Unsettling the public library: A conversation on decolonization with anthropologist Kieran Way
Samantha Martin-Bird talks with anthropologist Kieran Way about making libraries safe and welcoming spaces for Indigenous Peoples.
OLS – North launches two First Nation public library websites
The two new Ontario Library Service – North websites have been designed to support language revitalization and First Nation public libraries.
At the centre: A conversation with Nêhiyaw educator Amanda Moosemay
Listen to a conversation between Samantha Martin-Bird and Amanda Moosemay about treaties, community hub libraries and a First Nation school library.
Indigenous voices: An interview with Terri Meekis
The Wabauskang First Nation Public Library (WFNPL) is one of the newest public libraries to be built on a reserve in Ontario.
60 years of service: First Nation public libraries in Ontario
First Nation libraries, like the one in Moose Factory, make profound contributions to their communities.
Unlevel playing field
White middle class professional library values can create an unlevel playing field for Indigenous organizations and individuals. How? By privileging one world view over another.
UNESCO Year of Indigenous languages: What are you doing?
We at Open Shelf want to learn more about how Ontario libraries will honour Indigenous languages in 2019.
He reo e kōrerotia ana. He reo ka ora: Subject headings, a living language and Māori well-being
Ko tēnēi te mihi ki te tangata o te whenua nei. Karanga mai, mihi mai, karanga atu ra. I would like to acknowledge the…
Powerful IL partnerships: Learning commons support for marginalized subjects
I like to think of the educational and health care systems in Ontario as being similar to some extent: teachers are the family doctors…
Safe spaces: The cultural appropriation debate
The Safe spaces column is an attempt to explore today’s persistent socio-cultural debates in light of the alleged values of the librarian profession: intellectual…
What’s New in Open Shelf: February 5, 2018
In this, our first issue of 2018, we are thinking about relationships—between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, regulations in Canada and the U.S., and libraries…
Canada 151: Visions of Indigenous & non-Indigenous relations through time
Canada 150 is now officially over. However, the reconciliation work of libraries, archives, museums and other memory institutions continues in Canada 151. The Truth…
Decolonization
Decolonization is a powerful and contentious word. What does it mean exactly? Is it feasible? Is it desirable? And what does it mean for…