Former American Library Association President Loriene Roy speaks at the UW School of
Library & Informational Studies
Informational resources for tribal communities

By Jonathan Gramling

       The Wisconsin Idea, using the research and resources of the University of Wisconsin to better the lives of ordinary
Wisconsinites, has been around since it was first espoused in 1904. But in the ensuing decades it has found new
meaning as its basic tenants have been applied in new and ever changing circumstances.
The UW School of Library & Information Studies has used the concept to reach out to people who are incarcerated to
ensure that their information and educational needs are being met. And last fall, a group of SLIS students forged out on
their own to provide resources to tribal communities in Wisconsin and has since been embodied in the Tribal Libraries,
Archives & Museum class.
       On April 22, Loriene Roy, a member of the White Earth band of the Anishinabe (Ojibwe) reservation and former
president of the American Library Association, spoke at the UW SLIS Commons. Roy took note of the students’ efforts.
“Students who are Native or are interested in indigenous issues had the thought to explore how they could work with
communities,” Roy said in an interview after her talk. “They in turn wrote a grant from a local source, got funded and
spent a lot of time visiting these tribal communities around the state. They learned not only how we might be reflected
on websites and in print, but also speaking to tribal librarians and hearing right from them what their needs are, what
their challenges are and what opportunities are.”
       Roy emphasized that the needs in Indian Country are different than traditional libraries and the information needs
in each tribal community are different because each tribe has its own unique historical, cultural and economic make-
up. “We have a need for different types of collections,” Roy said. “One of the skills that we learn professionally is how to
make the best selections of materials for community members, for use by people. We have libraries where students learn
to work in communities to develop what is called selection policy. They draw people’s attention to resources that they
don’t even know exist. They learn the procedures for acquiring things for preparing them for use and for showing them.
Above: Loriene Roy addresses
members of the UW School of Library &
Informational Studies.
Below: Members of the Tribal
Libraries, Archives and Museums
(TLAM) class with members of SLIS.
Sitting are Kyung-Sun Kim (l-r), Janice
Rice, Loriene Roy and Louise
Robbins, retiring director of the School
of Library & Informational Studies.
        And they also know sources that might not be available in print, but are in other media
whether it is online or recorded. Libraries in tribal communities are well-situated to be the
hub of learning. In many cases, the tribal library is more than just a place to get something
to read. It is a community center; a place where people who want to learn the tribal
languages can gather where there are exhibits and photographic archives. Information
centers for tribes serve many purposes including serving often as an archive of tribal records.
We know the oral traditions continue the stories. But there are also ways to keep those
traditions either in print or recordings. Libraries can help initiate oral history projects and
help others find their venue for sharing their stories with the community.”
        The focus on American Indian libraries is a relatively recent one. The American Indian
Library Association was founded in the 1970s. But the current renaissance in Indian and
tribal libraries began about 10 years ago, according to Roy, when the International
Indigenous Librarian Forum was established through the initiative of the Maori people of
New Zealand.
        “They said ‘We need a forum for meeting internationally,’” Roy said. “They would like to
extend the net broader. We’ve had international and indigenous librarians from New Zealand, Greenland, Canada, Australia, Sweden and the U.S. They’ve had
visitors from Botswana who spent time with them. They would definitely like to have more people involved from other areas of the world. Every year, they hope to
extend the net wider.”
        One of the main concerns of the forum is the preservation of indigenous languages. “There are languages that are very threatened now with few fluent
speakers and many of them are older people,” Roy said. “We do look to successful examples in the world. One is the Maori community who 25 years ago said if
the language was lost, so much of the culture’s perspective and world view would be lost. They established over time hundreds of what they call ‘language nests’
for preschoolers. Their language lives. Many people speak Maori fluently. It is one of the national languages of New Zealand.”
        Roy was a consultant on PBS American Experience’s We Shall Remain. “What they have done is taken through five 90-minute episodes examples of five
communities, five tribal nations and how they were impacted by Western cultures,” Roy said. “Of course, these are just five episodes and Native people from
across the country have similar stories to tell.”