It can be a dangerous question to ask someone who works in a library, ‘What’s your favorite book?’
Samantha Smith hops up from her seat and heads over to a nearby book display.
After a minute of searching, she returns with Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Smith.
“It’s like her version comparable to Peter Pan. It’s really awesome and it’s one of the newer ones. It was published a few years ago,” said Smith.
And of course, because you can’t just have one favorite, she also recommends How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle, own of her favorite authors.
“It is about a boy who is on the [Choctaw] Trail of Tears and it’s how he became a ghost. There’s a squeal to it called If a Ghost Speaks, Listen. They’re really, really great books and they’re great for young people. They’re more historical fiction,” said Smith.
Smith is the Museum Manager at the Forest County Potawatomi Cultural Center which is home to both the museum and library.
Like all public libraries, this one is filled with books, DVDs, audiobooks, and a children’s section complete with toys.
What makes it different is who is writing and publishing the materials.
“It is a specialized library meaning that we carry and support books that are written and authored and published by indigenous people,” said Smith.
When the library was created, Tribal Member Kim Wensaut had to create a new catalog system.
Smith says other public library catalogs that use the Library of Congress system or the Dewey Decimal System put American Indian-authored books like biographies or memories in the history section, even if they’re contemporary.
“When those systems were developed in the 1900s they didn’t take into account anything published or written about or by Native people,” said Smith.
Wensaut created a new system that organizes books by genres or subjects. Within those sections, the books are organized by the author’s tribe.
“It really is a great representation of indigenous people and their writings and their stories,” said Smith.
Smith says it’s an important distinction in part because there are people that don’t realize indigenous people are modern people.
“Just know that indigenous people are still here. This isn’t just historical. They’re writing stories and children’s books and fiction and fun stories. We just want to bring more awareness to those types of titles and fun things that people can learn about indigenous people from people from those communities,” said Smith.
The library staff also started working with school libraries to help update their shelves.
“We are helping them weed outdated and old materials full of stereotypes that are historically used in schools and helping them to develop more appropriate books for their students and hopefully also help them catalog them in a way that makes sense,” said Smith.
The Forest County Potawatomi Library is tribally-owned and open to the public.
Anyone can come in and get a library card.
“I had a student come from UW Milwaukee. They couldn’t find the book they were looking for, but they looked on our website and were like, ‘I saw you had it and I came up here. Can I check it out? Yeah, just mail it back to us,’” said Smith.
Whether it’s for researching a school project or just picking up your next good read, Smith wants people to come in and discover their next favorite author.
“It’s just to bring awareness of how many great authors are out there that are telling indigenous stories. That’s really the goal of the library that we allow Native authors to tell their own stories and that we’re no longer doing that for them,” said Smith.
You can search the Forest County Potawatomi Library catalog online on thelibrary’s website. That’s also where you’ll find the address and hours.
Correction: 'How I Became a Ghost' by Tim Tingle is about a boy from the Choctaw Tribe, not Cherokee.
