Makiba Foster

Makiba J. Foster is the manager of the African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) for Broward County Libraries. In 2019, she took the helm with the vision to take AARLCC to the next level with regard to raising its profile and reimagining its services, programs, and community outreach. Within her first year, she quickly implemented new and engaging series like Cultural Conversations as well as secured critical funding from local and national granting agencies to support original content and programs. Her most recent project funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services is Archiving the Black Web, an historic project with national partners representing HBCU libraries and renowned public libraries like the Schomburg Center and Auburn Avenue Research Library. This national collaboration will create the framework necessary to build a digital web archive documenting the diversity of Black culture and content found on the web. Prior to her current role Makiba served as the Assistant Chief Librarian at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture located in Harlem, New York. Throughout her career, Makiba has enjoyed providing traditional research and reference services, but increasingly she has invested her energies in helping libraries reimagine services to better serve and positively impact the community. Her work includes faculty and community collaborations focusing on the role of libraries and archives in advancing social justice through digital archives like Documenting Ferguson, oral histories, and GIS mapping related to the LGBTQ community Makiba is an author and her most recent piece appears in Library Trends’ special issue Race and Ethnicity in Library and Information Science: An Update, where she discusses using library collections to promote historical literacy on the Black experience where she specifically talks about the Negro Motorist Green Book. Since relocating to South Florida, Makiba has made steady strides in the community. She was recently recognized by Florida Library Association with the 2020 award for Outstanding Scholarly Contribution and selected by Legacy South Florida Magazine as a member of the “50 Most Influential and Powerful Black Professionals of 2020.”