Opportunity & Visibility 

During a tumultuous year of COVID-19 and demonstrations against police violence toward Black people, Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) Adult and Community Engagement Coordinator Brenda Johnson-Perkins found the opportunity to put into action her belief that “anyone can bring their whole heart into librarianship to make opportunity and visibility accessible for others.” To start with, she coordinated “COVID-19 and the Black Community,” a BCPL panel discussion examining the disproportionate physical, economic, and psychological suffering the virus imposed on Black and Latinx communities, which led to a collaboration between the library, Baltimore Human Relations Commission (BHRC), Baltimore Office of Equity and Diversity, and Morgan State University Radio for a series called the Baltimore County Dialogues on Race, presented by BCPL. These were followed by small virtual community conversations around the topics, facilitated by the library and members of BHRC, resulting in a list of actionable steps for Baltimore County to take to address equity issues. Johnson-Perkins has been asked to serve on the Baltimore County Government’s Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Community Advisory Council.

At the same time, Johnson-Perkins worked with the library’s management team to engage the entire staff in a six-month group learning project to facilitate conversations around the goal of building a more antiracist and equitable organization, using the American Library Association (ALA)–accredited anti-bias Project READY curriculum. She currently serves as executive secretary of the Black Caucus of ALA (BCALA), and has used her outreach expertise to plan and moderate virtual panels and interviews related to COVID-19’s impact on communities of color.

“I am driven by the conviction that by reaching out to others within our communities, we can attract and engage customers from different backgrounds within our library spaces,” says Johnson-Perkins.