Native American Patrons in Oklahoma County

A Plan for Outreach Services

Jessica Morris

Introduction
The Downtown library is part of the Metropolitan Library System (MLS) that serves the
residents of the Oklahoma City/County. The library has a long history with Oklahoma City and is
now centrally located at 300 Park Ave and www.metrolibrary.org is where to find more
information about the library. For the past decade, I have worked as a reference librarian for the
Downtown Library branch. I have had the privilege to get to know the diverse community the
library serves. The community is growing more culturally diverse every day. The Native
American culture has unfortunately been unrepresented by society and by the Downtown library.
It is important that our organization reflect the diversity of our community by providing
library services to help engage our patrons to learn, and grow. Currently there are no library
services being offered toward or to include the Native American diverse culture. I propose the
Downtown library expand the outreach services and include more Native American themed
activities. The purpose of culture themed activities will support the library system mission of
growing smarter communities, one person at a time. Furthermore, enforcing the systems vision
to be the communitys hub for critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and lifelong
enrichment. [6]
The goal of this proposal is to show having more Native American cultural events at the
Downtown library will accomplish the organizations objectives that providing every person in
the community the highest quality of service, treat each member with respect, and fulfil our
commitment to learning as enjoyment. This proposal will highlight the Native American culture
within Oklahoma City, show that the Downtown Library branch is an excellent facility to
accommodate cultural events, and stimulate diversity programming.

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Institution and Community Profile

Thousands of people settled Oklahoma City that first day of the 1889 land run making the
city born grown as they say. [7] The city was still young in its cultural pursuits to say
nonetheless. A small group of towns people began a small book club leading in the quest for the
love of learning. They set out to improve the education and culture of their community. Since
then that small club grew up with a mission to help improve culture and education in their
community, turning into the Metropolitan Library System of today.
The Downtown Library is one of nineteen branches of the Metropolitan Library System
that serves the Oklahoma City or Oklahoma County community. The library system is funded by
property taxes and residents within this area are able to obtain a library card. However, the
library system is a public safe environment free for anyone to come and enjoy the services the
library offers. The Downtown library is an organization that serves the community that surrounds
it and beyond. In order for the library to serve the diverse members of the community, it needs to
get know the many different cultures including the Native American culture.
Diverse Group Profile
Native American's have a long living history with America society. This culture is
enriched with traditions, life, struggles, and achievement. Within this diverse culture, there are
various tribes with different languages and customs. The purpose here is to research and learn
more about this diverse group. In addition, learn how libraries and librarians can support their
informational needs. Our objective for this research is to provide recommendations for reaching
out and providing services to this community.

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Throughout life, we have opportunities to further our own personal and professional
knowledge. The core values of every librarian involve fostering ones knowledge of the cultures
within their community. Librarians are committed to learning more about diverse cultures. We
are dedicated to growing smarter communities, provide lifelong enrichment, and are dedicated to
our patrons. Native Americans are part of the Downtown Librarys community and we are
committed to their success and exceeding their informational needs.
There are many different stereotypes about Native American culture written in books and
shown through the media. These images continue to create inaccurate information for this
diverse culture that is reflected in the libraries today. There are hundreds of Native American
tribes in America, each with their own beliefs, languages, and histories. Every tribe has a
valuable and unique background. To learn from this culture we must have open minds and hearts.
[8] Over the past decade public library services have greatly changed for Native Americans.
Here are a few recommendations that can have a big impact on your community:

Providing a story telling where a Native American member can volunteer to share their
songs and stories with the community and library. [9]

Developing a librarys material collection and readers advisory that will support Native
Americans in your community.

