November is Native American Heritage Month. Heritage is traditionally collected,
preserved, and disseminated by libraries.
Tribal Libraries are a relatively recent type of
library. They were only formally
developed in 1978. Other kinds of
libraries – such a public libraries and college libraries – were more or less
available for use by Indigenous People, but Native Americans were still treated
as outsiders in these libraries. Library services specifically for Native
Americans did not exist. Tribal
Libraries, while they provide traditional library services, are a special
kind of library. The most basic definition
of a Tribal Library is a library that specifically addresses the needs and culture
of a specific tribe. These libraries are
typically located near or on a reservation, but they can also be part of a college library that serves Native American students. However, Tribal Libraries do more than other libraries, or rather, provide services in ways that differ from those of other libraries. Not
only do tribal libraries preserve and transmit Indigenous knowledge, but they
also preserve and transmit Native ways of knowing.
Tribal libraries face many of the same challenges as other rural libraries, although these challenges are likely exacerbated by their location on or near
reservations. In particular, all are
woefully underfunded. Moreover, there is sometimes tension within these libraries between the typical organization and
approach to knowledge of the dominant culture and Indigenous ways of gathering,
storing, and expressing knowledge.
In the 1970s, many minority populations were engaging in self-determination
and preservation of culture and a resistance to being forced into standards
created by the dominant culture. For Native Americans, the mission of Tribal
Libraries is to support the self-determination, tribal sovereignty, survival,
empowerment, renewal, and resilience of Native American culture. One of the most
important cultural preservations for the Indigenous peoples was the
preservation of Native languages.
Another was preserving their history and artifacts from their own point
of view. And a third was creating space
for indigenous ways of knowing.
The Indigenous way of knowing is grounded in the
relationship between the person and their environment, particularly the natural
environment. Indigenous ways of knowing
are wholistic and include every aspect of a person – the intellectual, the
physical, the spiritual, the emotional. These are all interconnected among the
family, the society, the nation. Indigenous ways of knowing build knowledge
upon acquired knowledge. The knowing
goes back hundreds, thousands of years, each generation adding to the knowledge
handed down. It is the world view of a
people, not an individual.
For more information on Native American Heritage, check out
our Kelley Center research guide.
For more information on Tribal Libraries, check out this book from the Fondren collection
Navajo Nation Library
