Most—if not all—large public libraries across the country share a relatively straightforward mandate: to serve their residents in a way that is both specific to individual community needs and cohesive enough to be implemented across the system. In the case of Harris County Public Library (HCPL) in southeastern Texas, however, that mission is made complex by the county’s size and its enormous diversity.

With a population of over five million—including Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city—Harris County is the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the nation. More than a quarter of its residents were born outside the United States; more than 145 languages are spoken.

AN ENSEMBLE CAST Harris County Public Library (HCPL) and some partners, l.–r.: Elizabeth Roath Garcia, Manager of Studio and Gallery Programs, Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Danielle Brooks, Senior Manager of Early Childhood Initiatives, Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity; Kiana Day Williams, Associate Director of Community and Learning, Houston Grand Opera; Linda Stevens, Division Director of Programs, Partnerships, and Outreach, HCPL; Lisa Lin, Director of Sustainability, Harris County Office of County Administration; Edward Melton, Executive Director, HCPL; Jacklyn Wilson, CEO, Literacy Now; Aria Cheregosha, Apollo Chamber Players (viola); Jennifer Schwartz, Programming Services Manager, HCPL; Matthew Dudzik, Chief Financial Officer, Apollo Chamber Players (cello); Matthew J. Detrick, Artistic & Executive Director, Apollo Chamber Players (violin); Anabel Ramirez, Apollo Chamber Players (violin). Photo by Nathan Lindstrom

With 27 locations, HCPL serves unincorporated Harris County and its municipalities, spread out across 1,777 square miles. Some branches can be a two-hour drive apart. The library provides parenting resources for young families, brings books to incarcerated teens, helps aspiring new Americans pass their citizenship tests, and many more services.

HCPL’s ability to honor the character of its multiple communities, and serve residents consistently and effectively—often, lately, in the face of challenges to the freedom to read at the local and state level—is a testament to its leadership’s consistent vision. Executive Director Edward Melton, who began his career as a children’s librarian, has never lost sight of the importance of lifelong literacy in its many forms—reading, parenting, health, education, and skills, to name a few—and the access that makes those services possible for all Harris County residents.

This holistic approach to literacy in the broadest sense, and its commitment to open and equitable access, has earned HCPL the 2026 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize, developed in partnership with the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation.

TELLING TALES Storytime at Barbara Bush Library with (top photo l.-r., standing) Children’s Program Specialist Janet R. Castanon and Children’s Program Librarian Amberly Celestine. Photos by Nathan Lindstrom

STARTING EARLY

Melton had originally planned on becoming a teacher, starting out at an Atlanta high school. But after talking to the school librarian, he realized that library work was more aligned with his vision, and he moved to the Atlanta Fulton Public Library as a paraprofessional in the children’s department while earning his MLIS. Melton went on to work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which took him to a variety of libraries across the country, and landed his first library job at Houston Public Library—located in Harris County but exclusively serving the city of Houston—as a children’s librarian and eventually administrative manager. Then, after three years as chief of branches at San Francisco Public Library, Melton returned to Harris County, this time as director of HCPL.

In his 10 years at the helm, Melton has kept HCPL’s focus on the importance of the learning life cycle, committed to making sure no resident falls through the cracks and that opportunity is available to all. This begins with the very youngest constituents through the library’s Growing Readers initiative: eight area hospital systems give HCPL’s My First Library Card to Harris County babies at birth, along with early literacy information for their parents and a book.

The library card is only the beginning of HCPL’s support for the children it serves. Thanks to the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, all branches now have a Family Place Libraries Learning Center, where children build pre-literacy and social skills through play, and parents can find tools to support school readiness. The Growing Readers program provides activity kits, flash cards, and library-produced videos to encourage caregivers to read, play, sing, move, and write at home.

In 2024, HCPL joined Harris County’s Early Learning Quality Network (ELQN), an ARPA grant–funded initiative aimed at supporting parents and guardians in areas identified as “childcare deserts.” Library leadership has set up opportunities for families to talk about their needs through surveys, town halls, and advisory meetings—conversations that are shaping services such as professional training for childcare providers, childcare facility upgrades, and expanded technology access.

When children move on to the Level Reading program, Book Buddies pairs adult and teen volunteers with students in kindergarten through third grade for shared fun one-on-one reading time. “Children get a chance to explore the library, find materials that they want to read, and build that enjoyment,” says Melton.

