduced to the curriculum of the Gender and Women’s Studies, or GWS, department. Siobhan Somerville, associate professor of GWS, said a minor in LGBT studies is important because students need to be aware of the issues surrounding sexual orientation.

She said another resource the University offers is the LGBT Resource Center, which provides services to the LGBT community.

Director of the LGBT Resource Center, Leslie Morrow, said the media often portray the wrong idea about LGBT people.

“These centers are really important in helping us to grow and understand who we are and be accepting and really feed into this need, this need for inclusion,” Morrow said.

Steven Wyatt, senior in LAS and a founder of eQuality-CU, said the resource center has been instrumental in helping him set up his registered student organization.

“I find that talking to other activists from other universities, it seems like our university has a lot of really good resources that puts us a little bit ahead,” Wyatt said.

The resource center creates social networks and events to help spread awareness and build discussion for the LGBT community, Morrow said.

“They have actually been able to do kind of an astounding number of events on fairly modest resources,” Somerville said. “I would certainly like to see it grow, there is certainly enough student demand.”

Although the resource center has a collection of literature and other LGBT materials, Morrow said the University library system offers additional information.

“The library is very responsive and very helpful to those of us who are pursuing work in this field, researching this field,” Somerville said.

Librarian for GWS, Cindy Ingold, said she is unsure whether students are aware of what the library has to offer. She said she is spending two hours a week at the LGBT Resource Center to meet students and introduce them to the services that are available.

“This library is pretty huge and big anyway, it’s hard to know where to start,” Ingold said. “It might be a little intimidating, but I’m hoping people feel comfortable coming over here.”

Ingold said she is pleased because the library’s collection has increased considerably over the years. She buys materials for LGBT studies such as journals, books, DVDs and videos.

“I’ve tried to buy more books, especially on more hot topics areas like transgender issues,“ Ingold said.

If students cannot find what they are looking for in the Education and Social Sciences Library, Ingold said they can search the online catalog for results from all libraries on campus.

However, Somerville said there is always more work that can be done.

“I think we have people that are doing very excellent work, who are very concerned and dedicated,” Somerville said. “I’d like to see LGBT concerns kind of thought of as ‘everybody’ concerns and not just LGBT people.”