African-American Librarians Bask
in Florida Sun

Broward County Commission Chair Lori Nance Parrish named August 14 African-American Librarians Day in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in honor of the 922 librarians, library supporters, and exhibitors who converged on the city to attend “Culture Keepers V: Access,” the fifth national conference of African-American librarians hosted by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA).

During the opening session, Parrish also pledged to secure a temporary occupancy permit to allow attendees to get the first public tour of the delay-plagued Broward County Division of Libraries’ African American Research Library and Cultural Center, now scheduled to open October 26. The permit was obtained on the last day of the conference, and Director Samuel Morrison escorted about 60 people who got a sneak peek of the new $11.4-million, 60,000-square-foot facility that will house 75,000 books, manuscripts, artifacts, and documents about African, African-American, and Caribbean cultures.

The tour was one of the many highlights of an information-packed, fun-filled conference that included a Caribbean-style reception at Broward County Library’s main branch, a Caribbean show and dinner dance, and a night of 1930s big-band music. Casual dress was the order of the day; those who failed to heed that request from conference coordinators were fined $1 by the fashion police, who raised $660 for the E. J. Josey Scholarship Fund. BCALA Immediate Past President Gladys Smiley Bell also asked participants to pin her with dollars for a scholarship that would allow a library school student to attend a future BCALA conference.

Keynote speakers included Florida attorney Willie E. Gary, known as the “Giant Killer” for winning some of the biggest jury awards in U.S. history—more than 150 cases valued in excess of $1 million each.

Hugh B. Price, president of the National Urban League and a member of President George W. Bush’s Education Transition Team, was the John C. Tyson Memorial Lecture luncheon speaker. Price—whose mother, Charlotte Price, was a librarian—is the author of Achievement Matters: Getting Your Child the Best Education Possible (Kensington, 2002). “Reading is the bedrock of academic success,” Price says in the book. Based on the Urban League’s Campaign for African-American Achievement, it details ways that parents and caregivers can help students succeed. “We need to encourage children to read for fun, and we need to make reading and literacy a big deal in our communities,” he said in his speech.

Khafre K. Abif, director of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Langston Hughes Library in Clinton, Tennessee, received the first Tyson Emerging Leader Award.

The luncheon was named in honor of the late former BCALA president and Virginia state librarian, who was primarily responsible for organizing the first national conference of African-American librarians in 1992 (AL, Nov. 1992, p. 832–835).

Programs covered such issues as the working relationship between ALA and its BCALA affiliate, with ALA President Maurice J. Freedman and BCALA President Bobby Player; “Attracting, Growing, and Retaining Professional Librarians,” featuring new librarians, including two Spectrum scholars, who work at the Chicago Public Library; “Issues of Technology and the African-American Community: What Librarians Need to Know”; “A Practical Approach to African American Digital Libraries”; and “Building an African-American Research Collection.”

An overflow crowd attended a program on “Race and Library Leadership: What Difference Does It Make,” moderated by former Detroit Public Library Director Maurice Wheeler, now professor at the University of North Texas in Dallas. “Black librarians struggle for acceptance and equality in the profession, and it’s not fading,” Wheeler told the group. “In spite of tremendous gains, we have not come very far. Although the days of the segregated library are clearly gone, the absence of a larger number of blacks in leadership positions in the profession is a critical issue.”

“Race definitely makes a difference in library leadership,” echoed Phelix Hanible of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. “It makes a difference in how one approaches leadership and how it’s perceived and received as a leader.”

While he agrees that the answer to the question, “Does race matter?” is “Yes,” Charles Brown, director of the Hennepin County Library in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and former ALA Executive Board member, said the response should be “It’s not going to stop me.” Brown explained, “I heard a Baptist minister say that every time you walk through certain types of doors—and I’ve been able to walk through some pretty impressive doors in my career—with your Gucci slippers, never forget that there was a black bare foot that kicked it open for you.”

On the question of ethnicity and professional relationships, Satia Orange, director of ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, talked about the problems convening those involved in planning an ALA-affiliate joint conference of librarians of color. She said discussions about the conference have gone on since the early 1990s, but the first official meeting only took place during this year’s ALA Midwinter Meeting, where tentative plans were discussed. “We don’t trust each other, we don’t know each other, and we have not learned that we are only to go so far unless we do it together,” she said.

“We have such a rich history in this country, but even on my worst days, it’s not like picking 50 pounds of cotton,” Brown said. “All that has come before us, all the sacrifices that have been made for us, I feel as though I owe a debt and I’m trying to repay that debt.”

Several workshops and luncheons featured such authors as James Earl Hardy, Darlene Johnson, Tina McElroy Ansa, Ilyasah Shabazz, Grace Edwards, and Lori Bryant Woolridge. A special section of the exhibit hall was earmarked for the more than 50 authors who participated in the Authors’ Showcase, where they shared and discussed their works and participated in book-signings.

The conference closed with a “Breakfast with a Few Good Men,” featuring authors Colin Channer, Travis Hunter, and Blair Walker, as well as U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.).

“Librarians are the repositories of our intellectual wealth,” Hastings said, urging librarians to insist on diversity in their institutions. He said there is “countless potential” in the upcoming Congressional races for U.S. Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.) and other blacks to become chairpersons of major committees “if a certain party is to win the majority.”

“It can’t happen without your direct input,” Hastings warned, “and if somebody who is your direct supervisor tells you you can’t get involved in politics, then ask them how did we all get here.”

The next conference is planned for 2005—a joint event cosponsored by BCALA, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, Reforma, the Chinese-American Librarians Association, and the American Indian Library Association. The five groups plan to discuss the conference during the 2003 ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 24–27, in Philadelphia.

Black Books Galore winners announced

BCALA and John Wiley and Sons have announced the three winners in the joint Black Books Galore contest, administered by BCALA’s Committee on Services to Children and the Families of African Descent.

The winners are: first place, Melanie Townsend, Waverly Branch, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore; second place, Louis Sprengnether, Mount Clemens (Mich.) Public Library; third place, Condra L. Ridley, Allen County (Ind.) Public Library; and honorable mention, Ronald M. Gauthier, Alvar Branch, New Orleans Public Library.

Using titles from Wiley’s Black Books Galore! Guide to Great African American Children’s Books, librarians developed entries designed to highlight public library programming geared to children, parents, caregivers, and teachers.

Prizes included a collection of African-American children’s books, subscriptions to Blackberry Express and Black Issues Book Review, and signed prints by award-winning children’s illustrators. The first-place winner also received $1,000 and a trip to the BCALA National Conference of African American Librarians held August 13–19 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. BCALA is an ALA affiliate.

—Story and photos by Pamela Goodes