Indigenous Artists’ Book Research

Library & Information Studies 640: Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums

My interest in artists’ books by Indigenous artists began when I managed social media for the Kohler Art Library. For Indigenous History Month, I was excited to highlight artists’ books by Indigenous artists but was challenged by the difficulty of identifying these books and the small number in the collection. In Search of Native American Artists’ Books (1992) by Tracy Dietzel also focused on this issue. Later, in the course, Library and Information Studies: Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums, I used a collection development paper to explore this topic further. I investigated the difficulty of identifying artists’ books by indigenous artists and the lack of collection development resources on Indigenous artists’ books. I wrote about the Kohler Art Library as a case study and described the Indigenous artists’ books in the collection, made recommendations for future purchases, and shared this resource with the Kohler Art Library. This is a topic that needs further scholarship and I look forward to pursuing in the future.

March 2024