When we set off on our first class trip to the Oneida Nation in 2009, who could have believed that TLAM, now in its fifth year, would still be going strong?
But since that wintery day, dozens of SLIS students, UW faculty, and tribal librarians, archivists, and museum curators have come together to meet, learn, and share.
Together, we not only started a new class, we began Convening Culture Keepers, a series of professional development mini-conferences for Wisconsin tribal cultural workers. Featuring workshops on topics like advocacy, collection preservation, and oral histories, the gatherings are hosted by tribal cultural institutions and provide important opportunities to learn and build community.
We’ve also had the good fortune to attend professional conferences across the country to share the TLAM story. And, in the process, we’ve met many of the people who first inspired us to learn more about tribal cultural institutions, especially members of the American Indian Library Association (AILA).
It’s been a tremendous honor to work with (and become friends with) so many wonderful, inspiring people. It’s changed my life. And I hope, in some small way, our collective effort has helped make LIS education a more relevant, beneficial force for both library students and tribal communities.
As this new semester starts, TLAM has its largest enrollment yet–fifteen students who will be working on three service-learning projects with the Red Cliff Ojibwe Library Board, Ho-Chunk Learning Center, and Oneida Nation Cultural Heritage Department.
And we have a lot more planned.
Along with our regular classes, Marisa Duarte, a member of the University of Washington iSchool’s Indigenous Information Research Group (IIRG), will visit in April to share her impressive work on tribal broadband and intellectual freedom in Indian County. Then, in May, Lac du Flambeau’s George W. Brown, Jr. Ojibwe Museum and Cultural Center will host our sixth Convening Culture Keepers gathering.
So check back with this blog weekly to read the impression of an entirely new group of TLAM students. Each week will feature a new student writer reflecting on course topics, guest speakers, relevant events, trips, and service-learning projects.
Now, after nearly five years, it’s hard not to believe that tribal libraries, archives, and museums should be a part of every LIS program. We hope you believe that too!
-Omar Poler