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Indigenous Libraries 1

Running Head: INDINEGOUS LIBRARIES AND HERITAGE PRESERVATION

Indigenous Libraries and Cultural Heritage Preservation

Jennifer Dibbern

Emporia State University

LI801

Cohort 10

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Introduction

The author of The Wrong Path & The Right Path, Michael Gorman, asks one

very important question at the beginning of his article, What is happening to the

human record in this age of information? (Gorman 2007). This question is true

and very valid to the Library Information profession today. Preservation of the

human record has been done since the before the first major library in Alexandria,

since the dawn of written language and possibly even before writing (Gorman

2007). Over time, the way in which objects have been preserved has changed

dramatically with most technological changes happening in the past 200 years.

Specifically, the biggest change to affect the preservation of cultural heritage is the

advent of digitization. Digitization has impacted not only the Western design of

cultural heritage preservation, but the indigenous way of ethnographic preservation

of the human record as well. Indigenous communities throughout the world have

preserved their cultural heritage according to norms associated with their

individual belief systems. The advent of libraries, in the Western sense, and

technology has impacted the preservation of cultural heritage in indigenous

communities in todays society.

Cultural Heritage

The term Cultural Heritage raises thoughts of ethnographic objects, past

cultures and dusty stacks. It is used widely to describe images and objects from the

past, however, it is a very broad term. Not only does it encompass the times of yore,

it also includes traditions from the entire human record, including works from

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present day. Michael Gorman writes in extensive detail about the definition of

cultural heritage, including the following description from UNESCOs cultural sector:

Having at one time referred exclusively to the monumental remains of

cultures, heritage as a concept has gradually come to include new

categories such as the intangible, ethnographic, or industrial heritage.

UNESCO goes on to explain how there is a shift to not only include the tangible, but

to include dramatic arts, dance, music, language and spiritual and philosophical

systems upon which creations are based (Gorman 2007). The view on preservation

of cultural heritage differs vastly between cultural groups and examples provided in

this paper include Western and Native American.

The Western Library

The Western Library had its beginnings in Mesopotamia in about 1500-3000 BC

(Rubin 2004). The first library was more like an archive for cultural records and

accounts of the Kings dealings with the gods (Chodorow 2006). From Mesopotamia

to the Alexandrian Library and the rise of the Roman Empire, the library concept

moved from private to public. Over this period of time the preservation of cultural

heritage was primarily thought of in more of a political light. Mostly, the

preservation of government documents was most important. During the

Renaissance with the growth of nationalism, the library became a place of

nationality and pride (Rubin 2004). Finally, the invention of the printing press in

1454 was the first contribution of modern technology to preservation. Now, paper

objects could be duplicated much faster and with more accuracy. The comfort of

having a second copy overshadowed the deterioration of the original.

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According to some, the Western perspective on record keeping and

preservation of cultural objects, specifically in modern day, is primarily to look back

to the deepest roots of our cultural being and of the ideas that govern our political

life and reconstruct our ancient selves (Chodorow 2006). This is certainly true to

an extent. As Westerners, we grow up with a certain view of the world in which we

are raised and in modern times, we develop a more conscious view of ourselves and

the impacts we have on the world beyond our own. In modern times, cultural

heritage preservation is primarily about saving a bit of ourselves for future

generations in the hopes that will learn something from us. It is not only about

preserving information about our own culture, and ourselves, preservation has

become more global and is about learning from other cultures and conserving their

heritage as well.

Indigenous Libraries

Before the technological aspect of preservation is touched on in the next

section, the indigenous aspect of cultural heritage needs to be discussed. Rubin

flatly states, Not all societies can have libraries. He declares that there are three

conditions under which a society can hold a library and they are centralization,

economic growth and political stability (pp 260, 2004). This was found through

Rubins reading of Harris and Johnson, 1984. Up until today, most indigenous

cultures were lacking in one, or most of these criteria. The Native Americans for

example, did not have libraries until many years past colonization. First of all, there

was no need to have a storehouse of past information at ones fingertips, especially if

the society was nomadic. It would make no sense to have to pick up and move an

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information repository every time they had to pick up and move. Secondly, the

storehouse of information was usually as mobile as the society. Elders and other

members of the cultural group were the storehouses of cultural information, the

mobile libraries. Lastly, many indigenous communities did not have a written

language and, therefore, could not actually keep a written cultural record.

