Native American Library Services
September 2010 Enhancement Grant Announcement
Alaska | Arizona | California | Michigan | Minnesota | New Mexico | North Dakota | Oklahoma
Igiugig Village - Igiugig, AK
Award Amount: $118,220
Contact: Ms. AlexAnna Salmon
Tribal Village Council President
907-533-3211; alexannasalmon@gmail.com
Project Title: "Igiugig Tribal Library Digitization Project"
Igiugig Village, located in southwestern Alaska on the shore of Lake Iliamna, maintains an active joint school-public library, which will utilize this grant to gather local knowledge, oral history, and elder recollections of the community. Material collected will be the basis for a digitization project of historic photos, other images, and stories related to the early history of the village. It will fulfill the need for a published history of Igiugig Village with the assistance of native elders who can tell the story firsthand. The library staff will purchase digitization equipment and receive training on digital projects from an experienced librarian who created a similar digital archive and storytelling project in another rural Alaska village. They will also learn and follow appropriate protocol to safely archive the collected information and to record, preserve and disseminate these materials.
Hopi Tribe of Arizona - Kykotsmovi, AZ
Award Amount: $150,000
Contact: Dr. Noreen Sakiestewa
Director of Education
928-734-3501; NSakiestewa@hopi.nsn.us
Project Title: "Kuwan.omp?tap Sikisve (Computer Technology on Wheels) Brought to Where It Is Needed"
The Hopi Tribe of Arizona will add the Kuwan.omp?tap Sikisve (Computer Technology on Wheels) to its already very successful Hopi Tutuqayki Sikisve (Library on Wheels) from an earlier Enhancement Grant. The mobile computer lab will operate in tandem with the current bookmobile's schedule, in order to bring public computer and Internet access to the remote villages throughout the Hopi service area. The intent is to bridge the digital divide between those who can and cannot afford computers and Internet service in their homes, and to provide training that will increase the levels of computer and information literacy of the Hopi population. The mobile computer lab with high-speed Internet access will enable patrons to also take advantage of the many library databases and software programs provided by the Arizona State Library and the Navajo County Library District.
Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians - Coarsegold, CA
Award Amount: $148,655
Contact: Ms. Kathleen Kabbani
Career Development Center Coordinator
559-692-5506; kathleen.kabbani@chukchansi.net
Project Title: "Chukchansi Family Library Services Program"
The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians in Coarsegold, CA, will implement the Chukchansi Family Library Services Program, which will focus on three specific areas of need identified in a recent community survey. Cultural Discovery will involve intergenerational activities with elders and youths, incorporating traditional teachings, oral histories, and traditional arts. Cultural Literacy will introduce culturally relevant reading activities based on materials created by community members in English and Chukchansi. And Computer Knowledge will address computer technology and education for adults by offering mini-courses that will enhance computer skills necessary for job success.
Karuk Tribe of California - Happy Camp, CA
Award Amount: $145,165
Contact: Ms. Helene Rouvier
People's Center Coordinator
530-493-1600 ext. 2202; hrouvier@karuk.us
Project Title: "2010 Native American Enhancement Grants: Promoting Karuk Life: Capturing Our Culture"
The Karuk Tribe of California is initiating a project titled ?Promoting Karuk Life: Capturing Our Culture,? which will improve and expand on existing library operations in Happy Camp and Orleans, CA. With the assistance of a consultant, library staff will organize and catalog their collections and make them Web-accessible. Local storytellers will entertain Karuk Head Start children and introduce them to the library environment. Trainings and workshops on how to use the library?s resources will be held for adults at the Karuk Tribe Community Computer Centers. And, in conjunction with the Karuk Language Program Coordinator, project staff will add more culturally relevant and culturally appropriate materials to the collections, with a particular focus on Karuk language materials, which will be acquired, cataloged, and converted to digital files for online access.
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community - Baraga, MI
Award Amount: $133,779
Contact: Mrs. Mary Bergerson
Library Director
906-353-8163; oclib@up.net
Project Title: "Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Aabiji-miinidiiwin (Endless Gift) Project"
The project, Aabiji-Miinidiiwin or ?Endless Gift,? planned by Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan, is a cooperative effort between the Keweenaw Bay Tribal Education Department, Ojibwa Community Library, the Head Start/Early Head Start Program, and the Pre-Primary Education Center that will focus on expanding and enhancing existing library services to children up to the age of five and their caregivers. New books, audiovisual materials, comfortable furnishings, and expanded hours will enhance the library?s appeal to children and their families. School classes will visit regularly for library activities and grandparent storytelling events, while staff will initiate a supplemental in-school outreach program that takes the library to the children and establishes mini-libraries at the Zeba and Baraga centers on the reservation.
