Native American Library Services Enhancement Grants

September 2009 Grant Announcement

Alaska  |  Arizona  |  Colorado  |  Montana  |  Nebraska  |  New Mexico  |  South Dakota 

Washington  |  Wisconsin 

Alaska

Ahtna Incorporated - Anchorage, AK
Award Amount: $149,840

Contact: Ms. Tana Finnesand
Project Director
(907)822-5778; ahtnaheritage1@cvinternet.net

Project Title: Library Enhancement grant
Ahtna Incorporated and the Ahtna Heritage Foundation plan to digitize and make available more than 280 hours of cassette recordings and more than 150 hours of VHS recordings of cultural significance to the Ahtna community. These recordings, many from the 1970s, are of Ahtna Athabascan elders sharing their knowledge, in English and the Ahtna language, of oral history, traditional stories, family and clan lineage, subsistence, and geography. The collection is deteriorating rapidly and is not accessible to community members. The project will include collecting metadata for each item according to internationally recognized standards, establishing appropriate access protocols, assembling a high-quality digitization facility, providing public workstations for accessing the collection, and providing proper fireproof storage facilities for the original collection of recordings.

Chilkoot Indian Association - Haines, AK
Award Amount: $149,998

Contact: Ms. Barbara Blood
Acting Director
(907)776-2545; director@aptalaska.net

Project Title: Community in Transition: Building on our past; looking to the future
The Haines Borough Public Library, in partnership with the Chilkoot Indian Association, will harness the power of Tlingit cultural skills and knowledge to improve family and community sustainability in this isolated rural location during difficult economic times. Specific projects for youth will focus on native culture, local foods, trading and bartering, and indigenous science concepts to encourage familiarity with cultural information. Presentations will be made on renewable energy sources, energy conservation, recycling, barter of goods and services, and nutritional value of local foods. A film consultant will be contracted to work with the library’s Film Club to create two films to document and preserve elders’ knowledge, experience, and practices in traditional life skills valuable in today’s world.. A variety of training programs will assist patrons in gaining technology skills.

Chilkat Indian Village - Haines, AK
Award Amount: $149,993

Contact: Mr. John Brower
Tribal Administrator
(907)767-5505; jbrower@chilkatindianvillage.org

Project Title: Enhancing Literacy, Preserving Culture
For the benefit of Chilkat Indian Village, the Klukwan Community and School Library, Xux’ Daaka Hídí, will implement its “Enhancing Literacy; Preserving History” project, which will take a broad approach to literacy by enhancing skills for tribal members of all ages in reading, writing, and technology, as well as increasing cultural knowledge. In addition to purchasing new library materials of interest to the community, staff will create a new Tribal Government Document section where local documents and records will be inventoried, organized, cataloged, and made available to the public. The community will enjoy cultural and literacy programs such as poetry writing, Tlingit stories, beading, traditional artwork, and the history of Klukwan. Training in software programs for school and work will provide valuable skills to the community. A consultant will provide staff, advisory board, and volunteer training.

Organized Village of Kasaan - Ketchikan, AK
Award Amount: $121,145

Contact: Ms. Bonnie Hamar
OVK Librarian
(907)542-2230; bonnie@kasaan.org

Project Title: Kasaan Cultural Learning Center and Library
The Organized Village of Kasaan’s Cultural Learning Center and Library is implementing a project to ensure long-term sustainability of the Kasaan library as a community resource by creating collaborative relationships with other organizations, including government and private entities, libraries, and tribal organizations. These relationships will support the library’s evolution into a centralized repository for books; periodicals; documents; photos; maps; and other historic, current, and cultural information that is important to Kasaan and surrounding areas. Community involvement in the library will be strengthened by creating a “Junior Librarian” program, a Friends of the Library group, and an adult volunteer librarian program.

Arizona

Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona - Tucson, AZ
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Ms. Juanita Ayala
Interim Education Director
(520)883-5050; Juanita.L.Ayala@pascuayaqui-nsn.gov

Project Title: Pascua Yaqui Tribe's Dr. Fernando Escalante Community Library & Resource Center
Based on a recent community needs assessment, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s newly established Dr. Fernando Escalante Community Library and Resource Center will enhance its services to the Pascua Yaqui community by focusing on intergenerational exchange and family involvement in the center and by creating a gathering place that promotes cultural learning for the community as a whole. The center will accomplish this by adding Yaqui resources to the collection; offering activities on Yaqui culture, language, and knowledge, including an “Elder Docent” program to engage elders in cultural activities at the library; conducting workshops on how to access tribal information; and adapting a formal multigenerational reading program to make it culturally appropriate in order to strengthen literacy skills for all ages.

