The William H. Hannon Library has received an Inclusive Excellence Grant to publish a digital, open educational annotated bibliography of published and archival resources on the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe. The project encapsulates the library’s commitment to highlighting Indigenous voices and perspectives in our collections. The project is consistent with Loyola Marymount University’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to highlight and advocate for Indigenous issues and to develop collaborative relationships with Gabrielino-Tongva members.
This project began in the late 1970s when Mary LaLone, a student at UCLA’s Graduate School of Library Science, compiled and published a Tongva biblography in 1980 as “Occasional Paper 6 of the UCLA Institute of Archaeology.” Edwards Evans, former Von der Ahe Library director, supervised the preparation of an updated bibliography. In 2002, the library published an updated version of a comprehensive bibliography of publications on the Tongva Indians. In 2015, Librarian-in-Residence Katherine Donaldson, assessed and updated the 2002 bibliography and began migrating the resources into a group library on the open source bibliographic management platform Zotero. Since the 1970s, the bibliography has grown from 182 items to 600 items. During each revision of the bibliography, the library made a systematic effort to acquire copies of the cited items so students and on-site researchers could access the materials. The library has two physical copies of the 2002 bibliography. This project will increase both the visibility and the accessibility of this valuable resource.
The Inclusive Excellence Grant enables librarians and research partners at the library to create an accessible, updated bibliography which acknowledges Indigenous epistemologies. Funds are dedicated to consultations with members of the Gabrielino-Tongva community to ensure an inclusive scope of materials. Funds will also be used to hire a student with a special interest in Indigenous studies to assist in research efforts to identify new works.
This project is led by Jessea Young, scholarly communications librarian, with support from Jamie Hazlitt, associate dean at the William H. Hannon Library and Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) Open Education Leadership Fellow, and Nicolas G. Rosenthal, professor of history and a specialist in California and Indigenous history.