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The Black Caucus Round Table (BCRT) seeks to contribute to library service by promoting services to African Americans and opening channels of communication among African American librarians in all TLA divisions, round tables, and discussion groups.
Additionally, we’re home to the esteemed Ashley Bryan Award and a host to wonderfully unique librarians from all parts of our library ecosystem. If you’d like to volunteer to be a part of our round table, then please click on the link provided to join.
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Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
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News You Can Use
Stay connected with these general timely updates, quick announcements, and helpful tidbits pertaining to the BCRT activity. From opportunities and reminders to resources and community notes, this catchall section keeps you informed and connected with what matters to BCRT members and supporters.
Check back often—you never know what useful news you’ll find!
Looking for thought-provoking professional development in library and information science (LIS)? Check out the Critical Conversations in LIS webinar series, curated by the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair Dr. Nicole Cooke at the University of South Carolina.
The series features engaging guest speakers exploring critical issues in LIS, including topics connected to Dr. Cooke’s courses Critical Cultural Information Studies and Disinformation and the Literacy Landscape. These free, online conversations are open to the broader LIS community and focus on timely, challenging, and action-oriented topics.
Sessions are held via Zoom on Thursday afternoons at 12 p.m. or 4 p.m. EDT and are recorded for later viewing.
Register for upcoming sessions on the event webpage.
Congratulations to members Innocent Awasom and Jessica Jackson on their selection to the 2026 TALL Texans Leadership Development Institute! 🎉
TALL Texans is one of the Texas Library Association’s premier leadership programs, bringing together library professionals from across the state to strengthen their leadership skills, expand their networks, and prepare for greater impact in their libraries and communities.
We are proud to see BCRT represented by these outstanding leaders and look forward to all they will accomplish through this transformative experience. Please join us in celebrating their achievement! 👏
For more information about the Class of 2026, visit this year’s announcement.
In honor of the upcoming holiday, we invite you to revisit this powerful and thought-provoking performance from black-ish. In the Season 4 premiere, the legendary hip-hop group The Roots presents “I Am Slave,” a satirical musical reenactment that traces the history surrounding the end of slavery in the United States.
Blending humor, music, and historical commentary, this segment offers a memorable reflection on the significance of Juneteenth and the ongoing importance of understanding Black history.
BCRT is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the Ashley Bryan Award.
Established in 2023, the honors excellence in children’s literature by Black authors. In odd-numbered years, the award recognizes an author for their distinguished body of work; whereas, in even-numbered years, it celebrates an emerging Black author’s debut work. The award acknowledges contributions that center humanity, diversity, culture, and community in children’s literature.
The recipient is selected based on their outstanding literary contributions that uplift people of color, foster community, and expand opportunities to see our shared humanity reflected in literature. The award includes a $1,000 honorarium and a commemorative plaque.
The 2027 Ashley Bryan Award will recognize a Black author for their body of work and be presented at the TLA 2027 Annual Conference in San Antonio.
BCRT invites current members to submit one nomination for an outstanding author who has published at least seven books within the past ten years. Each nomination must include a brief justification.
Nomination Period: March 29 – June 30, 2026
For additional details and submission guidelines, please visit the award webpage.
BCRT celebrates Star Wars Day by honoring the power of storytelling, imagination, and—most importantly—representation across galaxies near and far.
“Representation is about demanding that we’re all seen and affirming that we all matter.” —WeHaveStories.org
From rebels to leaders, every story matters. Let’s continue to uplift voices that ensure everyone can see themselves as the hero.
Looking for Star Wars reads with Black representation to connect with your community? Then, check out this curated list of titles.
We’re excited to expand our online presence and create more ways to connect, share resources, highlight important work, and keep you updated on events and initiatives.
Join us on Facebook to stay informed and be part of the conversation. Let’s continue building community together—both online and beyond.
BCRT at Annual Conference
Stay connected with BCRT at this year’s Annual Conference! Under the conference theme, “Cultivating Community: Thriving Together,” we are proud to host and participate in a range of programs, gatherings, and opportunities that celebrate connection, advocacy, and professional growth. Explore this section for updates on our conference sessions, special events, and ways to engage with BCRT as we come together to learn, share, and strengthen our library community.
Let’s connect!
