Equity, Diversity, & Inclusivity: Library Resources

Trans* or transgender: an umbrella term that describes people with diverse gender identities and gender expressions that do not conform to stereotypical ideas about what it means to be a girl/woman or boy/man in society.  The asterisk aims to make its open-ended character explicit. “Trans*” can mean transcending beyond, existing between, or crossing over the gender spectrum. It includes but is not limited to people who identify as transgender, transsexual, cross dressers or gender non-conforming (gender variant or gender queer).  Ontario Human Rights Commission

Transgender | An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation. Therefore, transgender people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc. Human Rights Campaign

Starting your search can seem daunting, but we can help you break things down into steps.

• Check out our Foundational Tutorials (available in English et en Français!) are the best place to start!
• If you have more specific questions, just Ask Us! Our library staff are more than happy to help you out.

The following are keyword search results from the library catalogue and 300+ databases. Results include academic journal articles, ebooks, books, magazine/news articles, reviews, etc. Consider some of these as a base onto which you can add more specific search terms, such as “trans person*” and health.

Please note: you may need to include outdated and/or problematic terms to see historical works.

• trans or transgender*
• "trans person*" or "trans people*"
• transgender* and psycholog*
• transgender* and social*
• transsexualism or Transexual*
• transgender* and health
• ("trans m#n" or "trans wom#n" or "trans person*" or transpeople or "trans male*" or "trans female*")

These keywords, and any others you are interested in for your research, can also be searched in the journals and databases listed on this page.

The University of Minnesota has a terrific guide for Transgender search terms and search strategies for use in a number of major databases and journals.