Bay Mills Indian Community - Brimley, MI
Award Amount: $147,968
Contact: Ms. Sharon Teeple
Manager
906-248-3241; slteeple@baymills.org
Project Title: "Traditional Knowledge and Language Project"
The Bay Mills Indian Community of Brimley, MI, will be focusing on two high-priority needs with this grant. The first will be to document traditional knowledge and language for future generations. A videographer will record the Bay Mills Community College?s Ojibwe Language Immersion classes as well as oral history interviews with tribal elders, cultural events, and workshops. This material will be available on a computer kiosk at the community library on the Bay Mills Community College campus as well as on the Internet and in DVD format. The second priority is to establish a branch library at the Brimley Area Public School. When local budget cuts left the school without a librarian, volunteers stepped in. With this grant, the Bay Mills Indian Community has agreed to provide staffing for the Brimley School library so that students can receive quality library services so important to their academic success.
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe's Leech Lake Band - Cass Lake, MN
Award Amount: $149,936
Contact: Ms. Wendy Paul
Librarian
800-265-5576 ext. 2139; wlpwomanlake@yahoo.com
Project Title: "Library Services Opportunity and Renovation"
On behalf of the Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School in Bena, MN, will implement the Library Services Opportunity and Renovation Project to better serve students and surrounding communities. While adding extensive collection materials for all ages, the school library will also be made available to community members after school and during special events. A new library assistant will help with processing new materials and helping community members learn how to use the library?s resources. New computers in the library and a portable computer lab of 18 laptops will greatly expand technology access in the school, while new furnishings will create a friendly, inviting atmosphere.
Pueblo of Jemez - Jemez Pueblo, NM
Award Amount: $150,000
Contact: Ms. Tamara Sandia
Librarian
575-834-9171; Tamara.Sandia@jemezpueblo.org
Project Title: "Preserving our language and culture through technology and beyond."
The Jemez Pueblo Community Library in Jemez, NM, is undertaking a multifold project focusing on the preservation of the Towa language and Jemez Pueblo culture, traditions, and knowledge. The new ?Towa Cultural Resource Center? in the library will serve as a centralized place to collect, house, and make resources available to tribal members. In collaboration with the Jemez Language Team and Cultural Preservation Officer, the library will offer quarterly workshops on cultural topics. Library staff will be trained by the local PBS affiliate TV station on how to create short videos and audio. These shorts will be produced in Towa, targeting children in early childhood to eighth grade, and based on the Towa Language and Culture School Curriculum already in place. The library will also participate in the SPARK Initiative (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids) for children transitioning from preschool to kindergarten, in partnership with other local service agencies.
Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico - San Juan Pueblo, NM
Award Amount: $83,930
Contact: Mrs. Elena Arellano
Head Librarian
505-852-2814; elenasanjuanpueblo@yahoo.com
Project Title: "Newborn to Pre-School Literacy Program: Enhancing P'oe Tsawa's Literacy Education Programs"
Ohkay Owingeh will enhance its existing P?oe Tsawa Community Library services and activities for library patrons of all ages, particularly preschoolers, students, parents, caregivers, and educators, by strengthening their current literacy programs by adding storytelling events and initiating a "Newborn to Pre-school Literacy Program? based on Every Child Ready to Read @ your library.® A Literacy Program Assistant will be responsible for literacy programming , extensive outreach to the community, and extended hours at the library for easier community access.
Spirit Lake Tribe - Fort Totten, ND
Award Amount: $116,749
Contact: Ms. Antonette Halsey
Library Director
701-766-1355; Antonette_Halsey@littlehoop.edu
Project Title: "Spirit Lake Tribe Library Enhancement Grant"
On behalf of Spirit Lake Tribe, the Valerie Merrick Memorial Library at the Cankdeska Cikana Community College in Fort Totten, ND, will build a community literacy program. The program will focus on improving reading skills through an outreach campaign that will emphasize family literacy activities during library family reading nights; weekly story hour for the college childcare center; summer reading camps; Books for Babes for every new baby screened at Early Childhood Tracking; and Parent Getaway Nights, which will provide literacy activities and build family reading skills during a parents-only night. Leapfrog® learning aids will be used in library activities and will be available for check-out by families for home use. Project partners include Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) Childcare Center, CCCC Early Childhood Education, Four Winds Community School, Spirit Lake Head Start, and Early Childhood Tracking.
Kaw Nation - Kaw City, OK
Award Amount: $74,494
Contact: Mrs. Amanda Wamego Buffalohead
Program Development/Project Admin
580-269-2552; amandaw@kawnation.com
Project Title: "Kaw Nation Library Enhancement Program"
The Kaw Nation in Oklahoma, which recently opened its new Kaw Nation Library and Learning Center, built with a HUD Community Development Block Grant, will use this grant to get its facility off to a good start with a library coordinator who will establish policies and a long-range plan in cooperation with an advisory board. Library staff will purchase materials to greatly enhance the current collection and will implement a library automation system to organize it and make it accessible. Collection development will focus primarily on children and youth as well as reference materials, both in-house and online. Furnishings, shelving, and multimedia equipment for all ages will make the library a comfortable and engaging place to visit. The library will plan outreach activities for the local middle school and the tribally run daycare. Occasional newsletters will inform the community of ongoing services, upcoming activities, and special events.