The Summer Reading Program is open to all ages, with an eye toward cultivating family reading. Nearly 20,500 people participated in 2025, logging in over seven million minutes of reading, and the nonprofit CYCLE Houston donated bicycles and helmets for each branch to use as incentives. Children can build home libraries via the Curiosity Cruiser bookmobiles, which give away books to kids at every visit.

Harris County encompasses 25 school districts, as well as having one of the largest populations of homeschooling families in Texas. The library collaborates with the districts on several initiatives, including the Tournament of Books, in which teams of high schoolers compete to answer short- and long-form questions about a curated selection of 12 books. Rivalry is high; Melton compares it to Friday Night Lights football. “We have giveaways, things like tablets. But it doesn’t even matter what the prize is. They are just competing in terms of showing their interest in reading and what they’ve been learning.”

CONNECTING ACROSS THE COUNTY Top: HCPL staff members taking part in Houston’s 2025 Pride Parade, wearing handmade banned books covers, signing up new library users, and providing QR codes to add titles to people’s holds lists. Middle: local volunteers help their neighbors mend broken toys at the popular West University Branch Repair Café event. Bottom: patrons show off their work at an oil pastel program. Photos courtesy of Harris County Public Library

HIGH SCHOOL AND BEYOND

HCPL offers Career Online High School (COHS), an accredited online program for adults 19 and over to earn a high school diploma at no cost. Participants are paired with individual library liaisons at every branch who offer support and encouragement, helping them get back on track if necessary. Since the program was launched in 2020, 107 students have graduated, and nearly three-quarters of them have moved on to higher education.

To help keep COHS participants moving forward, upon graduation they are connected with the team at HCPL’s FutureU, which provides individualized counseling and resources to help young adults explore school and career pathways. Designed to support residents who may be excluded from the traditional college and career pipeline—first-generation students, people with disabilities, those facing socioeconomic challenges—FutureU helps them widen their paths of opportunity. Users can schedule one-on-one appointments in branches or online, attend workshops on topics such as FAFSA completion and résumé writing, and connect at outreach events. “With FutureU’s support, I was able to successfully complete my college applications,” one patron reports. “I’m thrilled to share that I have been accepted to Texas A&M, the University of Houston, and the University of Oklahoma. I’m so grateful for all the guidance throughout the process.”

THE WRITING’S ON THE WALL Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis (l.) joins Melton to admire the downtown Houston “Books and Freedom” mural celebrating Harris County’s commitment to the right to read. Photo courtesy of Harris County Public Library. Photo courtesy of Harris County Public Library

Cultural literacy is part of the big picture as well. The library partners with the Houston Grand Opera, Bright Star Theater, Express Children’s Theater, ARTreach, Mad Science, and Houston Ballet, to name a few. The Apollo Chamber Players ensemble approached HCPL with a proposal to perform free concerts at every location—tailored for individual communities, heritage months, and events like Banned Books Week—for three years. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has worked with the library for more than 30 years to bring its free, weeklong Art Camp to HCPL branches.

PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER

Harris County is enriched by its range of “cultures, food, backgrounds, ages, social vulnerabilities, and interests across our 27 locations,” according to Linda Stevens, division director of programs, partnerships, and outreach, “giving each neighborhood its own unique personality.” At the same time, however, this can pose barriers to access: lack of transportation, language differences, time constraints because of work or caregiving responsibilities. To bring more residents—particularly new immigrants, low-income working families, those living in rural areas, and seniors—into the library, often the library needs to go to them.

Each branch collaborates with educational, governmental, and nonprofit partners on services and resources; programming and outreach are closely entwined. Stevens points to the work that goes into “connecting with different groups that are working toward the same goals we are, working collaboratively with them, finding out where our puzzle pieces are and their puzzle pieces are, and making them fit together.”

Mobile Outreach Librarians deliver programs such as computer and digital literacy classes, ESL classes, U.S. citizenship interview and exam preparation, art workshops, and book discussions to apartment complexes, community centers, YMCAs, and other locations. From January 2024 to August 2025, 17,000 learners attended 1,024 programs at more than two dozen gathering places. Four Curiosity Cruiser bookmobiles have distributed more than 125,000 new books and STEM-based programming to children across the county since their launch in 2018, helping build home libraries and a culture of reading. Families are allowed to take home and keep one book per child with every visit—which, says Melton, adds up quickly. “It’s kind of like the ice cream truck phenomenon,” he says. “When the Curiosity Cruiser is coming, the kids start running down the street, they start grabbing their parents. Everybody wants to get to the community center to get those books.”

