“Hyperlinks are people.”
People preserve stories. People create spaces where knowledge can move. People connect communities that institutions often overlook.
Black women have always been doing this work, even when the profession did not always recognize or welcome them. Black women librarians have held onto knowledge, shared knowledge, created spaces for learning, and built community under circumstances that made all of those things difficult.
The Legacy of Black Women in Librarianship: When They Dared to Be Powerful
“The restriction of literacy is a painful part of Black history in this country, and it’s a critical piece of history for Black librarians in understanding their roles, says Tracie Hall, the executive director of the American Library Association.” Why Aren’t There More Black Librarians?
As Tracie Hall explains, that history is essential to understanding both the shortage of Black librarians today and the importance of Black librarians in the communities they serve.
In The Heart of Librarianship, Michael Stephens describes hyperlinked librarianship as “playfully approaching opportunities to create learning experiences and engaging information-based services.” I love the word playfully here. It leaves room for creativity, humor, personality, experimentation, and importantly, Instagram reels.
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DA0twPvv0jv/
The Free Black Women’s Library, founded by OlaRonke Akinmowo, is a brick and mortar establishment with a collection that centers books by Black women and Black nonbinary authors. The Instagram account helps people find books, events, ideas, and community. The library may have roots in Brooklyn, but its connections are much bigger than Brooklyn. A superb video write-up captures the essence better than a blurb in this blog.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DaqjgrqvwvJ/
In Los Angeles, Radical Hood Library is a community library which hosts monthly prison program support days—an event for community members to come and package books to be sent to incarcerated community members, meeting them where they are. It also hosts Noname Book Club meetings, open mics, film screenings, game nights, and workshops for writers. This is a library as gathering place, cultural space, and community project, and of course a beautifully curated social media presence to inspire those of us who do not live in the City of Angels.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdCtvB-SQ-9/
@wyldloccs uses Instagram to share The Life of a Black Archivist & Librarian. Her videos make archival work feel less mysterious and more possible. She shows what the work looks like and helps people imagine themselves doing it. She is creating a professional pathway one reel at a time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C-EYX_2PVmA/
@ablacklibrarian shares the funny, heartfelt, and sometimes surprising reality of being a teen librarian at Oakland Public Library. One post particularly stayed with me: a back-to-school event, Haircuts, Braids and Backpacks, brought barbers and hair braiders into the library to do children’s hair so they could look and feel their best on the first day of school. This is hyperlinked librarianship and participatory service in action.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DPwl1J5kQ2d/
@little.mx.librarian brings personal style, professional honesty, and reading community together. Through her virtual book club, Revolutionary Reads, reading becomes a shared practice of learning and connection. They also talk about becoming an academic librarian, burnout, workplace disillusionment, and respectability politics.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DG-01Jtxzih/
Black women librarians have long been at the vanguard of hyperlinked librarianship, and they will continue to connect and lead as bellwethers for the future.
