Interior View of Haskell Library

Don’t you get bored reading books all day? Or What a Tribal College Librarian does

Not Really……very interesting… Library Director. History and Geography Instructor. Assistant advisor of Culture Club. Assistant coach of Knowledge Bowl Team. Community Relations committee member. Census Information Center Director. GED test administrator.

Intermission

2005 SBC Pow Wow

Tribal College Librarians: Renaissance women and a few men Most tribal college librarians have ties to the colleges and communities that they work in. Some ride Harleys, some search for plants in the backcountry. Many bring additional skills to help their institutions in other ways beyond the library.

Why we like it? 1. Working with people. 2. Autonomy and flexibility. 3. Making a difference. 4. Working one on one with students. 5. Pride in our library and work. 6. Diverse tasks.

Opportunities Tribal colleges continue to increase their efficacy as centers of indigenous culture. Tribal colleges continue to move toward adding more advanced degrees. Tribal colleges continue to move toward increased resource sharing.

Quotes from librarians “the libraries multifaceted service population results in equally multifaceted work” “This job provides a much wider and more interesting variety of job duties. There is always something to do, so if I get tired of one thing I can always move on to another project Dilevko, Juris, Gottlied, Lisa (2002) Making a Difference in Their Own Way: The Role of Library Directors and Non-Directional Staff a Tribal College Libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship. Vol 28:5

More Quotes “…former students …return to thank me for my help while they were here” “Larger institutions can’t provide the one on one assistance that we can here”

A New Study of Tribal College Librarians Former tribal college librarian Richenda Wilkinson, currently at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany OR, is conducting an ongoing survey of tribal college libraries. When finished she hopes to publish her findings in a major library journal.

Survey of Tribal College Libraries Created with input from tribal college librarians; some questions modeled after the NCES public libraries survey 77 questions regarding services and collections for the previous 24 months Collected in paper, by , and on the phone Identified institutions primarily by using the directory maintained by TCLI

Tribal Colleges 80% - Open to the general public and check out materials to the public 16% - Recognized as public libraries 64% - Tribal libraries 76% - Solo librarians

Adult Services Virtually all libraries provided the services typically associated with libraries, e.g. reference services, book collections, computers w/Internet, etc. But… 20% - Did not provide ILL service 12% - Did not offer Information Literacy instruction 16% - Did not subscribe to online databases 16% - Did not subscribe to scholarly journals

Adult Services 20% - Offered literacy programs 24% - Provided programs for the elderly 36% - Delivered materials to incarcerated, elderly, or disabled individuals 44% - Provided genealogy resources/assistance 80% - Collected popular fiction 84% - Maintained a vertical file of tribal or local information

Children’s/YA programs 32% - Had story time in the past two years 32% - Had a summer reading program 32% - Provided programs in partnership with local schools 64% - Collected YA materials 80% - Collected children’s materials 40% - Collected toys and games

Preservation (Collections) Collected: –Manuscripts - 52% –Photographs - 60% –Transcripts or recordings of oral history interviews/oral traditions - 60% –Cultural artifacts - 32% Housed: –The college’s historical records - 52% –The tribe’s records - 20% –The records of another local group/agency - 24%

Preservation (Services) 48% - Had cataloged and/or provided access to an archival collection 40% - Digitized documents or photographs 76% - Organized or participated in a language preservation program 16% - Provided records management services 32% - Had exhibited artifacts, archival materials, photographs, etc.

Additional Services 36% - Proctored tests Order/check out textbooks, art supplies, multimedia equipment, rocks, etc. Distribute garden seeds for a local program in partnership with a diabetes prevention program Create language games Maintain messaging for the college’s electronic sign

Tribal Colleges and the Information Age Old AIHEC Virtual LibraryVirtual AIHEC Virtual Library proposedAIHEC Virtual Library Tribal College JournalCollege Tribal College Librarians Institute D'Arcy McNickle Library - Salish Kootenai CollegeD'Arcy McNickle Library - Salish Kootenai College Diné College Libraries

Dine College in Tsaile AZ

“Let us put our minds together and see what we can build for our children” -Sitting Bull--

References Dilevko, Juris, Gottlied, Lisa (2002) Making a Difference in Their Own Way: The Role of Library Directors and Non-Directional Staff a Tribal College Libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship. v 28:5 Pavel, Michael. (1992) The Emerging Role of Tribal College Libraries in Indian Education. Eric Digest.