Collect items that celebrate and represent the Native American Culture that enriches the
readers knowledge. [8]

Providing technology or job skills services and trainings can a positive impact to Native
American Communities. [10]

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Supporting members at local cultural activities or taking a tribal library tour shows a
librarian that is supportive and approachable. [1]

Using Social media can create a connection between librarian and Native American. This
opens an opportunity to collect, name, and organize documents from this culture
accurately. [3]
Collection Profile
Native American culture has been afflicted with the suppression of their voices, beliefs,

and traditions. The Downtown Library was evaluated on if their Native American material
collections were an accurate representation of the culture. To measure the accuracy, we compared
the Downtown Librarys collection with the recommended Best Reads lists for Native
American literature from reliable online resources: Goodreads and Amazon. These two resources
were chosen based on their customer reviews and the professional information provided. Each
material selected for this evaluation either had high customer ratings, literary award(s), and
professional reviews.
The evaluation results established that the library had an adequate representation of the
Native American culture. The study displayed that 90 percent of the recommended items were
available in many formats and reflected diversity in tribal nations representation. Throughout the
evaluation, I did not detect any bias theme of selecting books for this cultural collection. Through
their mass collection, I believe the Downtown Library meets the information needs of the Native
American culture. I recommend the library continue developing their knowledge of the Native
American culture and continue their collection of materials that will enrich the readers
knowledge.

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Plan for Community Outreach

There are 67 Indian tribes residing in Oklahoma. Here are three outreach resources for
learning more about the various Native American tribes of our state.
Outreach List:
A. Comanche Native American
o Comanche Nation OKC Outreach
o Karen Kaniatobe Director
o 7390 S Walker Suite G OKC 73139
o PH: 405-365-8999 Fax: 405-635-8988
o Email: karenk@comanchenation.com
o http://www.comanchenation.com/index.php?
option=com_k2&view=itemlist&layout=category&task=category&id=98&Itemid
=211
B. Oklahoma City Indian Clinic
o 4913 W Reno Ave
o Oklahoma City, OK 73127
o PH: 405-948-4900
o http://www.okcic.com/
o General Information: administration@okcic.com
C. Sequoyah Memorial Office Building
o 2400 N Lincoln Blvd
o Oklahoma City, OK 73105
o PO Box 25352, OKC, OK 73125
o PH: 405-521-3646
o www.okdhs.org
o http://www.okdhs.org/OKDHS%20Publication%20Library/S11049.pdf
Needs Assessment:
A method to gain more insight to the needs of a certain culture within a community is
conducting a Focus Group. This is a face-to-face approach that is useful to gain immediate
feedback and discuss important issues. I recommend the Downtown library organization invite
local cultural leaders to a focus group. I will be in charge of inviting four to ten community
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leaders to meet with me and other librarians to discuss the needs of the Native American culture.
There will be a note taker and the meeting will be audio recorded with the permission from the
group. The audio recording and notes taken will be transcribed for further analysis. The results
will be used to provide better library services for this cultural group.
Marketing:
One of the inquiries from the focus group concerned how to reach out to the Native
American community. The results will help with how we market our services for this group. A
few recommendations would be to start on Social Media, the Oklahoma Gazette, and fliers at the
local community centers. Social Media is a daily used technology. This feature can share
information and receive feedback from the users about our services. For a more tangible
marketing, the Gazette and fliers are great for those without internet services at home.
Library Programming Plan
The Downtown Library offers a variety of programming throughout the year. The
programming consists of various interest and cultural celebrations. My evaluation of the event
calendar resulted in many cultural programs but I did not locate any Native American events
being offered currently in the library system. My preliminary search began with narrowing the
types to Culture, Entertainment categories. I found for the next month Tai Chi, Urban Story time,
and Noon Tunes with musical performances being offered to the community. There is no mention
of any specific diversity programming geared towards Native Americans.
One-Year Programming Plan
January

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Indian Health and the Internet: Meet bi-weekly in January.

