Jamaica Plain Library

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The Effects of Coronavirus and Black Lives Matter on Boston Public Library Use

By David Ertischek | August 17, 2020

As you might expect, the pandemic has led to a large increase in Boston Public Library e-card signups, and the Black Lives Matter protests led to a huge increase of requests for the most popular anti-racism titles. "During the [Black Lives Matter] protests in June, we saw over a 500% increase in checkouts and holds on the most popular anti-racism titles including White Fragility, So You Want to Talk about Race, Between the World and Me, The New Jim Crow, and more," said Natasha Fee, Senior Public Relations Associate for the Boston Public Library. In the two weeks following the first June protests more than 1,200 BPL patrons requested ebooks of White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, and How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. And hey, Kendi recently stopped by Jamaica Plain's bookstore Papercuts J.P. when he happened to be walking by the South Street store. "We’ve continued to see a steady interest in these items and have been purchasing additional copies of in demand titles (for kids and adults) to meet the demand," said Fee.