By La Loria Konata
On Saturday, September 6, 2025, Georgia Library Association (GLA) Black Caucus teamed with nonprofit, That’s Lit Co., to sponsor a book drive for minority children living in a book desert. Founded by Tiffany Durham, the mission of That’s Lit Co. is to connect Black and minority youth with books that reflect who they are, by providing literature written by Black and minority authors. Tiffany was inspired by her pre-teen daughter’s love for reading. Tiffany was intentional about selecting books that her daughter could see herself in. She believed that this would increase her self-esteem and confidence.
Stories have the power to show us who we are and who we can become. As her daughter grew, Tiffany noticed something: many of her friends rarely saw characters who looked like them, and most couldn’t name more than one Black author. That gap in both representation and awareness made Tiffany realize that without access to stories that reflect who they are, our children are being robbed of both knowledge and identity.
Tiffany’s library journey began in the stacks. “At 16, I was shelving books at the University of Florida’s Library of Science. Later, I worked at Georgia State University’s library while pursuing my college degree.” La Loria Konata, current chair of GLA Black Caucus, met Tiffany while working at Georgia State University (GSU) Library. Tiffany and La Loria kept in touch over the years, so Tiffany contacted La Loria to serve on the board because of her 30-year career in libraries and her belief in the transformative power of pursuing knowledge and education.
“As chair of GLA Black Caucus I thought this aligned well with our goal to increase information literacy amongst our youth,” said La Loria. “Black Caucus was pursuing similar options with Black-owned bookstores to no avail. This was an opportunity for Black Caucus to get involved in the community as well as help a friend and former colleague.”
La Loria agreed to serve as board chairperson for That’s Lit Co. Two other GSU Library employees, Brenda Wakefield and Omr’e Harris, serve as secretary and treasurer of the board respectively. In her role as chair of Black Caucus and with the approval from Vice-Chair Deon King and Secretary Imani Beverly, Black Caucus purchased $150 worth of books by Black authors featuring diverse stories such as The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, and Miles Morales: Spiderman by Jason Reynolds.
To learn more about GLA Black Caucus, go to https://georgialibraryassociation.org/IG.
