A New Tool for Collection Assessment: One Library's Response to the Calls to Action Issued by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

ABSTRACT

The University of Manitoba's Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library is a recognized leader in Indigenous and circumpolar health for establishing the Aboriginal Health Collection in 1997, the first discrete collection of materials on the health of Indigenous peoples located in an academic health sciences library in Canada. This article describes the history, development, and scope of what is now known as the Indigenous Health Collection. In June 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) issued the calls to action as part of its mandate to gather information and document the history of Indian Residential Schools and their legacy for all Canadians. The ninety-four calls to action provide clear guidance to governments, institutions, and people to initiate changes to address the legacy in a spirit of true reconciliation. The Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library was uniquely positioned to respond to the TRC calls to action. The enduring legacy of the residential schools and other discriminatory government policies is one that continues to impact the health status of many people in Canada who identify as Indigenous, First Nations, Metis, Inuit, or Aboriginal. The Indigenous Health Collection includes materials on the health, wellness, and lived experience of Indigenous peoples, the determinants that impact health, and publications documenting community-based and academic research and knowledge. This article provides an example of how an academic health sciences library used the seven TRC calls to action related to health as a framework to assess the resources and collections relied on by educators and students in the health professions.     

Infusing Knowledge of Indigenous Lifeways Into Graduate Collection Management Education

ABSTRACT

In 2013, we conducted a survey of faculty and recent graduates from graduate schools of library and information science (LIS). The purpose of this study was to assess student (as represented by recent graduates) and faculty awareness and opinions about incorporating content about Indigenous ways into their curricula. In short, we found that recent graduates and their faculty were both aware of Indigenous ways but sought varying ways to inform themselves. Faculty believed that they covered this topic in the classes they taught, while graduates reported that they did not hear of Indigenous ways in their course work. Of the courses that LIS students take in their programs, a class on collection management provides a useful platform through which to explore Indigenous identity and access and care of Indigenous cultural knowledge.     

Diversity,inclusion & respect: Embedding Indigenous priorities in public library services

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the design of public library services. Drawing on a case study from the State Library of New South Wales in Australia, the article will outline the focused action of developing an Indigenous Services Business Plan. The Plan promotes inclusion and diversity across the organization to progress Indigenous priorities as core business of the Library. By sharing information on the research and engagement process undertaken, the authors hope to provide a framework that could be utilized by other public libraries to build the inclusion of disadvantaged and diverse communities into the design of library services.     

The Role of an Indigenous Nations Library Program and the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledge

ABSTRACT

The Indigenous Nations Library Program (INLP) at the University of New Mexico is entering its twelfth year of program history and developing a unique venture into Indigenous librarianship. Rather than taking a passive role of information literacy and content support, INLP is participating as an active cognitive participant in Indigenous knowledge contextualization. INLP has done this in various ways including designating culturally sensitive learning spaces, collection development, and Indigenous knowledge promotion.     

Supporting Indigenous Studies Programs Through Sustainable Budget Allocation

ABSTRACT

This study assesses acquisitions budget allocation for sustainable support of Indigenous Studies (IS) and the challenge of addressing the needs of an emergent subject area. A survey of collections librarians provided context for library allocation practices of other Canadian institutions offering IS programs. An analysis of titles purchased before and after creating an IS subject fund was performed; results reveal that there was an increase in the number of IS titles purchased annually after the fund was created. A defined subject fund allowed flexibility beyond conventional library collections structures to address the unique needs of IS as an academic discipline.     

Diverse socio-technical aspects of a digital archive of Aboriginal languages

ABSTRACT

A socio-technical approach is taken to explore a digital archive of Australian Indigenous cultural heritage. The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages is considered in terms of what it is currently doing and what it was intended to do. Two ethnographic stories focusing on user interactions and the outcomes of an online survey serve to evaluate the effectiveness of the Archive from the perspective of different users. This is then juxtaposed with a consideration of the original grant application, outlining what was envisaged for the project. This analysis serves to highlight some of the contingent relations and diverse socio-technical aspects of a specific knowledge infrastructure, as it allows multiple forms of interaction, new connections and generative activities as people discover, access and interact with the content now and into the future.     

