Officially titled “Archiving the Black Web: A National Forum to Map the Landscape, Define the Issues, and Plan a Strategy for Documenting the Black Experience Online,” the grant was awarded to the Broward Public Library Foundation. Serving as Project Director, Makiba J. Foster, Regional Manager of the African-American Research Library & Cultural Center (AARLCC), 2650 Sistrunk Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311, will lead this national initiative.

“We are thrilled to be the recipient of a ground-breaking and scholarly endeavor to promote and preserve Black culture,” said Broward County Library Director Kelvin Watson. “I am proud to lead a library that is setting national standards for the profession.”         

Foster and the African American Research Library and Cultural Center will work in partnership with Shift Design, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Spelman College Archives, Auburn Avenue Research Library, Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, and the African American Museum and Library at Oakland to hold a national forum called Archiving the Black Web.

The forum will focus on strategies for collecting and preserving Black history and culture online, as well as building a support community for Black cultural heritage collections interested in web archiving. Another objective of Archiving the Black Web is developing protocols to be followed by other institutions nationally to preserve the culturally relevant yet highly ephemeral nature of web-published content by and about Black people.

The grant-funded project will create the infrastructure and framework for the future of documenting the web presence of Black history and culture. National Leadership Grants for Libraries (NLG-L) support projects that enhance the quality of library and archive services nationwide by advancing theory and practice. The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21) supports developing a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet changing learning and information needs.  

About Broward County Libraries Division
Broward County Libraries Division, named 2020 and 2015 Library of the Year by the Florida Library Association, was founded in 1974 and is the largest library system in Florida by square footage and one of the busiest, with more than 7.5 million walk-in customers visiting its 38 locations annually. Broward County Libraries Division provides convenient access to a full range of innovative and cost-effective services that satisfy the changing needs of the people of Broward County for information, education and recreation. Visit our website, Broward.org/Library, or follow Libraries on Facebook and Twitter.

DATE: August 4, 2020
MEDIA CONTACT: Catherine McElrath
Libraries Division
PHONE: 954-357-7402
EMAIL: cmcelrath@Broward.org