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Thirty network librarians participated in an expanded "Focus on Native Americans" breakfast colloquy held on May 2, 2002, during the National Conference of Librarians Serving Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in Richmond Virginia. Extra time was scheduled to foster a fuller treatment of this service area. Detailed discussion centered on ways to increase outreach services, the need for staff sensitivity training, and guidelines for appropriate book selections.
Librarians from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) briefly described their staff training program, Aboriginal Advances, which guides them in working with the Native population and avoiding stereotypes as CNIB's rehabilitation services expands.
The moderators of the session will look into a recommendation to hold a preconference at the next national conference (spring 2004) on sensitivity training for staff at cooperating libraries. The preconference goals would be to see if a sensitivity program can be developed and to welcome additional suggestions from network libraries.
Oyate, <www.oyate.org>, is a Native American organization that evaluates texts, resource materials, and fiction by and about Native peoples; conducts teacher workshops enabling participants to learn to evaluate children's material for anti-Indian biases; and distributes children's, young adult, and teacher books and materials emphasizing writing and illustration by Native Americans. Oyate published Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children, edited by Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale, Berkeley, CA: Oyate, 1998. 246p. $25. Order from University of California, American Indian Studies Center, 3220 Campbell Hall, Room 9515-48, Los Angeles, CA 90095. The book evaluates one hundred children's books for anti-Indian bias and includes a bibliography (with grade levels) of selected books by and about American Indians.
<www.nmnh.si.edu/anthro/outreach/IndiansontheInternet.htm>. Compiled by Margaret Dittemore of the John Wesley Powell Library of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Provides links to Smithsonian Institution resources and other sites with materials on the history, contemporary culture, and achievements of Native North Americans. These sites are recommended for classroom use.
Linda Montgomery, librarian of the Arizona regional library, mentioned at the colloquy that the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science has developed a new master of arts degree program entitled Knowledge River. It focuses on library and information issues from Hispanic and Native American perspectives. For more information contact Patricia Tarin, Director, Knowledge River, School of Information Resources and Library Science, The University of Arizona, 1515 East First Street, Tucson, AZ 85719, (520) 621-3565, <http://knowledgeriver.arizona.edu>.
Updated December 19, 2002