Colorado

Ute Mountain Tribe - Towaoc, CO
Award Amount: $75,854

Contact: Ms. Griselda Rogers
Education Director
(435)678-3621; grogers@utemountain.org

Project Title: Ute Mountain Ute White Mesa Library
The White Mesa Library, serving the small Ute Mountain Tribe community of White Mesa, plans to greatly improve the physical environment of the library with new furnishings that will create a welcoming space that allows for group activities as well as privacy. Twelve new computers will bring the computer lab up to date, and a new multimedia collection and increased Native American and Utah history resources will enhance the variety of offerings to community members. The librarian will implement a library automation project so that all materials will be accessible electronically. Presentation equipment for school projects will enable students to enhance their reports, science fair projects, and other assignments. The library will also partner with a local college library to sponsor a one-day library skills workshop for all librarians in the county.

Montana

Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation - Box Elder, MT
Award Amount: $92,566

Contact: Ms. Melody Henry
President
(406)395-4875; mrbhenry@hotmail.com

Project Title: Rocky Boy Community Library Enhancement Project
The members of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation will receive an array of new library services through the Stone Child College Library, which also serves as the Rocky Boy Community Library. Culturally appropriate programming designed to encourage more library use by community members will include a youth book club, an adult book club, a storytelling series for children, a teen writing group, and visits by Native American authors. Library staff will also install automation and circulation management software for their collection, eventually allowing staff members more time to assist customers with information needs and to provide more programs geared to community interests.

Fort Belknap Indian Community - Harlem, MT
Award Amount: $147,961

Contact: Ms. Eva English
Library Director
(406)353-2607x311; evaenglish@yahoo.com

Project Title: Increasing Fort Belknap community members' access to library services
The Fort Belknap College Library will administer the Fort Belknap Indian Community’s project to expand library services to remote communities on the reservation. The Kills at Night Community Center in Hays and the Enemy Killer Community Center in Lodgepole will each receive two new computers with Internet access. A library assistant will provide on-site community training in information literacy and library services available through the Fort Belknap College Library. To further expand resource and information sharing beyond the reservation, the college library will implement a Web-based catalog linking all Fort Belknap sites to the Montana Shared Catalog, vastly increasing the availability of information resources to tribal members.

Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation - Poplar, MT
Award Amount: $140,718

Contact: Ms. Anita Scheetz
Library Director
(406)768-6340; ascheetz@fpcc.edu

Project Title: Patron Services and Digitization Project
The Fort Peck Tribal Library, serving the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation and located at the Fort Peck Community College, will enhance its technological capabilities by purchasing 12 new computers and workstations and providing wireless access points for laptops in the library. To encourage more preteens and teens to read, the library will invest in graphic novels, popular science fiction titles, and bestsellers. Adult reading discussion groups will be facilitated by local literary scholars who have expressed an interest in leading the reading groups. In addition, an estimated 32,000 pages of local newspapers and 14,400 microfilmed pages of the official tribal newspaper will be digitized and indexed by the University of Montana Mansfield Library and made accessible through the Montana Memory Project Web site.

Nebraska

Omaha Tribe of Nebraska - Macy, NE
Award Amount: $48,500

Contact: Ms. Mary Johnson
Library Director
(402)857-2434x2577; mjohnson@thenicc.edu

Project Title: 2009 Omaha Tribe Enhancement Grant Project
On behalf of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, the Omaha Tribal Library, which serves as the public library for the Omaha Reservation and as the academic library for the Nebraska Indian Community College, will purchase furniture, shelving, and security gates for its new library space. New acquisitions will enhance the Native American, juvenile, and adult collections by providing materials of interest to community members. Library staff will initiate a youth reading incentive program, story hour/activity hour for preschool children and their families, as well as cultural awareness workshops. Students in the Early Childhood Education Program and Omaha Language and Culture Program will plan and host these events as a part of their coursework while at the same time donating valuable volunteer time to the library. Library staff will also implement computer and Internet skills workshops for community members.

Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska - Winnebago, NE
Award Amount: $118,424

Contact: Ms. Mary Austin
Library Director
(402)878-3335; maustin@lptc.bia.edu

Project Title: Sh'agra Woiperes Chayk Ooinaykjay (Elders Learning in New Ways)
On behalf of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, the Little Priest Tribal College/Winnebago Public Library will expand and enhance library services to senior and disabled citizens living on the Winnebago Reservation. In partnership with the Winnebago Senior Center, a library staff member will make in-home visits to the homebound to provide visual and audio assistance equipment and to teach basic computer skills. Library services will also be expanded to the senior center, providing large-print books and periodicals as well as offering one-on-one tutoring in computer use, e-mail communication, and Internet research.

