As we watch events around the country and the world unfold, the West Lafayette Public Library joins others in expressing our support of those fighting for social justice.
As a public library, it is our duty to create free and equitable access to materials that encourage our community members to learn, grow, and seek the truth — even when it’s challenging. We begin our efforts by increasing the visibility and availability of materials that shed light on the impact that economic injustice and systemic racism play in our lives.
We hope that we can play a role in fostering understanding and change. We are developing a resource list of library materials to help. These lists are just a beginning, so please join us in exploring these important materials and discovering more.
Thank you to the Purdue Black Cultural Center for their time and to other members of the community who have helped us build this list.
Conversations About Race – Hoopla Collection
Anti-Racism Reading – Overdrive/Libby Collection
Black Lives Matter – Resource Guide from Purdue University Libraries
The West Lafayette Public Library is pleased to announce that it has been selected as a recipient of the Indiana Humanities Advancing Racial Equity grant. Indiana Humanities created the grant opportunity after the death of George Floyd with the intention to “help Hoosiers think, read and talk about racial injustice and systemic racism and to support libraries as key public humanities organizations in this work.”
The grant award has allowed us to purchase 62 items including feature films, documentaries, Adult non-fiction, and Young Adult and Children’s fiction and non-fiction. The books were chosen from a list provided by Indiana Humanities and determined by library staff to best fill gaps in the library’s collection around racism and social justice issues.
Please find a catalog list of our selections below: