Cultivating Culturally-Informed Digital Literacies through Indigenous Librarianship
Location
KIPJ Theatre
Session Type
40-minute concurrent session
Start Date
30-4-2024 3:00 PM
End Date
30-4-2024 3:40 PM
Abstract
Due to the lack of digital literacies among Indigenous peoples, culturally relevant approaches are needed in order to center Indigenous beliefs and cultures in the digital age. With its emphasis on how to blend both Indigenous ways of knowing with Western information management, Indigenous librarianship provides a bottom-up approach to embed Indigenous values and strategy in digital library initiatives. This presentation seeks to provide many examples of what this can look like by spotlighting the pathways being made at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University Library. This Indigenous-led “library within a library” is trailblazing approaches and strategies that can greatly influence the way the library profession engages with Indigenous peoples. The presenter will detail: 1) the importance of Indigenous placemaking to inform the community on principles of cultural sovereignty with physical and digital library material; 2) the need to integrate Indigenous protocols in all aspects of information stewardship and 3) the importance of Indigenous administrative advocacy within non-Indigenous institutions to enact digital initiatives that support Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. This presentation will emphasize how Indigenous librarians and archivists hold critical skill sets and expertise needed to enact a sustainable commitment to culturally-informed digital library stewardship.
Cultivating Culturally-Informed Digital Literacies through Indigenous Librarianship
KIPJ Theatre
Due to the lack of digital literacies among Indigenous peoples, culturally relevant approaches are needed in order to center Indigenous beliefs and cultures in the digital age. With its emphasis on how to blend both Indigenous ways of knowing with Western information management, Indigenous librarianship provides a bottom-up approach to embed Indigenous values and strategy in digital library initiatives. This presentation seeks to provide many examples of what this can look like by spotlighting the pathways being made at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University Library. This Indigenous-led “library within a library” is trailblazing approaches and strategies that can greatly influence the way the library profession engages with Indigenous peoples. The presenter will detail: 1) the importance of Indigenous placemaking to inform the community on principles of cultural sovereignty with physical and digital library material; 2) the need to integrate Indigenous protocols in all aspects of information stewardship and 3) the importance of Indigenous administrative advocacy within non-Indigenous institutions to enact digital initiatives that support Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. This presentation will emphasize how Indigenous librarians and archivists hold critical skill sets and expertise needed to enact a sustainable commitment to culturally-informed digital library stewardship.
Comments
Alexander Soto (Tohono O’odham) is director of the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University (ASU) Library. Under his leadership, the Labriola Center has developed and implemented culturally informed library services, expanded its personnel seven-fold, and re-established its physical locations as culturally safe spaces for Indigenous library users. Alex co-authored ASU Library’s first land acknowledgement statement, is the recipient of the Society of American Archivists 2022 Archival Innovator Award, and recently was awarded a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for “Firekeepers: Building Archival Data Sovereignty through Indigenous Memory Keeping,” a three-year project to preserve Indigenous knowledge through community-based participatory archival partnerships with Arizona’s Tribal communities. Alex’s journey to librarianship comes after years of success as a touring hip-hop musician and activist.