Quiet Quail Books has been recognized with a 2025 Global Recognition Award for remaking San Bernardino’s literary landscape through innovative bookselling methods and transparent Indigenous representation. Carolann Jane Duro founded the bookstore in response to a long-standing book desert, while keeping Indigenous voices at the center of its work in a region marked by limited representation. Her approach combines mobile pop-up operations, focused community partnerships, and a hybrid office model that questions traditional brick-and-mortar expectations.

The award evaluation process uses the Rasch model to create linear measurement scales across categories, and it identified Quiet Quail Books as exceptional in leadership, service, and innovation. Duro received the highest scores in vision implementation, ethical decision-making, community impact, and changing standard practices in her field. Her work demonstrates how small businesses can achieve measurable social benefits through a clear strategy and consistent engagement with local needs.

Duro launched Quiet Quail Books immediately after graduating from Scripps College because her childhood experience of never seeing California Indigenous girls represented in literature shaped her goals. San Bernardino’s diverse population had long lacked accessible book retail, which limited literacy opportunities and cultural visibility for many communities. The bookstore’s mission focuses on Indigenous-authored works, including children’s books, graphic novels, and adult fiction, utilizing reading as a means to encourage empathy and promote social awareness.

Breaking Traditional Retail Models

Quiet Quail Books utilizes multiple channels that enhance access while keeping costs manageable. The business began as a mobile pop-up operation that traveled across reservations and territories to reach California Native communities where they live and gather. This approach recognized the distance and resource barriers that Indigenous readers face, while avoiding the fixed expenses associated with permanent storefronts.

Duro later established consignment arrangements that placed permanent bookshelves in coffee shops and boba establishments throughout the Inland Empire, providing residents with stable locations to purchase books without requiring a full retail site. The more recent hybrid office model has become a central feature of her strategy, as she has secured office space that serves as a business base and a community venue. The office hosts book clubs, poetry events, food drives, and educational sessions on Native American history, while offering flexible scheduling for Duro, who balances full-time employment with bookselling responsibilities.

Recognition And Community Impact

Duro’s work has garnered attention from national literary organizations and Indigenous media outlets that track developments in inclusive book publishing. The American Booksellers Association selected her for its diversity, equity, and inclusion committee because it recognized her practical experience in reaching communities that traditional bookstores often overlook. She has appeared multiple times on the organization’s Bookweb series, where she has discussed her role as a California Native bookseller and described her food drive efforts during the 2025 food stamps crisis.

Scripps College honored Duro as an outstanding recent alumnus just two years after graduation, which reflected the apparent effect of her work in San Bernardino and beyond. The Black and Indigenous People of Color Booksellers’ awards also recognized Duro for innovation in bookselling and supported the value of her nontraditional retail model. Community response shows real results, as customers often express relief that San Bernardino’s book desert is finally being addressed. Social media engagement, event attendance, and sales all indicate steady growth.

Final Words

Quiet Quail Books demonstrates how focused entrepreneurship can address persistent gaps in local cultural resources directly and concretely. Duro’s choice to test new forms of retail created a working model for serving book deserts while rejecting the idea that a bookstore must depend on high-cost storefronts to matter. Her focus on Indigenous authorship fills a long-standing gap in local reading options, while helping broader audiences gain a deeper understanding of Native perspectives and histories. The bookstore operates as a commercial outlet and a community space.

The Global Recognition Awards selection reflects increasing recognition that meaningful innovation often appears outside traditional business hubs and established sectors. Duro built her enterprise with limited capital and no earlier retail background while using cultural knowledge and community relationships as key strengths. Alex Sterling, spokesperson for Global Recognition Awards, stated that “Quiet Quail Books shows how careful attention to community needs, paired with steady and practical creativity, can lead to significant social impact and set a solid example for other mission-driven businesses.”