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Bi-monthly Meetings
Stay connected, inspired, and informed with the BCRT’s bi-monthly General Meetings and Learning Sessions. Held on the third Thursday at 6:30 PM in June, August, October, December, February, and April, these gatherings offer members and supporters opportunities to learn from leaders in the field, share updates, and build community. We invite you to join us throughout the year as we highlight important work, explore new ideas, and strengthen our collective impact.
Come ready to be inspired, broaden your perspective, and consider how we can help the communities we serve see the world as their library.
We’re excited to reconnect after the summer break and hope to see you there
📅 Thursday, August 20, 2026 🕡 6:30 PM 🎤 Guest Speaker: Yasmeen Youngblood
🔗 The meeting link will be shared through the BCRT TLA Engage community.
Attendees will also be eligible to receive continuing education (CE) credit for participating.
Member Spotlight
The Black Caucus Round Table’s (BCRT) Member Spotlight highlights and celebrates the amazing work, accomplishments, and impact of our members across our community! These spotlights will be featured on our website and in our social media to showcase the impact of BCRT members everywhere.
By completing our Member Spotlight Form, you too can easily share your accomplishments, contributions, and celebrations in the library world. Then, we’ll take care of the rest.
Enjoy Jessica’s full interview below to learn more about her passion for diverse literature, mentorship, community support, and the meaningful impact she continues to make through her work in libraries and beyond.
A project I’m proud of is my work with TWST4Girls (Together We Stand Tall), a nonprofit that supports young girls from underserved communities through mentorship, life-skills development, leadership training, and career exposure. As Programs Committee Chair, I help plan and run that programming directly—it’s not a peripheral role. What’s stayed with me is watching specific girls grow over the course of a program: coming in hesitant about speaking up or setting goals and leaving with a clearer sense of what they’re capable of. That’s the part that keeps me involved—not an abstract belief in mentorship, but seeing it work in front of me. It’s also shaped how I think about my own work; community-driven, hands-on support can do more than good intentions alone.
How are you making an impact in the library world or your community, particularly in advancing diversity, equity, and representation for Black voices?
As Program Manager of Library Services for Aldine ISD and a longtime volunteer with TWST4Girls, most of my work on this comes down to two things: what’s on the shelf and who gets access to it.
Collections and Access: Across our district library network, I advocate for diverse literature and make sure the digital platforms we use—Sora, TexQuest, Follett Destiny—actually reflect that, so Black authors and stories are part of the regular rotation, not a February-only display. I’ve also standardized the evaluation rubrics and collection standards our Information Literacy Specialists use, so every campus librarian has a concrete way to audit their own shelves and identify where the gaps are, rather than relying on guesswork.
Mentorship Through TWST4Girls: As Programs Committee Chair, I plan life-skills, financial literacy, and career-development programming for young Black women and other underserved youth. That work has included higher-education and STEM exposure trips, as well as workshops on digital literacy, online safety, and design tools like Canva and Gamma—the kind of practical skills I want them walking into college or a career already comfortable using.
Community Support: We’ve also organized professional clothing drives for young women entering the workforce and digital-access workshops, so the support doesn’t stop at the classroom door. And having started out as a middle school librarian before moving into district leadership, I retain that perspective and advocate for funding, updated resources, and programming that actually serves our student population—not just policies that sound good on paper.
The throughline for me is pretty simple: representation on the shelf matters, but it only goes so far without the mentorship and access that help kids actually picture themselves in those stories.
Share a fun fact about yourself!
I am passionate about dance—especially praise dancing, line dancing, DFW Swingout, and Houston 2-Step.
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Interested in being in the spotlight?! By completing our Member Spotlight Form, you can easily share your accomplishments, contributions, and celebrations in the library world. Then, we’ll take care of the rest.
Enjoy Sarah’s full interview below to learn more about her passion for culturally relevant nutrition education, food traditions, and community wellness, and the meaningful impact she continues to make through her work with libraries and community organizations.
One recent accomplishment I’m especially proud of is helping expand access to Oldways’ Heritage Diets programs in my role as Oldways Heritage Curriculum Partnership Manager. As of April 2026, Oldways made our digital Heritage Diets curricula free, removing a major cost barrier for libraries, educators, nonprofits, and community organizations seeking culturally relevant nutrition education.
