Re: [LM_NET] Recommended Books on American Indians

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

Debbie's lists of recommended books about Native Americans are
definitely the ones that we used when I took my "Multicultural
Librarianship" course at the University of Oklahoma.  My professor
(Dr. Lotsee Patterson, an expert in Native American librarianship) has
worked tirelessly to educate librarians (and others) about the
literature on many school library shelves.

I can truly say that her courses had an impact on me and how I
approached collection development.  Sensitivity toward different
cultures (and disabilities) is certainly one thing that I always look
at when I begin reviewing the collection.  In fact, one of the first
things that I often do at any new school is browse the collection
(starting with the 900s) and de-select and replace those titles that
reflect the Native American culture negatively (both historically and
factually).  I then check the fiction section and begin "pairing"
books (by adding new fiction) to reflect a balance in the
literature---since I know deselecting "Little House" books (or others)
would not be the best way to educate students and teachers about the
problems found in these historical fiction titles.

Many books about Native Americans that are still on school library
shelves are shocking---and I wonder if our school's population
actually reflected the Native American tribes more, if those books
would even be there. (In northeastern Oklahoma, my library shelves
contained many more current titles written by Native American authors
because my school's population was at least 50% Native
American---Cherokee, Choctaw, etc.) However, since moving to Texas,
I've seen many students and teachers using these "negatively-written"
books without a second thought because they are considered "classics"
in the genre. I think that because these individuals have not been
exposed to the culture, they accept what they find on the library
shelves as the truth---which it isn't.  My goal has been to add titles
that reflect an honest account of the history of Native Americans
based upon titles like the ones that Debbie has shared.

Thank you, Debbie, for making these lists available and for reminding
us that we need to evaluate our collections for problematic titles
that negatively reflect a culture---even if that culture isn't a
dominant one within our school's population.



-- 
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
Library Media / Technology Specialist
Digital Bookends wiki / blog:
http://digitalbookends.pbwiki.com
http://shonda.edublogs.org/
sbrisco@gmail.com

"Digital Resources" columnist
School Library Journal

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