As part of our Culturally Safe Libraries Program, NSLA has developed a suite of free online resources to help staff in the GLAM sector who are working with Indigenous collections.
Working with Indigenous Collections is based on nationally recognised protocols developed by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library and Information Resource Network (the ATISILIRN Protocols) specifically for libraries, archives and information services.
The resources are not designed for assessment or formal learning, but present eight discrete sections that can be perused in any order. Each includes:
- a plain language explanation of one of the ATSILIRN protocols
- a video featuring a member of Blakforce – NSLA’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff network – describing how that protocol can be applied in our work with collections
- case studies illustrating the protocol in action
- a set of activities that can be undertaken individually or in groups
- a range of further resources to explore.
Working with Indigenous Collections was originally created by NSLA as an accompaniment to a workshop program for collections staff in our libraries, designed to follow foundation Indigenous cultural competency training.
Given their broad applicability, the resources are being made freely available online to encourage the Australian library and archives sector to adopt culturally safe collections practices. This is also part of NSLA’s responsibility to further cultural competency in the sector, as outlined in the Australian libraries support the Sustainable Development Goals report.
All resources created by NSLA for the Culturally Safe Libraries Program are licensed under Creative Commons (CC-BY). Under this licence, you are free to copy, distribute, remix and build upon this content as long as you acknowledge National and State Libraries Australia.