Building on the library’s existing ESL and civic education programs, it has scaled up citizenship services. Through a Houston Endowment grant, HCPL has hired 12 additional staff members dedicated to helping the more than 230,000 county residents who are eligible to become U.S. citizens. In 2024 and 2025, HCPL presented 1,467 citizenship classes and celebrated the naturalization of 177 new citizens.

“Right now with the political climate, there are a lot of challenges around the work that we do in that space—but we’ve been steadfast,” says Melton. “We don’t have enough capacity to fill all of the need throughout Harris County, but it’s through partnerships and collaboration that we really see where we have a greater impact.”

A LIBRARY FOR ALL

In recent years, Texas has consistently ranked among the states with the highest number of book bans and challenges. In 2023, HCPL proposed that the Harris County Commissioners Court adopt a resolution designating the library as a book sanctuary, which was unanimously adopted. At the same time, HCPL launched its Library for All initiative, which actively ensures underrepresented communities are reflected in collections and programs and supports the fight for intellectual freedom. The library updated its policies to restrict requests for reconsideration from those outside the county, and to prevent blanket challenges based on lists circulated by politically conservative groups. “We tightened up the language to let people know that it’s going to be really hard to take an item out of our collection,” says Melton.

Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis had a “Books and Freedom” mural painted on a building in downtown Houston and every year since, the library has partnered with Precinct 1 to speak during Banned Books Week.

HCPL funds Texas Library Association membership for staff, through which they can purchase professional liability insurance against claims of negligence or mistakes in professional duties—a consideration for library workers in a state that last year passed Senate Bill 412, which removes protections for educators and librarians who provide minors access to contested books.

“We saw this as an opportunity to be able to support our staff, to let them know that we’re behind them in terms of anything that may happen legally,” says Melton. “We also have worked closely with the county District Attorney’s office to identify if someone was to be prosecuted, what that would look like.” The DA’s office has provided staff with talking points to use if challenged, he adds, “to let them know that they do have rights and they are supported in the work that they do, and not to fear possible prosecution.”

FIRST STEPS TO STABILITY

The library works with community partners at local events to get its Enhanced+ Library Card into the hands of residents experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. It functions as both a library card and supplemental photo ID, often serving as a first step toward stability through resources that support housing, employment, banking, health, and other services.

Because accessing reliable legal information can pose a challenge to many because of financial, geographic, or technological obstacles, HCPL has partnered with the Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library to create LAWPods at five branches. These are soundproof booths set up for teleconferencing, offering users free access to legal resources, forms, and guidance from trained library staff.

Since 2016, HCPL has provided incarcerated teens at the Juvenile Probation Department (JPD) with a curated collection of high-interest library books and programming. Last spring, when a JPD director told the library that some students didn’t want to attend classes because of their poor reading skills, HCPL piloted a summer reading intervention program in partnership with the Houston-area organization Literacy Now to help them strengthen their abilities and boost their confidence. Based on its success, the library extended the program into the school year. These teens need what the library has to offer in the short term, but the work also takes the long view—not only offering educational resources and entertainment but affirming that the library can continue to support them once they’re released.

“The first thing that the correctional officers told us when we came, they said, ‘You give them those new books, they’re just going to tear them up,’ ” recalls Melton. Instead, “they took agency over those books—they started doing readers’ advisory with each other. They start saying, ‘Bro, don’t tear up the book. Make sure I can read that.’ ”

The library also provides outreach collections and services to community organizations including Sunrise Lofts, for youth aging out of foster care; Veterans Assistance Services (VAST); Memorial Area Assistance Ministries; Spring Branch Family Development Center; and facilities such as the Harris County Women’s Empowerment Center, which prepares women for transition out of the criminal justice system through connection to services during and after incarceration.

CULTIVATING CURIOSITY  Top and middle: Superhero Owlbotron welcomes readers to the Curiosity Cruiser, bringing free books to kids countywide. Bottom: resources abound at HCPL’s branches. Photos by Nathan Lindstrom

A TWO-WAY STREET

HCPL has been part of local government since 1921 and is directed by Harris County Commissioners Court, made up of a County Judge and four precinct Commissioners. But this relationship is more than just operational. The county provides the library with funding—$42 million in 2024—policy support, and partnerships; in turn, the library amplifies county leadership initiatives through trusted, accessible, and innovative community-based services. The county and the library share priorities that include nurturing early, youth, and adult literacy; early childhood development and parental resources; workforce readiness; expanding digital access and civic engagement; and emergency response.

