By AUDREY FISCHER
Loriene Roy is passionate about improving literacy for Native American children. Her fervor began long before she became the current president of the American Library Association (ALA) and will continue long after.
“People say that the year after [the ALA presidency] I’ll have ‘trouble,’ but I’m looking forward to returning to the schools,” said Roy, referring to her work promoting literacy in the nation’s tribal schools.
Roy, who is on the faculty of the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, is enrolled on the White Earth Reservation as a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. She recently spoke at the Library to launch a month-long celebration of Native American Heritage Month.
“I want to thank the Library of Congress for all that you do,” said Roy. “We don’t always hear about the work being done by the Library’s staff, but you are it, with all the collections and services you provide.”
Roy is “it” as far as being a voice for tribal children’s access to books and reading. In 2000, she founded “If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything” to foster literacy in tribal schools while preserving Native-American culture. Today nearly 30 tribal schools in nine states are participating in the program, which brings books to indigenous children.
“When Sarah Long became president of the American Library Association in 1999, she asked a number of people, “What do I do now?” said Roy. “I told her I’d like to serve native children through the tribal school libraries.”
Roy attended one of Long’s budget meetings and saw that $10,000 was earmarked for “literacy.”
“I said I’d like some of that,” said Roy, who was subsequently given half that amount to begin her quest to serve the more than 50,000 children living on tribal homelands.
“We used all but eight cents of it,” she recalled. “We should have gone out and bought eight one-cent stamps,” she joked.
People often ask Roy what Indian children like to read. She replies, “Any book a child would enjoy, a native child would enjoy—especially ghost stories.”
With grants from ALA, the Department of Education, the Tocker Foundation and others, the organization has worked tirelessly to establish libraries in tribal schools and put books in the hands of students. The organization, which is continuing to establish partnerships, recently became a reading promotion partner of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
With its “Read to Achieve” program, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is also assisting Roy in her mission. NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has coached children at the White Mountain Apache high school in Arizona, will be a speaker at the ALA’s mid-winter conference in January 2008 in Philadelphia.
Roy also spoke about the importance of mentoring in order to encourage Native Americans to enter the library profession.
“A mentor doesn’t have to look like you,” said Roy. “That is the ‘trickster’ element,” she said, referring to Native American folktales featuring characters that change shape and form. “You can give someone a push, but it doesn’t have to be a shove.”
Roy’s uplifting talk prompted Librarian of Congress James Billington to ask Roy, “What does the library community have to learn from Native American culture?”
“We can have a multicultural exchange in the co-teaching of life.” said Roy.