Labriola Center Open Stacks
Sun Devil Reads
North Lounge
BIPOC Playwrights
The BIPOC Playwrights Collection is dedicated to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) playwrights of the 20th and 21st centuries, whose works are in English or with English translations widely available. The collection is intended to serve as a resource for the performing arts community at ASU and to amplify the work of historically marginalized artists. There was an identified gap in our collection holdings, particularly for audition resources that authentically represent our BIPOC students. We aim to disrupt the pattern of white actors and narratives being centered onstage. This collection is a testament to the rich, powerful storytelling amongst BIPOC playwrights. We will continue to update the collection to make visible the intersectionality of race, identity, and nationality of these playwrights.
This particular project is inspired by the upcoming production of Detroit ‘67 directed by ASU graduate student and MFA candidate in Directing, Crestencia (CeCe) Ortiz-Barnett, at ASU. Alongside ASU faculty member Rachel Finley, Associate Professor in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre (MDT), CeCe Ortiz-Barnett (‘24), ASU Performing Arts Librarian, Caelin Ross collaborated to create original play list and for people interested in learning more about this topic.
This collection is dedicated to the ASU students, faculty and artists whose stories deserve to be uplifted, both on and offstage. To support our theatre community, please visit: https://musicdancetheatre.asu.edu/events
Disability and Inclusion
These books serve as resources to better understand the experiences of those with disabilities. Included are memoirs, histories, photography, and children's literature addressing topics such as identity, activism, and education.
Honor Hispanic and Latinx Heritage
This collection serves to commemorate Hispanic and Latinx communities through their influence and contributions to American society. We dedicate this collection to the authors and directors who shared stories of their experiences and culture through the written word and cinema. This featured collection was curated by archivists, library staff, librarians and members of the El Concilio student coalition.
Japanese Popular Culture
In popular culture, anime and manga are known for their colorful imagery, exaggerated character features, and complex themes. Through a series of volumes or episodes, audiences are exposed to themes such as love, loss, society, and history. As the popularity of anime and manga continues to grow around the world, their influence can be seen in films, video games, and books. Not only are anime and manga incredibly entertaining, they also provide an understanding and glimpse of Japanese culture. The characters, plots, and themes in this collection all provide insight into Japanese perspectives and cultures.
We encourage you to explore this collection co-curated by librarians and Dr. William Hedberg, Professor of Japanese in the School of International Letters and Cultures. This collection supports the JPN 115 course and includes manga, books, and films that address Japanese popular culture.
Women's Coalition: Stories of Healing
The Women’s Coalition: Stories of Healing collection celebrates these authors as they navigate the intricate landscapes of healing. This curated assortment of powerful memoirs, thought-provoking fiction, enlightening nonfiction, and visually engaging graphic novels serves as a testament to the strength, courage, and resilience of the feminine experience. These stories illuminate the transformative power of perseverance, proving that healing is a journey as unique as the individuals who embark upon it.
Whether you seek inspiration, comfort, or a renewed sense of empowerment, these stories will leave an indelible mark on your heart, reminding you that within every person lies the power to heal, rise, and thrive.
This collection is in collaboration with the ASU Women’s Coalition – thank you for all the you do for the ASU community and beyond. Special thanks to ASU librarians Allinston Saulsberry, Leela Denver and Sierra Schuman for their contributions.
Yiddishland(s): The History of Yiddish as a Migrant Language, Culture and Art
The books featured in this collection tell the story of a Jewish-German language with origins that go back to the Middle Ages. Many of its speakers across Europe were exterminated by the Nazis during World War II, but the language survived. These books embody a revitalized culture strengthened by art and its capacity to heal. We invite you to explore the history of Yiddish and its rich writing traditions in translated fiction, poetry and theatrical works, or connect with Yiddish-language books (Hebrew characters) printed in Latin America – one of many locations in which the language took root after the Holocaust.
This collection was curated in collaboration with Chelsea Haines of the School of Art, in conjunction with the exhibition “Yonia Fain’s Map of Refugee Modernism” and the workshop “Crossing Borders: Jewish Art, Literature, and Migration in the Americas,” sponsored by Jewish Studies at ASU and supported by a HIDA subvention grant.
