Dynamics of change—Library naming, finding, and relationship-building with Indigenous peoples
Channel: OCLC Research
Date: 2020-06-30

The work towards culturally appropriate resource description of Indigenous communities continues to pose challenges for library metadata. Cultural heritage institutions are increasing their understanding of Indigenous issues and our responsibilities as institutions on Indigenous Lands. In Canada, this has been spurred by successive inquiries into glaring contemporary issues faced by Indigenous people, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. With the findings of these Inquiries and Commissions in mind, this webinar will explore how libraries are working towards better metadata of Indigenous materials. It will also operate on the understanding that these issues are systemic, and thus extend beyond metadata practices. To that end, it will also interrogate how libraries are responding to total staff development on Indigenous cultural competency and relationship-building with Indigenous patrons and Nations.

Panelists will discuss two projects undertaken by the University of Toronto Libraries. The first is an environmental scan of Canadian libraries on metadata and professional development initiatives. The second project is a toolkit focused on gathering resources for staff to better understand the contexts and the importance of Indigenous issues pertaining to library work.

Findings from the scan have shown that libraries are collaborating with other institutions to make metadata for Indigenous materials more culturally sensitive and accurate, but this work has been a patchwork, and contextually determinant at a local level. The toolkit aims, in the interim, to assist in the development of Indigenous Cultural Competency for non-Indigenous audiences, to handle Indigenous materials better. As these projects come to a close, our team is now strategizing how to operationalize solutions to the systemic issues discovered in the scan. How might we use our projects to improve metadata work, towards a more holistic and consultative approach? How will the library ensure continual accountability concerning Indigenous initiatives? This webinar seeks to continue the conversation started by the many Indigenous library professionals, and those who have worked in solidarity, upon whose shoulders we stand. 

This webinar is intended for everyone and will be of interest to library professionals who seek to create more culturally appropriate descriptions for Indigenous materials, Indigenous cultural competency resources, and an overview of Indigenous initiatives in libraries across Canada.