During the pandemic, HCPL distributed 30,000 Chromebooks and 40,000 Wi-Fi hotspots through an Emergency Connectivity Fund grant, bundled with comprehensive educational resources such as in-person computer classes, online tutorials, and troubleshooting. For its work to help bridge the digital divide in a county where at least 171,000 residents lack access to reliable internet, HCPL was honored with a Digital Inclusion Trailblazer designation by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance.

In 2024, the library was recognized with a National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for its work to expand and advance access to citizenship and digital services. And in 2025, the Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded the library a grant to expand successful learning-focused programs like Career Online High School and FutureU.

Melton meets monthly with a liaison for each of the county commissioners, as well as one for the county judge’s office, to identify specific needs in their precincts and offer them talking points about the library for meetings and budget hearings. “We are a county department where good and great things happen,” he says of HCPL. “The commissioners look for those opportunities to be able to highlight the great work that the county does in terms of supporting constituents.”

Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones comes from a family of librarians and English teachers, so her partnership with HCPL is both personal and political. “Literacy, and education generally, is the great equalizer,” she says. “One in three Harris County adults have low functional literacy, and so we very much need to continue doubling down to make sure that we are investing in our libraries and literacy programs throughout the county.”

In Precinct 4 alone, she notes, more than 40,000 households don’t have internet access, and her office is working with the library to find opportunities for improved infrastructure. On a smaller scale, a recent federal grant has enabled HCPL to install library lockers in five neighborhoods where there are no branches. And there are the collections in community centers, book clubs, story times, and summer and after-school programming. “The library has been a great partner in adding literacy components to the educational programming,” Briones says. “We have a lot of work to do, and the momentum is energizing.”

A NEW LIBRARY

The Spring Branch Family Development Center (SBFDC) is a library partner in more than simply programming. Founded by Ricardo Barnes in 2001, SBFDC is a group of nine Houston agencies serving the education, recreation, health, and social service needs that area families asked for. Its partners include the local Boys and Girls Club, Family Service Center, and Harris County Department of Education.

One challenge for the community was the lack of access to a library branch. “If you relied on public transportation, which most of the people that we serve do, getting to a library was a two-and-a-half to three-hour engagement,” says Barnes. “So we decided to test the waters with the mobile library system, the Curiosity Cruiser.” He cold called the library and asked if it would send a mobile unit to SBFDC; a Curiosity Cruiser has paid a weekly visit, in conjunction with other educational programs at SBFDC, since 2021. People began showing up regularly, and Barnes took note of the robust attendance numbers.

“I thought, wow—if this is the case, what would it be like if we developed a physical library here?” Barnes says. More than 8,000 people, including a large proportion of school-age children, live within walking distance of the SBFDC site, “so the high impact of information that they don’t otherwise have access to, or don’t access on a regular basis, can be transformational,” he notes. Melton was amenable, “and so the dream began.” SBFDC and the library are currently developing a Memorandum of Understanding, negotiating city permits, and raising funds to build a one- or two-story fully staffed library branch on the center’s grounds.

Melton has been a great partner, Barnes adds. “I like his enthusiasm—not only him, but his whole team has been such a delight to work with in planning and developing what goes into this library.”

“THE PEOPLE ARE THE LIBRARY”

HCPL prioritizes internal growth, organizational resilience, and staff well-being, with a high degree of retention among employees. It has modernized professional qualification requirements, no longer placing an exclusive premium on a LIS degree, to allow staff to transition into leadership or management roles more easily—at the same time deepening its bench with talent from other fields. “I’m not a traditional MLIS librarian, but because of the experience that I’ve gained here, they’ve allowed me to break the paper barrier and become a member of management,” says Aldine Branch Assistant Manager Janny Tram, who has been with HCPL for 21 years.

Cross-department groups give staff influence over system-wide practices and policies. And the Program Leadership program, where staff design and lead community-focused initiatives—including after-school programs, homeschool support services, early literacy events, and Research by Mail for individuals serving sentences in Texas correctional facilities—enable staff to develop leadership skills in planning, collaboration, and evaluation. This is a two-way benefit, giving employees opportunities to flex their leadership muscles while ensuring that programming is inclusive and responsive to community needs.

Patrons come to the library for “anything and everything. Literally, some people think that they can get their social security card here, their driver’s license,” says Aldine Branch Manager Hershiira Boone-Rodgers, who started at HCPL as a volunteer 11 years ago. In addition to a high volume of Spanish speakers, Aldine’s community includes a large population of immigrants, unhoused individuals, and seniors without family at home.

