Dorothy Washington is the BCC professional librarian. Ms. Washington is no stranger when it comes to African American resources and the library system with her experience dating from 1982. She brings to the BCC a wealth of knowledge and experience that includes work at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from 1990-94. The Schomburg Center has over 5 million items relating to people of African descent in its collection. The Schomburg laid a solid foundation for Ms. Washington's work with African American collections.

How does Ms. Washington know a lot about organizing African American resources? She had a wonderful opportunity to take classes from and work as a graduate assistant to a noted authority on cataloging. Her former cataloging professor dynamically impacted the way libraries worldwide provide access to African American resources. After a stint at the Schomburg continuing to pursue her interest in the African American experience, she was awarded a fellowship supported by the Ford Foundation to participate in the Summer Institute and the lst International Conference of the National Council for Black Studies that was held in Accra, Ghana in 1993. In 1994 she was award a Fulbright Fellowship, administered by the American Library Association, to train library staff at Makerere University in Uganda. She lived in Uganda for 8 months. Upon returning to the United States in 1995, she began graduate studies at Temple University and was awarded a M.A. in African American studies. Ms. Washington has been a great asset to the Black Cultural Center, increasing its library to well over 7,000 volumes.

When asked of her work, Washington indicates that she would like for students to realize the potential within them, and know it is up to them to change their attitude about African American culture. She feels the library can help students become self-directed, independent, life long learners. Her passion is to help students and others researching the Black life and thought in any way she can.