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This paper aims to review content provided in an article published in 1993 to determine if there is still a need to provide information services to American Indians living away from their homeland areas.

The design involved reviewing the content and recommendations provided in the 1993 article and then to update this content by reviewing updated US Census data, a literature review and observed examples based on personal observations and experiences.

The paper found that there is still a need for services due to increased American Indian population. While more American Indian librarians are employed, there is still a need for all librarians to learn how to serve this population.

While the article reviews content from 1993, it provides original perspectives and adds additional evaluation criteria.

The purpose of this paper is to involve readers in an exercise in conceptualizing the library workplace of the future and how to prepare librarians to be successful in these future scenarios.

This paper introduces a visualization exercise that invites readers to contemplate the likelihood and desirability of five scenarios for libraries of the future. Readers are also invited to create a new scenario. Readers then can reflect on the skills and aptitudes librarians would need to have or acquire in order to succeed in one of the scenarios. The method involves visualization, reflection, and self-assessment.

The authors have tested this exercise in in-service training with public, academic, and special librarians as well as with students in graduate library and information science courses. The end result is deep conversation, engagement, and sharing.

The authors have observations on the effectiveness of this future exercise with students and practicing librarians but did not structure its use as a research project. In years of attending conferences and delivering over 600 conference presentations, the authors have yet to observe a similar future exercise being employed.

This exercise promotes reflection and discussion. It enables librarians to consider these scenarios on their own or in groups of varying sizes. It has application in understanding the complexity of futurism and how it might impact their future lives. And it emphases that individual librarians have some degree of independence in how they respond to change and, ultimately, a future much different from the present.

Libraries are social institutions and their services reflect and respond to changes in society. Recent changes in governance around the world, warfare, the refugee crisis, and episodes of violence have contributed to tension. These are the times when librarians are called on more than ever to respond. Considering possible and improbable futures and one’s response to those futures are helpful in preparing one’s professional response in these difficult times.

This paper introduces an original model for discussing many possible futures for libraries and for librarians to consider their roles in those futures.

Tribal archives are an essential resource for documenting cultural history. This article explores the essential archival functions of a tribal repository and addresses special concerns tribal archivists may face in managing these unique institutions. Tribal archives are growing in number, sparking new initiatives for training and collaboration among those tribes that house archives. As more and more documentation becomes available in electronic form, more repositories feel the pressure to contribute material. Electronic media and the Internet pose a number of concerns and possibilities for tribal archives and tribes as a whole. Funding is perhaps the most important factor in supporting digitization projects. There are a number of ways that archives, libraries and museums of tribes can obtain financial support. Funding agencies such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Park Service, and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission all administer both competitive and non‐competitive grants in support of museums, libraries and archives.

This Special Issue of The Electronic Library on the “Impact of information technology on indigenous peoples” gathers articles from several different countries and cultures in an effort not only to highlight the difficulties faced by indigenous peoples with accessing the Internet or using computers, but also to show how they are aiming at self‐determination and supporting their goals as sovereign nations, as well as preserving their heritage. The articles, in most cases specially written for this Issue, illustrate how tribal nations are using information technology to explore their culture, document these efforts, and share elements of their perspectives with the larger world.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of GLIFOS Social Media Manager in the “Capturing our stories” Oral History Program of Retired/Retiring Librarians. The goal of the “Capturing our stories” project is to record the life histories and disseminate and interpret these stories as lessons for other librarians. GLIFOS Social Media is a means by which the interviews are interpreted and disseminated.

The paper describes the “Capturing our stories” oral history program of retired/retiring librarians, GLIFOS Social Media software, and how GLIFOS is used to transcribe and add rich‐media capabilities to the “Capturing our stories” interviews.

GLIFOS is a useful tool for making the videos of the “Capturing our stories” program searchable, accessible, and more meaningful to viewers. It liberates video from the visual format to enable more manipulation of the data and use of the content.

The ability to search and add rich‐media capabilities to video is vital to making the vast amount of data and content in video searchable, accessible, and meaningful.

The paper describes a proprietary, wiki‐based software application (GLIFOS) for adding rich‐media capabilities to video.

Native peoples living within their cultures find themselves the focus of increased attention and are renewing their own ties in a cultural renaissance. Non‐Natives are becoming more intrigued with both scholarly and popular interpretations of some aspects of Native cultures. Those Native Americans living outside the culture are trying, in varying degrees, to recover old ways, thus attempting to reverse generations of assimilation. It is with the latter group that this article is concerned: the non affiliated Native Americans who are intellectually and/or spiritually as well as physically removed from traditional teachings. What kinds of assistance can libraries provide to Native Americans wishing to reclaim their cultural legacy?

The purpose of the paper is too provide a flavour of the content of the American Library Association Annual Conference held in Washington DC in June 2007.

An outline description of the issues, content, networking, speakers and participants of this conference.

This major conference covered many topical issues and themes, latest trends and research and leading edge technology applicable to librarians and information professionals internationally. It facilitated many networking opportunities.

A conference report of value to librarians and information professionals as the variety of themes apply to the various aspects of library and information work.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the impact of a grant to fund staffing part‐time technology staff at centers on six reservations in Arizona, USA. The grant was designed to determine whether tribal communities would be able to support part‐time technology staff positions at the end of a one‐year funding period.

Evaluation of the grant was conducted through on‐site visits, interviews with technology staff, grant managers, student interns, and selected American Indian patrons of the technology sites.

Results indicate that a successful technology training site was dependent on several factors, including the personality and dedication of the technology staff, the location of the center, and the customized services provided. Nine recommendations from the study are identified, including the establishment of state‐level advisory and financial support, sharing of information among sites, building local capacity, continuing education for technology staff, continuance of the graduate student internship program, and continued contact with community technologies as a possible recruiting ground for graduate LIS programs.

Until now little information has been available on how to introduce technology services at information settings in Indian country within the USA.

Describes the current version of WebJunction and highlights its forthcoming WebJunction.org, an online community. Provides content in the form of feature articles, monthly newsletters, assessment tools, and online courses and also provides opportunities for those involved in public access computing to communicate with each other and share success stories, best practice and solutions.

While musicians contribute a great deal to the atmosphere of a city like Austin, Texas, they may be poorly compensated for their work. Their low salaries, personality traits, and lifestyle preferences may also mean that musicians may be reluctant to engage in preventative health strategies. Frequently lacking sufficient health insurance, musicians may have difficulty coping with health challenges such as depression and anxiety, hearing loss, poor nutrition, and alcohol and substance abuse.

This chapter opens with background on the music scene in Austin, Texas and moves to a description of a recent study on how musicians feel their careers impact their health. This is followed by a literature review that summarizes what is known about musicians’ personalities, their lifestyles, the economic factors they face, and their health disparities. In the last half of the chapter, the author summarizes how libraries currently serve musicians and add recommendations for how libraries might expand these services.