The Indian Health Clinic will be at the Downtown library offering health information and
providing online help. During the program, the Clinic will show instructions on how to find
information online and answer any health concerns. An introduction will be made to how to
navigate the clinics website and other medical resources.
March
March on into a good Native American novel, the Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie. Just join the Metros Book Club online account on social media to join the
conversation. Also, on the third Thursday, come down to the Downtown Library for a live story
time from a local Native American storytellers group.
May
Interested in making pottery? Interested in Native Americans? Join the Downtown library and
the Chickasaw Nation in a pottery-making workshop. Come create amazing, fun projects and
experience a Native American culture at the same time. May 7th at 11 am.
July
The month of July, bring your lunch on Thursdays to the Downtown Library and join for Native
American musical performances. Each week will bring a new experience and demonstration of
local culture and traditions.
September

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In September, there is the Comanche Nation Annual Fair. The Downtown Library welcomes the
Comanche Nation for a special preview of some of the features being performed at the fair. We
will welcome the Comanches in a powwow and a stomp dance.
November
November is Native American Indian Heritage Month. The Downtown Library will display for
the whole month various Indian artifacts provided by the Chickasaw Nation and the Comanche
Nation. The items will be locked in the big display for the whole community to view and enjoy.

Summary
The Metropolitan Library System respects and serves all members of the community. The
Downtown library is located in the heart of Oklahoma City and the library system. I have had the
privilege to provide an assessment of the community members and leaders that surrounds the
Downtown library. In addition, I have evaluated the Native American materials in the collection
and found it to be adequate. Furthermore, I address some lacking in Native American
programming events and provided some recommendations. This group has unfortunately been
unrepresented by the Downtown Library and this is an opportunity to engage our patrons, learn
from them, and grow from here. By doing this we will accomplish our mission of growing
smarter communities, one person at a time while being the communitys hub for lifelong
learning.

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In addition, the improved programming will increase attendance to the library and get the
library system closer to the goal of having every person in the community use a library service
by the year 2035. [6] Every member of the community comes first and their success is our
success. We look forward towards more collaboration with local leaders in providing services
and assistance however, we can. The relationships we build here will foster further library usage.

References
1. Alexander, D. L. "American Indian Studies, Multiculturalism, and the Academic Library."
College & Research Libraries 74, no. 1 (2011): 60-68. doi:10.5860/crl-311.
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2. DemographicsNow. 2016. http://library.demographicsnow.com/?

skey=BDAE9CA1C8464DC898E1D6471991E08A. Accessed April 21, 2016.
3. Duarte, Marisa Elena, and Miranda Belarde-Lewis. "Imagining: Creating Spaces for
Indigenous Ontologies." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 53, no. 5-6 (2015): 677-702.
doi:10.1080/01639374.2015.1018396.
4. Event Calendar. Event Calendar. Accessed May 02, 2016.
http://metrolibrary.evanced.info/signup/eventcalendar.aspx?df=list.
5. Google. 2016. https://www.google.com/. Accessed April 25, 2016
6. Guiding Documents. 2016. Metropolitan Library System Guiding Documents. Accessed
April 21, 2016. http://www.metrolibrary.org/guiding.
7. Our History. 2016. Metropolitan Library System Our History. 2016.
http://www.metrolibrary.org/our-history. Accessed April 21, 2016.
8. Segal, Jo An S. 2001. Learning across generations and cultures. Eduation Libraries 25, no.
1: 13-18. Library Literature & Information Science EBSCOhost (accessed April 21, 2016)
9. Tarulli, Laurel, and Monique Woroniak. "The Danger of a Single Story." Reference & User
Services Quarterly 54, no. 1 (2014): 20-23. doi:10.5860/rusq.54n1.20.
10. Wood, F. B., Roy Sahali, and Nacy Press. 2003. Tribal connections health information
outreach: results, evaluation, and challenges. Journal Of The Medial Library Association 91,
no. 1: 57-66. Library Literature & Information Science EBSCOhost (accessed April 21,
2016)
11. Yellow Pages. 2015. http://www.yellowpages.com/. Accessed April 25, 2016.

Appendix A:

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