Reflection on Competencies C10, C8, and B5

Although I was exposed to indigenous cultures at various points in my life, I never took the time to examine how I viewed the different cultures, interacted with them, and how my assumptions could be reflected in my future information and library settings. The assumption that their cultures were somehow on the path towards extinction is one that I did have, though I'm not sure why. Also, the idea that anyone has the right to know or hear or read about anything is one that, for the most part, I believe in. These two concepts were challenged when I wrote a paper, Native American Words, in my first class, IRLS 504, and I welcomed learning about and confronting my assumptions.

In the attached paper, I looked at how the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act impacted U.S. indigenous cultures' attempts to either repatriate or restrict access to their words held by museum libraries and archives. In this case, the idea or term words referred to any printed documents, voice recordings, or transcripts that involve Native American cultural knowledge, songs, or prayers (essentially anything held secret and or sacred).

Both ideals, the freedom of information and the protection of culture, are considered good by the majority of the American society. So what to do when these collide? Interviewing the Head Librarian, Archivist and a Curator who is involved with determining policies on Native American holdings was an excellent chance to see how this is solved at a practical level. Learning how the Arizona State Museum approaches the task opened my eyes to the reality facing the ethical choices libraries must make and the impact those choices have to their institution's moral guidelines. While reading the literature on this, I was also exposed to an international perspective on this issue and how other countries and cultures approach their own disconnects between government policies and cultural norms.

This exploration directly supports competencies C10, “the ability to recognize and analyze ethical issues and dilemmas in library and information settings and propose reasoned courses of action,” C8, “an understanding of how diversity contributes to the library and information professions and analyze information issues from diverse perspectives,” and B5, “knowledge of types of library and information professions, settings, services, and roles and be able to analyze key issues and potential approaches to these in the areas of their career interest.” This early exposure to such dilemmas in my SIRLS education has enabled me to constantly consider the other assumptions that I bring with me.