Purdue University Librarian Starting a Subscription Box Service for Black Literature

gabrielJamillah R. Gabriel, librarian at Purdue University’s Black Cultural Center, has launched a new start-up subscription box venture that each month will send a newly released book written by a Black author to subscribers of the service. Subscribers also will receive four or five book-themed items with their new book that mirror prominent themes in the featured book as well as catalog cards and spine labels. The Call Number service, scheduled to debut in November, will start at $35 per month. Gabriel told JBHE that “I have selected the first book but I’m keeping that under wraps at the moment.”

Gabriel states that “These days there is a subscription box service for just about anything: fitness products, beauty products, even razors. However, after reviewing many literary subscription box sites I realized there were no book subscription boxes that highlighted Black literature. The lack of diversity in the publishing industry also spurred my decision to test the waters of entrepreneurship in an endeavor that would promote diverse literature in an easily accessible way.”

A California native, Gabriel holds an associate’s degree in English from Cerritos College in Norwalk, California, a bachelor’s degree in Black studies and journalism from California State University, Long Beach, and a master of library and information science degree from San Jose State University. She is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in museum studies.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Alright now Ms. Jamillah. Do your thing girl! It’s so nice to see someone doing something positive with their life. It’s simply wonderful that she is further adding to the upliftment of black literature.

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