Home / Youth Services / Outreach & Family Engagement / Indigenous Idaho

October 6 -31, 2025

 – a continuing education course for all Idaho library staff –

Come learn alongside your library peers about Idaho’s federally recognized tribal nations. Past, present, and future perspectives will be explored. Learn how public and school libraries can partner with, better serve, curate accurate materials, and celebrate Indigenous peoples and cultures in libraries. This course was created in partnership with Mandi Harris, Cherokee Nation citizen, former Coeur d’Alene Children’s Librarian, current doctoral student at the University of Washington’s iSchool, and recipient of the distinguished Spectrum Doctoral Fellowship “Catalysts for Change.” This free course is four weeks in length and will utilize a blend of independent learning/reading via the ICfL’s Niche Academy platform, paired with four online, live webinars for discussions and Q & A sessions. The live webinars will be co-facilitated by Kristina Taylor and Mandi Harris.

• To increase understanding by Idaho library staff of the world’s Indigenous cultures, both historic and current, with an emphasis on the five federally recognized tribes located in present-day Idaho.
• To foster and increase relationships and partnerships between Idaho libraries and Idaho tribes and Indigenous peoples.
• To create Idaho library services, materials, and programs that are high-quality, relevant, and accurate regarding Native peoples, cultures, and histories.
• To improve library communication, promotion, membership, and outreach efforts with members of Idaho’s tribes and other organizations that serve native peoples.

• Participants are encouraged to commit to attending all four live webinars, to be held weekly between Oct 6 – Oct 31. Please mark off and set aside time on your work calendars for the live webinars as soon as you register for the course and the final dates/times are provided. Attending the live webinars is an important part of the course.
• The informal weekly webinars/meetings will NOT be recorded or shared with participants afterwards.
• This fifth round of the course is limited to up to 40 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Priority will be given first to Idaho library staff currently working in an Idaho public, school, or tribal library, and second, to active library staff in other states. (NOTE: This  course is only offered once per fiscal year.)
• Idaho participants who complete the course will receive 10 new hardcover books for their Idaho library collection. The books participants can select from are newly published, for K-12 age ranges, and either written or illustrated by Indigenous authors or artists. Up to 2 library staff from the same library/branch may register for the course. If more than one staff member from the same library completes the course, the library will only receive one set of these books. Participants will self-select the top ten titles from a provided list of options based on guidance from their local library collection development policy.
• The course should take approximately 3-4 hours of your time per week, for 4 weeks. The 4 modules in Niche Academy can be completed in 2-3 hours each (though you could spend much more time exploring linked resources) and the webinars are 1 hour each week.
• It is recommended that one module is completed each week of the course, in the week prior to the live webinar (i.e. Participants are encouraged to complete Module 1 from Oct. 6-9, in preparation for the live webinar and discussion on Oct. 9.)
• Registration open: September 2 – October 5 (or until 40 spots are filled)
• Registration is now open!

September 2 – October 5, 2025

Questions? Contact Kristina Taylor, Outreach & Community Engagement Consultant.