Teejop & Beyond: Celebrating Native Nations of the Great Lakes
“The biggest impact is having that ongoing partnership with Ho Chunk Gaming and connecting with so many different Native storytellers, artists, community leaders–people who have their own skills and expertise that we can continue to work with year round. We also want to build off of the feedback we get and build that into what we do on a more regular basis.” – Neeytai Shah
Meet Neeyati Shah, Community Engagement Librarian with the Madison Public Library in Wisconsin. Although early career tests indicated librarian as the most fitting career for Neeyati, she initially disregarded the possibility, perhaps due to the lack of representation in the library workforce. With the help of loved ones, she eventually made the decision to pursue library school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. In Neeyati’s current library role, she leads a program, “Teejop and Beyond: Celebrating Native Nations of the Great Lakes”, that fosters community relationships and understanding of indigenous peoples and culture. What started out as the Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence Initiative is now so much more.
We discuss the following in this episode:
1:10 – Neeyati’s background and journey into librarianship
4:30 – Neeyati’s role as one of the Community Engagement Librarians at Madison Public Library
8:05 – Initiative summary
9:08 – Initiative ideation
11:00 – Initiative design
12:20 – Initiative impact
16:40 – Initiative logistics
21:12 – Challenges and learning opportunities
23:30 – Upcoming changes to the initiative
27:05 – Neeyati’s advice for those interested in similar pursuits
28:10 – Neeyati’s perspective of the library
Come learn more with us as Neeyati provides honest insights on the process of ideation, design, and learning and re-learning how to make library programming fuse with the community in a respectful and inclusive way. If you have any follow up questions, you may contact Neeyati Shah directly at nshah@madisonpubliclibrary.org.