Building Equity-Based Summers

Equity must be at the center of every library’s summer services. Summer services only serve the community if we serve the whole community.

California is re-imagining summer services and activities through the Building Equity-Based Summers program (BEBS).

BEBS is a commitment to work together with library staff across California to design summer services which focus on the strengths of systemically marginalized communities and engage with community voices throughout the process.

Building Equity-Based Summers (BEBS) Overview

Two children and one adult sit at a table using Legos. The one in the middle is building a mutli-colored tower.

BEBS empowers libraries to create summer services that are built on a foundation of equity and designed with the community so that systemically marginalized groups engage in library services in new ways. 

Professional development opportunities include learning sessions and monthly communities of practice. These sessions represent the learnings of staff from over a dozen libraries across the state of California who participated in working sessions to learn from each other’s successes and challenges.

These collaborative sessions with pioneering library staff surfaced truths that are now addressed in BEBS learning opportunities. These are a few.

  • Working towards equity honors diversity and leads to liberation.
  • This work takes time, is intentional, and expands the ways we serve our communities.
  • Equity work requires us to partner with others.
  • Equity work is messy and worth it.
  • Acknowledging who you are serving is essential.
  • It feels good to work on equity, even if the steps are small at first.

BEBS supports the California State Library’s goal of strengthening the abilities of California libraries to design equitable programs and services. For more information, please see the California State Library 5 Year Plan.

Upcoming Opportunities

Hear more about 2025/26 BEBS California learning sessions and other BEBS engagement opportunities.

BEBS AI Generative GPT

Explore the BEBS AI generative GPT to help you and your library team learn to build equitable summer services using the BEBS framework. The BEBS equity-focused GPT covers foundational equity principles, skill development, reflective practices, and practical applications. You can also access a concept map, video, equity podcasts and a host of files related to all aspects of the BEBS framework to guide your journey.

Further Learning

Building Equity-Based Summers logo.

Building Equity-Based Summers is a program of the California Library Association, supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.