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 email, 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 Library

• AIHEC Virtual Library proposed

• Tribal College Journal

• Tribal College Librarians Institute

• D'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.