“You see these people on a daily basis, because this is where their safe space is, and then you get to know what their lives are like. So, you see them as a person, not just a body in the building,” says Tram. Similarly, “Management also embodies that. A lot of our division directors, even though they’re high up, know all the employees by name: ‘You’re not just an employee, you are an individual. I know your skills. I know your strengths.’ ”

Those strengths include connections within HCPL’s neighborhoods, which in turn uncovers potential partners that help the library meet local needs.

“The people are the library, the people on our staff—in our buildings and out in the community—we’re bringing the library to the public,” says Stevens. “It’s all of the people and all of our connections coming together to make the work flourish.”

LIFELONG LEARNING Top: homeschooler support at the Evelyn Meador Branch Library. Middle: staff member Kwon Bill (l.) talks to a college student about career opportunities as part of FutureU outreach at Evelyn Meador Branch Library. Bottom: patrons taking part in a Craft Journaling program at the Barbara Bush Branch Library. Photos by Nathan Lindstrom

REPAIR, COMPOST, STAY SAFE

In January 2023, Harris County Commissioners Court approved its Climate Action Plan for Internal Operations, targeting a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from county operations by 2030, using 2021 as a baseline. The plan focuses on reducing emissions from county buildings by 50 percent without offsets and cutting electricity usage by at least five percent annually. In line with the county’s goals, that March HCPL committed to the Sustainable Library Certification Program, an initiative designed to educate library leaders on sustainability core values and best practices built around the triple bottom line framework: practices aligned to be environmentally sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable.

The library began a collaboration with the Office of County Administration’s (OCA) Sustainability Division in November 2023 with its first Repair Café. The event was a success, with community volunteers helping fix items ranging from computer monitors to t-shirts. Since then, HCPL has partnered with OCA on nine additional events that have kept 186 items out of landfills and provided repair advice for 46 more.

Data from waste audits at several branches has shown that a large portion of their waste is compostable and recyclable. The library is currently partnering with OCA’s Sustainability Division on a pilot composting project at four branches, as well as two county jail kitchens, with back-of-house composting for staff, vendor-managed public drop-off events for the public, and an educational component about the benefits of composting. Many HCPL locations offer gardens, gardening clubs, and seed libraries, and two, including one of its two LEED-certified branches, have tool libraries.

Harris County has seen its share of severe weather emergencies, from high-intensity heat to extreme cold and ice events in recent years, as well as hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. HCPL works with the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and branches serve as neighborhood heating or cooling centers as needed. After seeing the number of patrons who turned to the library for Wi-Fi, computers, device charging, and air conditioning after Hurricane Beryl in 2024, HCPL began work with OCA to have several branches included in the agency’s Distributed Energy Resources project. This initiative focuses on developing a network of resources at county facilities that can produce and store electricity, and that would help HCPL branches more quickly return to full services after major weather events.

MAKING THE MAGIC

HCPL walks the line between innovation and consistency, always prioritizing access for its demographically complex constituents and ongoing literacy to provide them all with maximum potential in their lives. “We want to make sure that people can see themselves in the books that they read, and we also want them to have opportunities to reflect and see other perspectives and views,” says Melton. “We want to be able to not only be that reflection but also be that window to opening up new ideas and opportunities.”

It’s no wonder that, in the often prosaic world of public library operations, so many of HCPL’s staff and partners reference a certain alchemy in what it accomplishes.

“When I see the kids give these thoughtful responses to books that they’ve read in our Tournament of Books competition, I walk out of there with hope for the future,” says Stevens. “Between Edward looking to the future and our staff looking to the communities, and also bringing the passion from their hearts, that’s what makes the magic.”

“The secret sauce is that they’re bold,” Commissioner Briones says of HCPL. “They think broadly about what libraries can do to educate, empower, and uplift communities, and I’m energized by what they do.”

The Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize recognizes the public library as a vital community asset. The prize seeks to honor a library that has achieved this recognition to the highest degree through a strong reciprocal relationship with its civic stakeholders and community.

To honor its exemplary record, the Harris County Public Library will be presented with $250,000 from the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation.

We thank the following external judges who helped inform the final decision:

TRACIE D. HALL | Executive Director, Historically Black Colleges and Universities Library Alliance

MARIA SOLANO | Deputy Executive Director, International City/County Management Association

KRISTEN SORTH | Director and CEO, St. Louis County Library; 2024–25 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize winner

Also serving as judges were: Leslie Straus, Library Awards Director, Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation; Hallie Rich, Editorial Director, LJ and SLJ; Matt Enis, Senior Technology Editor, LJ and SLJ; and Lisa Peet, Executive Editor, News and Features, LJ and SLJ.

For more information, see libraryjournal.com/communityimpact