Locating knowledge

ABSTRACT

This paper arose from a discussion of the richness of languages used to describe different landscapes of Australia and how the landscape provides the affordances for the language created from this land. More importantly, each language embodies its place and associated world view. This paper looks at how information technology (IT) is supporting knowledge-sharing through approaches used in Indigenous community IT practice and projects to enhance multimedia repositories of knowledge. The origin of any archive is important, in terms of access and control of the use of this material, but also it is important in teaching, to provide the context and connectedness when presenting the material. A collection of knowledge resources can be used to recreate online flexible learning environments around engineering on country and traditional knowledge practices. IT can provide an interactive interface for people wishing to learn the material, through games or worksheet-style activities. Various case studies and their analysis illustrate the way IT can be used to share this knowledge in a legitimate manner across landscapes and cultures. In particular the aim is to understand how authentic this approach can be in view of concerns over appropriation or co-option of Aboriginal knowledge.     

Exploring the applicability of the Semantic Web for discovering and navigating Australian Indigenous knowledge resources

ABSTRACT

Semantic Web ontology files can be flexibly programmed to delineate metadata relationships in machine-readable formats to create relational pathways for discovering resources both on and off the Internet. There is a global community of Semantic Web developers and users across a broad multi-disciplinary range of interests who create and share extensible open-source ontologies. In this article, the author will explore the functionality of Semantic Web techniques for representing the ontologies of relatedness through kinship that typically underpin Australian Indigenous knowledge systems, and investigate their potentials for meeting persistent demands among leading Australian Indigenous collections creators and users to be able to search and discover their hereditary knowledge resources in ways that reflect and reinforce their enduring cultural values, ways of knowing and rights-management concerns.     

Keeping Up: Building Your Indigenous Collection

ABSTRACT

This article provides practical tips on how to build your personal collection of materials on Indigenous topics. Before taking steps in acquiring content, consider the place of print and electronic material in your life as a librarian and Indigenous person. Rephrase foundational documents such as collection development policies, Ranganathan's laws of library science, and Saricks' appeal factors in ways that reflect your Indigenous worldview. Review the steps you take and might take to build this collection, starting with assessing what resources you already have access to, and develop your list of ten authors to watch.     

Centering Indigenous Knowledge: Three Southwestern Tribal College and University Library Collections

ABSTRACT

At tribal colleges and universities, libraries are challenged to serve Indigenous communities while supporting Western formal education. In this article, we examine three tribal higher education institutions in the southwestern United States: Diné College, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. In examining the collections and their use at these libraries, we find multiple strategies to “center” Indigenous knowledge despite most materials being written by and for non-Natives. We hope the strategies present here can inspire people at libraries of all types to consider ways to include the diverse perspectives of their own communities.     

Discovering Indigenous Australian Culture: Building Trusted Engagement in Online Environments

ABSTRACT

Promoting and facilitating access to historical collections for Indigenous communities has recently increased across Australia. Such activities have been integrated into the practices of archives and libraries seeking to reunite Indigenous people with materials that not only document their past but also inform their future. Challenges in accessing these materials go beyond retrieval and include concerns about their emotional content. The State Library of New South Wales is working to create trusted environments for Indigenous peoples and collections with both physical and digital spaces. Through the presentation of work undertaken at the State Library, this article explores how the digital environment can be an effective extension of the physical site in which cultural collections are held. In addition, this article looks at issues that must be addressed to ensure the success and ongoing viability of Web spaces, specifically, the long-standing power dynamics that often dominate interactions with Indigenous collections and that have displaced power from the traditional owners of Indigenous knowledge.     

Imagining: Creating Spaces for Indigenous Ontologies

For at least half a century, catalogers have struggled with how to catalog and classify Native American and Indigenous peoples materials in library, archive, and museum collections. Understanding how colonialism works can help those in the field of knowledge organization appreciate the power dynamics embedded in the marginalization of Native American and Indigenous peoples materials through standardization, misnaming, and other practices. The decolonizing methodology of imagining provides one way that knowledge organization practitioners and theorists can acknowledge and discern the possibilities of Indigenous community-based approaches to the development of alternative information structures.     

