INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Public Library is adding more than 3,600 resources on antiracism and social justice, thanks to a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
The library purchased 3,668 books, e-books, audiobooks, DVDs, and Blu-rays with the $140,000 grant. The library said demand for resources on the topic increased in the wake of the George Floyd killing last May.
The library received the grant in July and said the resources have remained popular since they were purchased. There are titles appropriate from all ages across various genres.
Some of the titles include "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, "Antiracist Baby" by Ibram X. Kendi, and "So You Want to Talk about Race" by Ijeoma Oluo.
"Typically, the Library doesn't buy 25 copies of each non-fiction book. We might buy just five, and they move around our system," said Deb Lambert, the director of collection management at Indianapolis Public Library. "Lilly Endowment reached out to us when they noticed our long hold lists. They saw that people had to wait 16 weeks for some books and e-books."
The vast majority of the titles purchased were already part of the library's collection, but patrons were facing extended hold times due to short supply. About 10 percent of the purchased resources were new to the library's system.
Some of the titles are available as book club kits — allowing for 10 books to be checked out as only one item. See the full list of resources made available thanks to the grant here. Books and other resources can be checked out online or at branches with a library card.
