Black In The Stacks: Sharing Stories of Black Librarians, Authors and Advocates with Marquita D. Gooch

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“I hope that my story resonates, but also motivates them (listeners) to know that just because the vision changed, doesn’t make it any less important. Keep going. Keep trying even when you feel like you’ve been defeated. Someone told me that just because someone says no here, it doesn’t mean a yes isn’t waiting elsewhere. Go find the elsewhere.”

–Marquita D. Gooch MLIS

Marquita D. Gooch, MLIS, reflects on the pitfalls and power dynamics of representing a library system publicly, while being limited in her ability to speak freely without fear of retaliation. She talks about the freedom she’s found to be more vocal since leaving traditional library work, and shares how her experiences became catalysts for creating Life After Libraries, her podcast and web series chronicling her journey beyond traditional libraries, and Black in the Stacks, her podcast highlighting the inspiring stories of librarians, authors, advocates, and others from the African American and African Diaspora.

Black in the Stacks is more than a project; it’s a way to build narrative power. Marquita believes everyone has a story to tell, and encourages anyone who can to share theirs.

Meet Marquita

Marquita Gooch holds 16+ years of varying library experience, including a short stint as a school librarian, and is also a skilled social media and marketing specialist. She had made history many times over including being the first African-American Georgia Librarian of the Year. Marquita was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2022 and bestowed a Georgia Trend Magazine “40 Under 40” honor as one of the state’s brightest stars under the age of 40. When she is not championing and advocating for information and media literacy, she spends her time honing her DJ skills, creating timely and relevant content on social media, and sharing the stories of librarians, library staff, authors, activists, and artists in the literary world from the African and African-American diasporas.

Follow Marquita

Connect with Marquita by searching for @MarquitaTheeLibrarian on most platforms.

Visit the Black In the Stacks website.

More from Marquita

It began in early 2012. I had just started working for the Auburn Avenue Research Library and being surrounded by so much Black history, much of the impactful elements being hardly known, it’s hard not to want to leave your mark on the world.

Black in the Stacks seeks to shed light on the world of libraries from Black librarians, staff, authors and more that work in varying realms of literacy.

I speak candidly with library staff about their unique experiences that the general public would not ever know took place in their local libraries. I also speak with authors to shed light on emerging and independent authors, as well as previously published ones who have new works that are timely to the political and educational discourse happening in our world now.

There were a lot of podcasts around literacy, book reviews, author talks, etc. but none of them where dedicated to JUST Black people. I desired that, so I took it upon myself to fill that void. It’s not only a personal and passion project, but an essential one too.

There are so many books documenting Black stories that are often not told by Black people. I wanted what I desired to see and here to not only champion Black people but to be created, produced, owned, and presented by a Black person as our history is being so aggressively watered-down or erased completely.

At its core, Black in the Stacks is a dynamic podcast that simply adds another voice and perspective to a field largely dominated by Caucasian women. I want this podcast and whatever subsequent opportunities that come from it to be similar to that feeling when you spot another Black person across the room and you give each other “the nod” of I see you, you see me, we see each other, I got you, because even though my life’s journey has taken me out of traditional library spaces, I want those who remain in it to know that someone like me sees them still. That someone like me is advocating for them still. That someone like me hasn’t forgotten them. That despite what this current political administration says, they still matter and, most importantly, that they still matter to me.

Name Drops and Appreciations from Marquita

Marquita mentions her family, her mentor (unnamed), Jason K. Alston, Demetria L. Lucas, Tracie D. Hall, Kathleen Cleaver, Tracee Ellis Ross, Stacey Abrams, E.J. Josey, her peers in library service, and her current supervisor.

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Social Justice Origin Stories is produced, edited, and hosted by Relando Thompkins-Jones