Tag Archives: welcome

Welcome to TLAM 2011!

Posted on by

How many tribal libraries are there in Wisconsin?

More than three years ago, when asked this simple question, a group of UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies students recognized a gap in LIS education.  We couldn’t answer the question.

Not only did most of our LIS coursework fail to include examples of how American Indian nations preserve and provide information within tribal communities, it overlooked the valuable contributions indigenous librarianship makes to the entire profession.

As a result, starting in fall 2008, ten students coordinated the first Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums course, the first-ever indigenous information offering at UW-Madison SLIS.  We invited experts from departments across campus to speak, reached out to professionals around the nation for guidance, and, importantly, personally met with tribal librarians, archivists, and museum curators in reservation communities throughout Wisconsin.  From a community of teachers, we learned some of the histories, practices, and concepts of tribal libraries, archives, and museums.  And through visiting, we felt the living, vital part of American Indian cultural institutions.

This year marks TLAM’s third offering.  Still an experimental topics course, it seeks to increase awareness of indigenous information issues within LIS, while creating long-term meaningful relationships with Wisconsin tribal cultural workers.

Check back with this blog weekly to read the impression of entirely new group of TLAM students.  Each week will feature a new student writer reflecting on course topics, guest speakers, relevant events, trips, and final group community projects.  TLAM’s success is the result of a community’s generosity.  We hope to share that gift with you.

Welcome to TLAM 2011!

-Omar Poler

By the way, we discovered that nearly all Wisconsin American Indian communities have cultural preservation institutions.  Here’s a partial list:

TLAM Spring 2010

Posted on by

We are excited to begin a second spring semester of TLAM at UW-Madison SLIS!  The Spring 2010 TLAM course began last week.  Founding TLAM students, Omar Poler and Christina Johnson, continue to maintain the course with one of the TLAM advisors, Sunny Kim.   Janice Rice and Catherine Phan also continue to be heavily involved in the continution of the course.  This year’s new TLAM students include both SLIS graduate students and a couple upperclassmen undergraduate students.  The students as a collective have a wide range of relevant interests and experiences.  The TLAM course has evolved from the initial group independent study from 2009 into now a LIS 640 topics course.  Eventually, if this semester proves to be successful again, TLAM is in line in the future for having its own course number to be offered each spring and become part of the core curriculum at UW-Madison SLIS.

We are looking forward to this semester’s TLAM work, renewing several partnerships, and continuing to expand our network.   In addition to the continued the coursework, hosting guest lectures, on-site visits and collaborations across the state, and advocating for TLAM, many projects are on the horizon for TLAM, including:  involvement with Operation Teen Book Drop  (a 2010 national Native American literacy initiative where the TLAM students will be liaisons to several tribal high schools in Wisconsin to deliver books to teens in April 2010); presenting and networking through various conferences; and assisting in the planning of a potential co-created conference with various tribal librarians, archivists, museum curators, records managers, tribal historic preservation officers, and other tribal cultural institution workers in Wisconsin regarding developments in the field, mutual concerns, and practical workshops.

Over this semester, the TLAM students will take turns again posting to the blog each week.  So please keep coming back for regular updates and reflections from the students as the semester continues.  :D

Wishing everyone all the best.  Feel free to connect with us and/or post a comment here.