Abstract
A reflection of the author’s work with American Indian students on a reservation, and how they draw on those experiences in their career as an academic librarian. With the diverse demographics that compose the student bodies in universities and colleges, academic librarians are consistently trying to reach and help students from a variety of different backgrounds and levels of academic readiness. It is one of the responsibilities of academic librarians to reach students who are struggling with adjusting to the standards of higher education. By working on the reservation, the author discovered that feelings of safety, support, and representation were all key factors in reaching students who were hesitant with classwork. Diverse representation in collections and establishing a non-judgmental environment encourages college students to use the library as a resource in their education. The library should provide familiarity and comfort to encourage students to utilize it during their college years, and cultivate the concept of lifelong learning.
Highlights
The summer after I graduated college, I packed my bags and flew to Ashland, Montana to spend a year volunteering on an American Indian reservation
Ashland is located on the border of the Northern Cheyenne reservation, which is next to the Crow reservation
The tribes were always willing to give, even when they had little, and they always made sure my fellow housemates and I felt welcome in a place we stood out in. They invited us to their Pow Wows, made sure we always had plenty of food, and let us participate in their Sweats
Summary
I was not sure what to expect when I met, for the first time, the students I would work with that year. While that was true to an extent, I was pleasantly surprised by how positively the students responded to respect and non-judgement This does not mean it was easy: work had to be put into these relationships. According to the American Library Association (2004), one of the core values of librarians is a social responsibility toward their patrons, which includes being accessible, helpful, and supportive. Another part of this responsibility is to promote a sense of social justice, to fight for change and equality for libraries’ diverse demographics. To assume everyone enters college with the same background and level of education sets the library up to fail its students.
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