Unveiling the Mary Macha Archives

ABSTRACT

Perth-based art dealer Mary Macha was engaged with Indigenous art for almost fifty years. She played a critical role in the development of Aboriginal art in Western Australia firstly in the government sector and subsequently as a private dealer. Her clients included Alistair McAlpine (Lord McAlpine) and Robert Holmes a Court. She was the key player in the development of what became known as the East Kimberley School of art and formed a close relationship with the key artists, Paddy Jamanji and Rover Thomas. After her death in 2017, her archive was sorted and collated by her executors with assistance from the University of Melbourne and vested with the Battye Library in Perth.     

The practical power of human rights: how international human rights standards can inform archival and record keeping practices

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the preeminent international instrument elaborating on the rights of Indigenous peoples. It contains the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous peoples all over the world. As a consequence, the Declaration provides a blueprint for Indigenous peoples, governments and other third parties around the world to respect the rights and roles of Indigenous peoples within society. At its core, the Declaration is based on the principles of self-determination, good faith and participation in decision-making. In this paper, I outline how the principles of the Declaration can and should influence archival and record keeping practices. I suggest we need to harness the practical power of human rights. In exercising our right to participate in decision-making, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can demonstrate this practical power. It is critical that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are substantive and major stakeholders in determining appropriate archival and record keeping processes for Indigenous culture, cultural property and knowledge.     

Ara Irititja and Ara Winki in the APY Lands: connecting archives to communities through mobile apps on portable devices

ABSTRACT

Ara Irititja is an enduring and multifaceted project that returns and collectively documents Anangu historical material and preserves it for the future. This paper explains why the archival project has been so effective in engaging Indigenous communities and what it is doing to ensure its longevity. In particular, the paper provides details about a new pilot project which has resulted in a software application entitled Ara Winki No. 1, ‘a whole lot of stories’, specifically for use on portable electronic devices, which delivers historical and cultural content of relevance to Anangu in local languages and works to connect the existing archive to younger generations.     

‘Around the Meeting Tree’: methodological reflections on using digital tools for research into Indigenous adult education in the Networking Tranby project

ABSTRACT

The authors reflect on the methodology of using digital tools to learn about the experiences of Indigenous people enrolled from 1980 to 2000 as adult students at Tranby, an Indigenous-controlled post-secondary college. This collaboration between Tranby and the University of Technology Sydney drew on debates in post-colonial studies, oral history and archival studies. The authors found that participants prioritised personal control in all social media communication and engaged most actively in person-to-person communication to take part in this research. Participants were eager to share memories of student experiences but they have preferred to contribute to online publications which focused on activities, rather than on individuals. To support participants’ desire for control over digital communication, the authors slowed the pace of online outcome development to allow flexible and ongoing consent arrangements along with non-custodial approaches to oral, archival, photographic and material collections.     

There Is No View From Nowhere: User Experience Research at the Center of Southwest Studies Library

ABSTRACT

In the fall semester of 2016, Delaney Southwest Research Library at Fort Lewis College researched user experience, particularly of Native American undergraduate students. Results showed that Native American students were more concerned about appropriate terminology, representative content, and effective organization of the library than non-Native students were. This research will help the library improve services through collection evaluation, shelf rearrangement, library instruction, and, potentially, reclassification of Native American materials to improve browsability, house culturally sensitive material respectfully, and increase user satisfaction with our special collections.     

Perceptions of Transformational Leadership in Academic Libraries

ABSTRACT

Transformational leadership is highly correlated with effective organizations and successful change, yet few studies of this leadership style exist in the library literature. This study examined perceptions of transformational traits in academic library leaders. The study asked academic librarians at 4 year institutions to rate their library's leadership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. While the librarians perceived their library leaders to be more transformational than transactional, the mean score for transformational leadership was middling, as were the scores for each of the transformational components. This could indicate a lack of change readiness in these libraries.