New open access book: Indigenous Information Literacy

Rachel Chong (Indigenous Engagement and Subject Liaison Librarian at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (BC, Canada) has published an open access book: Indigenous Information Literacy https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/indigenousinformationliteracy/. It looks very interesting and I've already put it on the reading list for my Information Literacy modules!
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hydrangea, July 2021

Diversity, Recognition, Respect: Embedding Indigenous Services #wlic2015

Catching up with a final post from the IFLA Indigenous Matters Special Interest Group at  the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference. The presentation Diversity, Recognition, Respect: Embedding Indigenous Services at the State Library of New South Wales, Australia was made jointly by Kirsten Thorpe and Monica Galassi (Indigenous Services, State Library of New South Wales, Australia).

The speakers started by acknowledging the traditional holders of the land and placing themselves. They introduced the services of the State Library of New South Wales (NSW). The aboriginal studies collections are among its strengths: they provide evidence from the colonial past and from current days of resistance and protest. In NSW in 2011 2.9% of the population were indigenous, and the speaker highlighted the districts which are most disadvantaged, which often have high percentage aboriginal population.

The library has developed and indigenous services business plan, with indigenous people and communities as partners. The libararians brainstormed, had focus group sessions, did benchmarking and a literature review, and evaluated past services.

Their vision is that “indigenous people are connected, engaged and represented within the library, collections and services. The vision is everybody’s business.” They are working first to implement the ATSILIRN protocols. Secondly they are developing a collection strategy. Thirdly they are investigating needs for digital resources preservation, creation and access (with emphasis on local keeping places). Their Indigenous Languages website is here http://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/ (they showed a video celebrating indigenous languages at a symposium) and their Tumblr blog (which includes a word of the week feature) at http://indigenous-services-slnsw.tumblr.com/

Curating with Community: Indigenous Knowledge Informing Cultural Collections #wlic2015

More liveblogging from the IFLA Indigenous Matters Special Interest Group session at the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. Curating with Community: Indigenous Knowledge Informing Cultural Collections was presented by Damien Webb (State Library of Western Australia, Australia). There is a paper at http://library.ifla.org/1143/ Although Webb was not present, he had recorded the presentation, starting with a traditional welcome to the country.
The State Library's four key areas are: heritage and history; creative community engagement (cultural events, outreach etc.); supporting the public library network; championing literacy and learning. He was presenting the Storylines project at the State Library of Western Australia, an online keeping place: http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/for/indigenous_australians/storylines
They have developed software collaboratively with the community, and there is a central archive (with things kept private if it is culturally sensitive) and community keeping places (the librarians help the community set up the system locally). After digitisation, items are repatriated to communities if they wish it (digitally or sometimes physically). The speaker showed how the system allowed rich information to be presented with the photographs and documents to explain their context and place. You can see this by exploring the website.

Webb highlighted that there were geographical barriers to enabling people to have physical access to libraries. Language was also a challenge, as there were more than 100 language groups and English is often a 2nd and 3rd language. Before the storylines project, people would have had to travel far and negotiate alien systems to get access to photographs of their family that the library might have.

However, Storylines has made this material more accessible, and local language overlays are also being worked on, so a high degree of literacy is not required. The service has built in cultural restrictions and sorrow protocols, with secret or sacred material kept private. Community ownership has been vital in the success of the project. Storylines also works as a platform for digital and information literacy training.

Management of Indigenous Knowledge in Primary Healthcare #wlic2015

A new day of liveblogging from the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. Management of Indigenous Knowledge in Primary Healthcare: Bridging the Gap between Library and Alternative Healthcare Practitioners in Nigeria was a paper presented by Ebijuwa Adefunke (Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria). The setting is an inland state in Nigeria. Here the traditional doctors are important providers of healthcare, with knowledge orally transmitted through generations. The speaker saw libraries as agents of access, development and transformation, and this involved developing the role of librarians too.
She quoted the the World Bank's definition of indigenous knowledge.(IK) She defined traditional healthcare as derived science. In Nigeria 80% use traditional herbs as primary health care. Traditional healthcare providers are custodians of IK sytems. However these healthcare providers do not necessarily think of the sustainability of the herbs they use.
Adefunke identified the role of the library in preserving IK for the future, helping to manage it, so that it is not lost. Therefore she has done a study to idenify the needs and means of preserving this knowledge. 400 heathcare providers had questionnaires administered. Most were male, some had formal education, documentation was through writing in books, and preservation was mainly through storytelling and oral instruction. Barriers include language, illiteracy and financial barriers. There was also reluctance to share with outsiders. Ways out for libraries were seeing as identifying with practitioners, collaborating with them and demonstrating the need to the communities. Alternative healthcare providers could be trained in systematic management of traditional knowledge.
There is a paper at  http://library.ifla.org/1145/