New Mexico

Pueblo of Santa Clara - Espanola, NM
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Ms. Teresa Naranjo
Library Director
(505)753-7326x247; sclib@santaclarapueblo.org

Project Title: "Literacy and Culture Ignite"--Sharing Special Stories at Santa Clara Community Library
The Pueblo of Santa Clara Community Library will implement a series of activities that promotes reading readiness among children up to five years of age using the Every Child Ready to Read® program to train parents, teachers, and library tutors how to impart preliteracy skills to Tewa children at home, in school, and at the library. Staff will implement a Family Story Time Initiative in which traditional Tewa stories will be shared and elders will recount their experiences growing up in the pueblo. A poetry writing contest will be held during National Poetry Month, followed by a poetry slam with local Santa Clara poets. Library staff will partner with other intergenerational programs in the community to coordinate events and activities that will continue to engage community members of all ages.

Pueblo of Pojoaque - Santa Fe, NM
Award Amount: $132,466

Contact: Ms. Jill Conner
Library Director
(505)455-7511; jconner@puebloofpojoaque.org

Project Title: Hearing Our Stories and Building Our World
The Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library project will focus on literacy skills for preschool children and school-age children through the third grade as well as their parents, using the Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library (ECRR) program. The ECRR defines specific prereading and early reading skills that can be developed through the story time experience. The Pojoaque “Hearing Our Stories and Building Our World” project will provide story times at the library for young children and will expand to three other sites on the pueblo to ensure that as many tribal children as possible will be read to on a regular basis. Monthly workshops to encourage parents and caregivers to read to their children will be presented at the library and as outreach programs when requested by other tribal libraries.

South Dakota

Oglala Sioux Tribe - Pine Ridge, SD
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Ms. Michelle May
Woksape Tipi Director
(605)455-6064; mmay@olc.edu

Project Title: Woksape Tipi Taniyohila Kici (House of Wisdom for All)
On behalf of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Lakota College Learning Resource Center will implement “Woksape Tipi Taniyohila Kici” (House of Wisdom for Everyone), an outreach project that will provide additional resources and services at the college’s branch libraries in the nine main communities on the Pine Ridge Reservation. To encourage the use of the Lakota language in the home and increase access to English-language materials for preschoolers, the project will provide English and Lakota materials for parents to use with their preschool children. With a van purchased for the project, a library outreach assistant will visit the branches frequently and deliver materials requested by community members. The outreach assistant will also present workshops to Early Head Start and Head Start teachers as well as parents of preschoolers on the importance of reading in English and speaking Lakota with their preschool children.

Washington

Makah Indian Tribe - Neah Bay, WA
Award Amount: $149,999

Contact: Ms. Janine Bowechop
Executive Director
(360)645-2711; mcrcjanine@centurytel.net

Project Title: We Are All Family
On behalf of the Makah Indian Tribe, the Makah Cultural and Research Center (MCRC) will initiate the “We Are All Family” project to enhance access to family genealogy and ancestral history information for Makah community members. The MCRC will digitize Makah primary sources, which it has been collecting over 30 years, and add valuable probate and land allotment records. Monthly workshops and other resources for community members will allow them to learn how to collect genealogical and historical information that will help them identify family “tupat,” ceremonies or civil rights that were given to an individual or family; what societies Makah families belonged to and which designs they are able to use on ceremonial gear; the economic and social status of families within the community; and traditional family names for name-giving potlatches.

Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe - Sequim, WA
Award Amount: $145,733

Contact: Ms. Leanne Jenkins
Planning Director
(360)681-4669; ljenkins@jamestowntribe.org

Project Title: Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe Digital Conversions and Online Museum
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe plans to convert both tribal and private archival materials with cultural content to digital format to provide public access through a tribally owned and managed Web site that interfaces with existing online museums and libraries. The project is modeled on the earlier IMLS-funded Olympic Peninsula Online Community Museum. Staff will conduct outreach events to identify privately held materials and obtain permission to digitize and include them in the new online tribal archive. A collection management system will be implemented to index, catalog, and make the collection accessible online. Also, project staff will produce a user’s guide for the project’s target audience of tribal households, libraries, school districts, and academic institutions.

Wisconsin

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians - Hayward, WI
Award Amount: $146,115

Contact: Ms. Caryl Pfaff
Library Director
(715)634-4790x122; pfaff@lco.edu

Project Title: Horizons in Health: A Healthy People in a Healthy World
The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will receive a grant to allow the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Ojibwe College Community Library to provide targeted services and materials to meet the critical needs of the community in the areas of traditional culture, health, and the environment. The LCO Library will provide a series of community programs revolving around the four seasons that will incorporate these topics and focus collection development in these areas. Promotional activities—such as “Greening Up with Local Libraries,” bookmark contests for Waadookodaading (Ojibwe language immersion charter school) students, photo exhibits, and topic-focused book displays—will be offered to highlight library services and increase use of the library. A traditional foods cookbook will be developed using community recipes and incorporating historical and modern photographs.