I work with libraries and community organizations to bring culturally relevant nutrition education to communities. Through Oldways’ African Heritage & Health programming, I help elevate Black food traditions and African Heritage foodways as sources of health, knowledge, and cultural pride. I’m especially proud to support libraries in creating inclusive programs that center Black voices and make health education more accessible and representative.
I teach yoga classes and make jewelry. I love having creative outlets that let me bring together wellness, community, and art.
Enjoy Innocent’s full interview below to learn more about their professional journey, dedication to scholarship and service, and the meaningful impact they continue to make in their community and around the world.
I was on a Fulbright sabbatical at the Bindura University of Science Education in Zimbabwe, and it was a wonderful experience that allowed me to participate in teaching, research, and outreach activities with local and national scholarly communities in Zimbabwe and Cameroon. This work led to a number of conference presentations, four articles in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters, as well as ongoing research collaborations and lasting friendships.
Building on these experiences, being selected for the next cohort of the TALL Texans Leadership Institute is another exciting milestone in my career. I have often led from behind the scenes, and I now look forward to becoming more involved in leadership roles and contributing in new ways.
As a STEM librarian for more than two decades, I have remained excited about supporting new research projects and seeing the innovative work that students and faculty pursue. Organizing orientation programs for international students and scholars is also a rewarding part of each semester. In addition, outreach to under-resourced schools in our communities and literacy initiatives that engage Black communities are important ways I seek to make a meaningful impact.
Both locally and internationally, I have been involved in training programs focused on the recruitment and retention of librarians of color. Over the past decade, I have also raised funds to support graduate STEM students—particularly female students in Zimbabwe and Cameroon—in attending scholarly conferences, giving them exposure to research careers and opportunities to build professional networks. Through these efforts, I hope to contribute to greater diversity, equity, representation, and access within both the library profession and the broader academic community.
Share a fun fact about yourself! I have visited 7 countries in Europe, 7 countries in Africa, and 29 states in the USA.
Enjoy Jasmine’s full interview below to learn more about her passion for youth development, literacy, and community engagement, and the meaningful impact she continues to make in the lives of children and families.
How are you making an impact in the library world or your community, particularly in advancing diversity, equity, and representation for Black voices? I believe that being a Black librarian is, in itself, making an impact in the library world. There is still a relatively small percentage of Black librarians within the profession, and we are helping to reshape perceptions of who librarians are and what they look like. It is especially rewarding to hear caregivers share that their little ones associate the library with you. I am always striving to uplift the voices of our community through book displays and social media, highlighting and celebrating Black stories during Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Juneteenth, and throughout the year. I also make a point to incorporate books by Black authors and stories featuring Black characters into my storytime programs.
Share a fun fact about yourself! I have never traveled out of the country but am hoping to change that within the next couple of years.
Enjoy Yasmeen’s full interview below to learn more about her inspiring journey, her impact on students, and her commitment to building a culture where every child is seen, celebrated, and empowered.
How are you making an impact in the library world or your community, particularly in advancing diversity, equity, and representation for Black voices? My mission is to ensure that every student on our diverse campus feels seen, heard, and celebrated. I achieve this through a curriculum that I created called ‘Story Trails’. These are literacy journeys that coincide with cultural heritage celebrations throughout the year. By highlighting authors of color and stories from around the world at the center of these ‘trails’, I am advancing representation in a way that is accessible and community-oriented. I believe that when we celebrate our specific heritages, we strengthen our entire community. These trails serve as a constant reminder to my students that their stories are worthy of being told, shared, and celebrated.
Share a fun fact about yourself! Outside of the library, I have a social media platform called ‘The Trekking Teacher’. I am an avid mountain climber who believes that every peak has a story worth sharing. My global expeditions have taken me to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, through the Andes in Peru, across the Alps (France, Italy, and Switzerland), and into the Lost City in Colombia. Whether I’m trekking across Iceland or walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, I am always collecting stories and perspectives to share with my students, proving that Black women belong in these outdoor spaces and that there are no limits to where our curiosity (and our feet) can take us!
The new TLA Engage+ mobile app offers member the convenience of access the TLA Engage community on their mobile phone.
Meet Cathy Rollins, TLA Education and Virtual Programs Manager.
