Report From the University of Michigan: “University Libraries Celebrates Tribal Librarian Doobiigen Classification System”
From The Michigan Daily:
The University of Michigan Libraries Territorial Acknowledgment Working Group hosted an event Thursday afternoon centered around the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Libraries’ Maawn Doobiigeng System, a system that aims to align library cataloging methods with traditional Anishinaabe values. The event, “Creating Maawn Doobiigeng: Developing An Anishinaabe Classification System for a Tribal Library,” was attended by about 30 students and community members and featured Anne Heidemann, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe tribal librarian, and Melissa Isaac, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan member.
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The Maawn Doobiigeng System categorizes books by their relation to the seven original Anishinaabe clans and their areas of knowledge. They are also marked as Aadizookan (factual) or Dibaajimowinan (embellished). Spine labels indicate the appropriate age for reading and if the books were written by an Indigenous author.
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.