Tribal college and university (TCU) libraries try to be everything to everyone. In addition to the typical college students working on papers, they serve mothers with small children, faculty working on advanced degrees, and community members seeking photos or recordings of their ancestors.

TCU’s could not exist without their libraries; they would not be eligible for accreditation. Without continued investment and library support, colleges are unlikely to be re-accredited.

ADULTS MAKE BUCKSKIN BAGS. A community workshop at Fort Belknap College Library involves from l to r: Geraldine Allen, Buster Moore (standing), Avis King and Peggy Gardipee. Photo courtesy of Eva English.

Off the reservation, most mainstream academic libraries are allowed to focus solely on meeting the needs of their faculty, students, and researchers. Even those academic libraries that do offer access to community patrons do not collect with the needs of those patrons in mind.

Most of the tribal colleges are designated land grant institutions, and thus they are required to serve the community at large. Others do so because they are often the only library of any kind available to the community members. Academic libraries can be hundreds of miles away.

Rachel Lindvall, library services director at Sinte Gleska University (SGU, Mission, SD), says, “Our patrons don’t have many alternatives for their information needs within geographical shouting distance. Many of us TC libraries are in pretty remote rural areas. Even if some are not, there may be cultural distances that prevent some of our patrons from feeling comfortable going into non-TC libraries for their information needs.”

To serve their audience, TCU libraries must collect a wide variety of materials, including audio books, scholarly journals, popular magazines, and biology encyclopedias. Because of budget limitations, however, librarians must constantly assess which items offer the greatest value to the patrons. The choice between Doctor Seuss and a nursing journal can be difficult.

A survey conducted for this article found that library patrons prefer books written by Native American authors and books about the tribes themselves. Several librarians mentioned that DVDs and works of fiction also have high circulation numbers.

Scholarly materials are collected to serve the faculty and students of the colleges as well as researchers in the local area. Several schools that offer four-year degrees or higher are required to collect scholarly material. For many students, a TCU is not the last stop in their educational pursuits.

TCU libraries support their diverse patrons in a multitude of ways. They serve as internet access points, promote literacy programs and lifelong learning, and teach information literacy skills. In fact, Tohono O’odham Community College Librarian Elaine Cubbins says one of her former students credits her knowledge of the Library of Congress classification system to her work study at the tribal college. When her professor gave her a book citation, the student confidently found it in the stacks of the five-story main library at the University of Arizona.

Many TCU libraries also offer services aimed at the general public. The Fort Belknap College Library recently hosted a series of 10 community workshops on topics ranging from making buckskin bags to consumer rights.

LIBRARY HOSTS STORY HOUR. Families enjoy visiting Sinte Gleska University Library. Photo courtesy of Rachel Lindvall.

Young reader programs that promote literacy, including story time sessions, are a regular feature of some TCU libraries. Research clearly states that children who are early and active readers do better in school, have better vocabularies, and tend to keep reading for the rest of their lives. Some TCU libraries provide sections for children in their libraries and on their web pages. The Little Priest Tribal College Library, like other TCU libraries, has pursued grant dollars to hire children’s and young adult librarians. The Sinte Gleska University Library offers the “Sizzling Summer Reading Program for Young Adults.”

Several TCUs also preserve archives and/or special collections, thus helping to preserve the tribe’s culture and knowledge for future generations. For example, the Salish Kootenai College’s D’Arcy McNickle Library houses non-circulating special collections, which can only be used in the library. Thus the material is preserved but still accessible to researchers. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College’s Ruth A. Myers Library and Ojibwe Archives currently maintains a small collection that they hope to expand in the near future.

Libraries Face Many Obstacles

TCU libraries cope with many of the same issues libraries everywhere deal with — shrinking budgets, rising costs, lack of adequate space, and trying to define their role in the information age. In a 1999 survey conducted by Patricia Bohanon titled “Pathways to Excellence: A Report on Improving Library and Information Services for Native American Peoples,” the number one issue among the surveyed librarians was funding.

All of the TCU librarians contacted for this article mentioned budget concerns. When asked for a quote on budgets, one librarian responded, “Budgets! What budgets?” Some librarians experienced losses of 80% and even 90% of the previous year’s collection budgets.

Not just the amount but also the stability of the budget from year to year is important. Electronic resources, serial subscriptions, and long-term projects are dependent on consistent funding. Libraries often are able to negotiate better prices for multi-year subscriptions than for single-year subscriptions to database and journal packages. Gaps in periodical subscriptions occur when budgets fluctuate: A favorite journal could become unavailable.

Several librarians reported repeated budget freezes that prevented them from purchasing any new material or re-subscribing to serials. They rely on grants and donated funds to provide as much service as possible during these periods.

TCU librarians also stated they have trouble recruiting and retaining library faculty and professional staff. Constrained budgets usually mean lower salaries. The April 2006 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education reported the average assistant professor salary nationwide was $47,046 for two-year colleges. By comparison, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s AIMS Fact Book 2005 stated the average faculty salary range at TCU’s was from $33,432 to $34,344. Lower salaries equate to higher rates of turnover at TCU’s and their libraries.

