Indigenous – OPEN SHELF

A Path to Knowledge Justice through Indigenous Collections

OCULA Lightning Strikes winner, Sahar Kasiri-Motlagh discusses the responsibilities of academic libraries to support underrepresented communities through knowledge justice and critical race theory through the example of the Indigenous newspaper, The Eastern Door.

Indigenous voices, InsideOCULA, Super Conference Speakers

Cultural diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Tiffany Miller is the Indigenous Library Liaison at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

culture@work, Limited Series

Indigenous Canada: A Massive, Open, Online Course (MOOC) worth taking

What do the library at the University of Ottawa and Dan Levy, who played David on Schitt’s Creek, have in common? The Indigenous Canada MOOC! Librarians at the University of Ottawa also provided opportunities for colleagues to complete the MOOC in 2019 – 2020.

Columns, High 5, Limited Series

Taking responsibility: A single source may be CRAP when talking about governance

In this third installment, we look at the CRAP test, a method for thinking critically about information and sources, and then use it to unpack Diane Francis’s within wider debates in Aboriginal law and Indigenous critical theory.

Features

Library and museum support for the Ainu People of Japan

Two Japanese professionals on the role that libraries and museums in Japan can play in promoting the knowledge and cultures of the Ainu People.

Features

Drew Hayden Taylor: A contemporary storyteller

Ojibway playwright Drew Hayden Taylor visited Thunder Bay last March. In her last podcast of this series for Open Shelf, contributor Sam Bird took the chance to sit down with this celebrated Indigenous storyteller.

Features

Knowing ourselves: How the Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples can help us learn who we are

Online reference materials have huge value for teaching and learning, For librarians grappling to give access to comprehensive online resources the Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples is a "tertiary source" worth considering.

Features

Taking responsibility: Why state imposed governance for Indigenous Peoples?

This two-part article unpacks the supposed abrogation of responsibility of the federal government to Indigenous communities. In this first installment, we dive into the question of governance and the tensions between the Indian Act and rights created under both the Constitution of Canada and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Features

Water, survivance, and erotica: A conversation with illustrator Chief Lady Bird

It’s hard to believe it was already six months ago, but back at the OLA Superconference in January, I sat down with Chief Lady Bird to talk about Nibi’s water song. This new children’s book is written by Sunshine Tenasco and illustrated by Chief Lady Bird.

Indigenous voices

Theory in practice II: Moving from systemic racism to anti-racism in Ontario public libraries

There is a strong need to explicitly acknowledge deeply embedded racist thinking in order to move towards systemic change in public libraries.

Features

Taking responsibility: An information-seeking journey to understanding Indigenous-federal relations

Unpacking an "abrogation of responsibility" by looking at governance and into the tensions between the Indian Act and rights created under both the Constitution of Canada and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Features

“The lakes could teach me what the mountains could not”: A conversation with Ktunaxa poet Smokii Sumac

Smokii Sumac is a talented Ktunaxa poet, and recently, we talked about gender, the land and more.

Features

A walk in the snow

My husband and I have taken to walking up and down our road once a day—morning or evening. We’re lucky because we live in…

From the Editor