Paper Talk
A History of Libraries, Print Culture, and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada before 1960
Brendan Frederick R. Edwards

List Price: $55.00 ISBN: 0-8108-5113-X ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5113-9 Pub Date: 2004 248 pages Binding: Paper Availability: In Stock   European customers click here

Table of Contents

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SUBJECTS
Library & Information Science » Children's & Young Adult Services
Library & Information Science » Multicultural Librarianship
Children's & Young Adult Services » Children's & Young Adult Services (General)
Area Studies » Native American Studies
Children's & Young Adult Services » Collection Development

REVIEWS
"The information in this book is excellent and important..." — Project MUSE

DESCRIPTION
The pre-1960 history of print culture and libraries, as they relate to the First Peoples of Canada, has gone largely untold. Paper Talk explores the relationship between the introduction of western print culture to Aboriginal peoples by missionaries, the development of libraries in the Indian schools in the nineteenth century, and the establishment of community-accessible collections in the twentieth century. While missionaries and the Department of Indian Affairs envisioned books and libraries as assimilative and "civilizing" tools, Edwards shows that some Aboriginal peoples articulated western ideas of print culture, literacy, books, and libraries as tools to assist their own cultural, social, and political aspirations. This text also serves to illustrate that the contemporary struggle of Aboriginal peoples in Canada to establish libraries in communities has a historical basis and that many of the obstacles faced today are remarkably similar to those encountered by earlier generations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brendan Frederick R. Edwards holds both a Master of Library and Information Studies degree and a Master of Arts in Canadian Studies and Native Studies.

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