Library collections are beholden, in part, to a publishing industry that lacks adequate POC representation in children’s books. Coupled with the invisibility of black female-lead books when interfiled in larger children’s collections, an opportunity arose to make this collection more visible, and aid the library’s young readers in easily finding themselves in our collection. The challenge of manually and consistently adding new books to the collection has been embraced by staff, because of its ability to inspire and empower.

The #1000BlackGirlBooks collection was initially marketed to local radio, newspaper and television news outlets during Black History Month 2017, and is displayed in a high foot traffic area at the Main Library. Each book is labeled on the spine as being part of #1000BlackGirlBooks, making it distinguishable within the larger system children’s collection. Because it is an ongoing collection, library staff have been able to highlight it at events such as Glory Edim’s presentation “Well-Read Black Girl” in March 2019.

What started with 200 books has grown to over 805 as of last count. When the collection reaches 1,000, a community celebration will be organized. Currently, staff is working to create a unique identifier within the library’s catalog, so that families who use any Palm Beach County Library System branch or electronic materials will be able to more easily find books that have black girl protagonists. #1000BlackGirlBooks will be used as a template for highlighting representation of other communities within our collection.