Native North America

Although there was no written word in Native American communities until

the formation of the Cherokee Nation and the arrival of the Moravian missionaries

in the 1820s (Josephy 1994), they were very much literate. They have always been

gatherers of information, sharers of knowledge, skilled users of symbols, and

transmitters of cultural heritage and experience (Biggs 2000). In Native American

communities the main way to transfer information was through oral history. Sadly,

since colonization, much of that history has been lost. The cultural heritage that has

survived the chaos of European colonization is still being passed down generation to

generation through oral history. However, with the uninvited influence of the

missionaries, there is now a second way of preserving Native American heritage,

written word and the development of tribal libraries in America.

Lotsee Patterson was known as the Bright Child of Oklahoma. In the 1970s

to the 1980s Patterson set out on a mission to advance cultural heritage

preservation for Native North American communities. She became involved in the

National Library Association in the 1970s and founded the American Indian Library

Association (Biggs 2000). Patterson was instrumental in training and bringing

better educated librarians to Indian schools. She also found ways to preserve,

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transfer, and disseminate cultural traditions by moving cultural preservation from

oral tradition to print formats (Biggs 2000). Patterson was the mother of tribal

libraries in North America and as Biggs writes, She has arguably done more than

any single person to assist Americas first people in the preservation, revivification,

and dissemination of their cultural riches and traditions (2000).

Many First Nations view preservation differently. Below are some excerpts

from Preserving What is Valued by Miriam Clavir:

The unique feature of a distinctly traditional First Nations approach to

the preservation of a specific cultural property is that the very act of

preservation typically marks the point of intersection between the

performance of a ritual observance or the fulfillment of a religious

obligation, and the physical maintenance of the object itself. (Moses:

Delaware/Mowhawk )

I called for a new approach to preservation that goes beyond the old

concept of holding objects in the name of the public, and instead, sees

the reconnection of objects to community as an essential step in

cultural preservation. (Hill: Mowhawk )

Preservation

Cultural heritage preservation has become more complicated with the rise of

the technology boom over the past 100 years. Archival procedure has even changed

dramatically since the 1930s. Today, preservation practice is concerned with many

aspects of proper, archival cultural heritage maintenance. For instance, when

working with many ethnographic objects it is important to consider environmental

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controls like humidity and temperature, as well as the way in which objects are

stored, acid-free storage materials and proper pest controls.

The preservation of cultural heritage seems like a daunting task when

looking at the entire human record, from cultural beginnings 31,000 years ago to the

past 5,000 years of written history. But, that task can be minimized when decisions

are made about what a specific institution should preserve. For example, when it

comes to the digital realm, institutions take a more selective approach and some

take a more comprehensive approach (Phillips 2005). Whichever approach the

collecting institution decides will best represent their mission statement, the

general practice of cultural heritage preservation has been changed exponentially

by the rise of digitization.

Digitization and Conclusions

Digitization can be seen as the next era in preservation of the human record.

It has affected western libraries and indigenous libraries alike. Now, cultural

records like spoken word and ritual dance can be preserved in an instant. Also,

digitization minimizes hurdles that some must face when trying to access libraries

and cultural heritage collections. Entire collections can be made accessible online to

the world. For example, UNESCO, in collaboration with 12 institutions, has opened

the first World Digital Library in April 2009. Australia has an online Web Archive

called PANDORA. It is an amazing task to make one library open to the entire world.

The World Digital Librarys mission statement reads, The World Digital Library

(WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format,

significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world

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(UNESCO 2009). Digitization is truly the cultural heritage preservation tool of the

modern age and it will impact the Western libraries and tribal libraries alike.

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References

Biggs, B. (2000). Bright Child of Okalahoma: Lotsee Patterson and the Development

of Americas Tribal Libraries. American Indian Culture and Research Journal ,

24, 4.

Calvir, M. (2002 ). Preserving What is Valued . UBC Press. Toronto.

Chodorow, S. (2006). To Represent Us Truly: The Job and Context of

Preserving the Cultural Record. Libraries & the Cultural Record , 41, 3.

Gorman, M. (2007). The Wrong Path & The Right Path: The Role of Libraries in

Access to, and Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Progressive Librarian, 28.

Josephy, A.M. (1994). 500 Nations. Gramercy Books. New York.

Phillips, ME. (2005). What Should We Preserve? The Question for Heritage Libraries

in a Digital World. Library Trends, 54,1.

Rubin, R. (2004). Foundations of Library Science. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. New

York.

UNESCO (2009) The World Digital Library. http://www.wdl.org/en/about/. Library

of Congress. Accessed April 25, 2009

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