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma - Perkins, OK
Award Amount: $87,365
Contact: Ms. Margaret Gibson
Teacher, Starting points
405-547-2402; mgibson@iowanation.org
Project Title: "Starting Points Literacy, Educational and Employment Resource Office"
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma will develop the ?Starting Points? program that will establish a Literacy, Educational, and Employment Resource Office within the tribal library to assist community members in need of literacy and employment training. This project will allow the tribe to hire a full-time certified teacher to teach reading skills, conduct GED classes, arrange and oversee distance learning instruction, and provide access to vocational and technical classes. In addition, the library will provide and maintain tools necessary for participants to readily create resumes and easily access job-skills training as well as job-search opportunities. The Resource Office will reach a broad community audience and will share resources with six nearby community libraries.
Cherokee Nation - Tahlequah, OK
Award Amount: $150,000
Contact: Corey Bunch
Assistant Director, Education Services
918-453-5000; corey-bunch@cherokee.org
Project Title: "Virtual Library of Cherokee Knowledge"
The Cherokee Nation, based in Tahlequah, OK, will establish the Virtual Library of Cherokee Knowledge, which is designed to provide Cherokee citizens and the general public access to a comprehensive digital repository of authentic Cherokee knowledge related to the Nation's history, language, traditions, culture, and leaders. This endeavor will enable the tribe to secure professional consultation services from digital library specialists, historians, and museum and library professionals and to obtain the technology, software, and equipment necessary for scanning, digitizing, and cataloguing many of the tribe's most significant documents. The Virtual Library will serve as a source for educational programming to promote cultural literacy among tribal members.
Lummi Tribe - Bellingham, WA
Award Amount: $148,580
Contact: Ms. Valerie McBeth
Library Director, Northwest Indian College
360-392-4204; vmcbeth@nwic.edu
Project Title: "Lummi Nation Library Enhancement Grant Program"
On behalf of the Lummi Tribe, the Lummi Library at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, WA, will implement an early literacy project titled ?The Lummi Road to Reading.? This will leverage proven methods for improving early childhood literacy through its alignment with the Raising A Reader® program, the Early Childhood Education program at Northwest Indian College (NWIC), Lummi Head Start, and Lummi Daycare. A literacy coordinator and NWIC interns will be hired to provide programming and training. The target audience is Lummi community families with children ages birth through five. The library seeks to be a catalyst for addressing literacy at its earliest stages of development, and to be a proactive agent in collaborating with other Lummi community organizations to help foster the best possible foundation for early childhood literacy.
Makah Indian Tribe - Neah Bay, WA
Award Amount: $48,377
Contact: Ms. Janine Bowechop
Executive Director
360-645-2711; mcrcjanine@centurytel.net
Project Title: ""Makahs: In Pursuit of Knowledge" (MIPOK)"
The Makah Culture and Research Center, on behalf of the Makah Indian Tribe of Neah Bay, WA, will offer a program titled ?Makahs: In Pursuit of Knowledge (MIPOK),? which will build on its earlier Enhancement Grant project ?We Are All Family.? The ?Family? project has increased the Center?s resources with photographs and textual records donated by community members during their genealogical workshops. It became apparent during these workshops that participants wanted and needed more assistance with digitizing their private collections since many did not have computers, scanners, software, or the knowledge to use these tools. As a result, the MIPOK Project will offer ten computer workshops to help patrons develop new skills in managing and manipulating their own digital files. To further enhance Makah cultural resources at the Center, staff will produce oral histories of 15 Makah elders and their perspectives on Makah history, technology, and culture. A Makah History Lecture Series with bilingual presentations by the tribal historian will be developed for the community as well.
Menominee Indian Tribe - Keshena, WI
Award Amount: $74,520
Contact: Ms. Maria Escalante
Library Director
715-799-5600; mescalante@menominee.edu
Project Title: "Digitizing Special Menominee Collections"
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is working in partnership with the College of Menominee Nation Library Special Collections Department and Wisconsin Heritage Online to house, preserve, catalog, and digitize a large collection of rare and historically significant archival materials, many relating directly to the personal, legal, and national story of the Menominee Tribe?s struggle for sovereignty during the Termination and Restoration period from 1954 to 1973. Project activities will increase online access to these rare documents for the Menominee community, College of Menominee Nation faculty, staff, and students, as well as for public and scholarly research, adding to a greater understanding of the impact tribes felt from the federal termination policy.
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin - Oneida, WI
Award Amount: $102,824
Contact: Mr. Louis Williams
Director
920-869-6213; lwilliam@oneidanation.org
Project Title: "Oneida Community Library Enhancement"
The Oneida Community Public Libraries, on behalf of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, are planning a library makeover with new furnishings to provide a comfortable, safe, and inviting environment for the community. In addition, new computers, a white board for Oneida culture and language classes, a Nintendo Wii for fitness and educational gaming, and video equipment will help bridge the digital divide for staff and patrons. An Oneida artist and videographer will develop a Teen Video Project with the Youth Liaison hired under this grant. Final videos will be voted on by community members for an awards ceremony honoring all participants. The Green Earth Branch Library will organize a mini-autobiography scrapbooking project for their Elder Day activities and will host Elder Story Time during which this work will be showcased.