This can be difficult for the librarians because they have to not only train new staff but also justify their budgets and value to new administrators more regularly. Because of their salaries, isolation, and other factors, TCU libraries often have difficulty attracting librarians who hold Master of Library and Information Science degrees. In a survey conducted by Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb in 2004 for an article in Library & Information Science Research, less than half (47.6%) of the TCU librarians surveyed had such degrees.

Of course infrastructure and space are also concerns. Books, magazines, DVD’s, and computers all take up space. Several TCU’s have recently built or are planning new libraries. (See On Campus in this issue for details.) But many still have to deal with outdated technology and inadequate space.

In the information age, libraries must redefine their roles. Some question the value of libraries in a world where students get most of their information from online sources. TCU librarians have always helped their patrons separate the good information from the suspicious. Today, they can show and explain to students the differences between Google and Academic Search or the differences between Wikipedia and a bacteriology encyclopedia. TCU librarians help their students find the needle of reliable information in the haystack that is the internet.

Recognition is Reward

CMN CONSTRUCTING “GREEN” LIBRARY. The College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, WI anticipates completion of Phase I of their new library in fall 2008. Photo courtesy of Joel Kroenke.

Despite obstacles, the TCU libraries bring resources to an underserved audience and occasionally get professional recognition from their peers and other national organizations. For example, Little Priest Tribal College Library (Winnebago, NE) was nominated for Library Journal’s “Best Small Library in America” in 2005. In 2007 several tribal college libraries received Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grants totaling more than $1 million. Available to libraries throughout the country, the IMLS grants are very competitive.

The first tribal libraries were admitted to the Federal Deposit Library Program in 2005. At this time, participants include Fort Peck Community College, Salish Kootenai College, Fort Belknap College, and Little Priest Tribal College. The federal depository library system was created in 1813. Such libraries receive federal government information at no cost and then provide local, no-fee access to it in an impartial environment with professional assistance.

Perhaps the biggest reward for TCU librarians comes from the students they serve. A Diné College librarian, Victoria Beatty, describes listening to a student tour guide talk to a group of middle-school kids. The student gave an animated and knowledgeable talk about the library and its collections, including its online resources.

“He was telling them everything that I would have told them, including that our library is placed at the center of campus, in the symbolic location of the fire, and that they should think of it as their home,” Beatty says.

“The next day, I told one of the student tour guides how much it meant to me that he was passing on to the next generation what he had learned. The student replied, ‘Usually I would be really shy to get up and speak in front of a group, but when it’s about the college, I just can’t help but tell them what a great place this is. I hope they will all come here!’”

No Library is an Island

LOCALS BUILT LIBRARY SHELVES. Local manpower was used to create library shelves funded through a McMurray grant at the Wind River Tribal College located in Ethete, WY. Photo courtesy of Helen Knudsen.

Tribal college and university (TCU) librarians often must rely on the help of their communities and networks to help stretch their resources. One individual in particular, Gary McCone, the associate director for information systems at the National Agricultural Library, has been instrumental in helping TCU libraries receive regular book donations from the Library of Congress.

Users can help their libraries just by continuing to keep using their services. Statistics help justify budgets. Money is always welcome. Commenting about donations, David Hurley, college librarian at Diné College, expresses the sentiments of other TCU librarians when he says, “Monetary donations really make a difference for libraries who are trying to stretch their budgets for supplies, programs, and collections.”

Donated funds are the reason TCU libraries are able to continue to provide services when they suddenly find their funding cut or frozen. Certain materials are also welcome. Supporters should check with the librarians first to see if they could use the material; TCU libraries have limited space, and the processing of materials takes time and money.

Several library organizations provide resources to TCU librarians. Founded in 1979, the American Indian Library Association (AILA) co-sponsors an annual conference and publishes the quarterly American Indian Libraries Newsletter.

The Tribal College Librarians Institute (TCLI) was formed in 1993 to provide professional development and networking opportunities for TCU librarians. It was the first organization aimed specifically at meeting the needs of TCU librarians. TCLI hosts an annual, week-long institute on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, which is open only to TCU librarians and librarians who have a mandate to serve TCU students. The institute is free of charge to TCU librarians; most years TCLI can provide travel stipends to participants. TCLI also maintains a listserv for TCU librarians, who collaborate daily.

The TCU librarians formed their own organization in 2004, the Tribal College and University Librarians Association. Members hope their organization will lend weight to their individual voices and help to create standards and benchmarks for TCU libraries.

See www.adoptalibrary.org for more information. See tribalcollegejournal.org for links to all the tribal college websites, which have links to their libraries.

James Thull is an assistant professor and reference librarian at Montana State University-Bozeman. He can be reached at jjthull@montana.edu.