Volume 13 Number 1
October 1973

Indian students are becoming library specialists in an educational project at Arizona State University, Tempe. Under the direction of Dr. Norman Higgins, associate professor of education, and Dr. Howard J. Sullivan, chairman of the Department of Education Technology and Library Sciences, 13 Indian students are taking library courses which will prepare them to head library and learning centers in Indian communities.

Funded by the Bureau of Libraries and Learning Resources, U. S. Office of Education, the program will receive $101,000 in 1973-74, the third year of a four-year grant. In its first two years, the project funds totaled $160,000. The funds are used almost solely for the participants’ academic fees and stipends, said Dr. Higgins. The students receive $75 weekly plus $15 for each dependent.

The aim of the program, Dr. Higgins said, is to graduate trained librarians who can return to the reservation to work in libraries run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or local school districts. Presently, there are only five or six Indian librarians in the U. S., he said.

"Some people might wonder why we train the students as media specialists instead of as teachers or classroom aides," Dr. Higgins said. "We are concerned with the low reading skills in the Indian community."

"We see the librarian as a key person who can affect all the children in the school," he continued, "where a teacher can reach only about 30 children. The librarian would be able to help the child develop a joy for reading."

Dr. Higgins also said that language and culture obstacles would make it difficult to assimilate white librarians and teachers into reservation society; "An Anglo would remain a stranger in a strange land," he said.

As library media specialists, the students will receive teaching certificates in elementary and secondary education. In addition to their regular education curriculum, the participants have courses on topics such as selection of library materials and library administration.

Because of the high dropout rate of Indian students in higher education, Dr. Higgins thinks an important by-product of the program is the retention of Indian students. He would like to expand the program, but federal budget cuts have caused concern for the fourth-year funds.

Most of the students in the program are from Arizona, with Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico also represented.