North Lawn Lounge
Celebrating Black Love
In celebration of Black History Month, this featured collection is thoughtfully curated to Celebrate Black Love through stories that explore the nuances of how African, Afro-Caribbean and individuals of the African Diaspora experience and cultivate romantic connections. The collection comprises narratives that unveil the complexities that exist at the intersection of Blackness and romantic love, as well as how those who identify as Black navigate affection across various binaries of race, class, sexuality or gender. Celebrate Black Love was curated by Au’jae Mitchell of Hayden Library’s Public Services, with the aid of student collaborators Veronica Nuñez and Xianna Montoya.
Celebrating Neurodiversity
The Schneider Family Book Award, presented by the American Library Association since 2004, honors authors and illustrators for their exceptional portrayal of disability experiences in children's and young adult literature.
This collection highlights books from the award's history that explore neurodiverse perspectives. Alongside award winners and honorees, we’ve included a selection of other notable recommendations across various genres and age groups.
While many featured titles focus on autism, the collection also includes works on ADHD, OCD, Tourette's, and other neurodiverse conditions. From fiction to nonfiction, these books offer a range of perspectives and experiences.
Understanding the neurodiverse experience can be challenging, both for outsiders and for neurodiverse individuals trying to explain their world. Challenges like discrimination, bullying, sensory issues and trauma are common in a neurotypical world not designed with them in mind. However, this collection also celebrates the joy and brilliance of neurodiverse minds. Their passion and resilience enrich our world, and we hope these books inspire you to see their unique light.
Special thanks to ASU librarians Joe Buenker, Karen Grondin, and Tim Feller for curating this collection.
Every Day is Earth Day
In celebration of Earth Month, University Sustainability Practices invites you to explore this collection of books focused on sustainability. This collection includes a variety of topics ranging from water conservation, sustainable economics, climate change, plant-forward eating, and more! Within this collection, you can find books written by expert ASU faculty working in the sustainability field. ASU staff, faculty, and students in the sustainability community were also given the opportunity to contribute some of their favorite books to this collection! The Every Day is Earth Day collection is part of the University Sustainability Practices celebration of Earth Month that brings awareness to sustainability as one of ASU’s core values. Throughout the month of April, University Sustainability Practices will be hosting events centered around sustainability. Get involved this Earth Month.
Transcendent Voices: Perspectives Beyond the Binary
In celebration of Transgender Awareness Week, this collection seeks to highlight a diverse range of transgender, nonbinary, two-spirit, and other gender diverse experiences. Explore critical essay collections on how to craft a better world for trans and gender diverse individuals, provocative fiction and poetry that will make your heart ache, as well as graphic novels and memoirs that explore the unique challenges and triumphs within the community. These empowering works of passion, empathy, and solidarity shed light on not only the historical struggles of trans & gender diverse individuals, but the love and joy they experience in being their most authentic self.
Special thanks to the Rainbow Coalition, TransFam and the LGBTQ+ Faculty and Staff Association for their contributions in curating this collection.
Central Lounge
Reference
This collection includes a sampling of standard reference materials such as encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries that can support learning and research on a variety of topics. These reference materials are always available in the library because they are non-circulating, meaning they cannot be checked out.
Social Justice in Action
This curated collection of books and DVDs highlights the diverse works referenced by contributors to Social Justice in Action: Models for Campus and Community. The visual bibliography brings together titles that inspired the essays, reflections and creative work featured in the book. These resources explore justice through many lenses, including education, the arts, science and public life.
Whether you’re a long-time advocate or just beginning to explore questions of diversity, equity and inclusion, these titles offer practical tools and thoughtful perspectives. Many focus on building empathy, fostering self-reflection and challenging systems that exclude marginalized voices. Others tell powerful, often unheard stories from schools, libraries, prisons and communities beyond traditional academic spaces.
Rooted in the humanities but spanning architecture, biology and the performing arts, this collection invites you to imagine new models for connection and change. Browse the display to discover the resources that helped shape a volume committed to critique, creativity and action.
Zines
Zines (short for fanmagazines or just magazines) are self-published, independently distributed pamphlet-like print publications. Whether hand-drawn or digitally-born, made in cut-and-paste technique or hand-pressed, printed in color or black and white, produced by one person or put together by a group of same-minded individuals — zines claim a space for expressing authentic personal experiences and artistic freedom, protesting injustice, tackling identity or gender explorations, or simply speaking one’s mind.