Reimagining Classification: Indigenous Literature at the Wampum Learning Lodge

Join us on September 30th.

In person: FIMS & Nursing Building, FIMS Graduate Library, Room 3020
Online: Attend via Zoom

Description: Lexi Alarie, with the supervision of Erin Bourgard, explored how an Indigenous-centered classification system, drawing on the Brian Deer Classification, could better represent Indigenous relationships, teachings, and ways of knowing within the Wampum Learning Lodge collection. In recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, this project considers how colonial systems of knowledge organization can affect the visibility and discoverability of Indigenous knowledge in academic spaces. It asks how moving toward relational and Indigenous-centered approaches to classification can contribute to the broader work of recognizing Indigenous knowledge and perspectives within university and library settings.

Lexi Alarie is an Ojibwe woman from Red Rock First Nation and a first term Master of Library and Information Science student at Western University. She is a recipient of the Western Libraries–FIMS MLIS Fellowship for Black and Indigenous Students and is interested in Indigenous knowledge, classification, and the ways libraries can better reflect Indigenous ways of knowing.

Erin Bourgard is a metadata librarian at Western Libraries and a fifth-generation settler from the Lake Simcoe-Nottawasaga Treaty area. Her work focuses on metadata, collection analysis, and collaborative library initiatives.