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The Impact
on Outreach
University Libraries lends more books and journal articles
to other libraries than any other academic library in the
nation. That mission has been assisted through the generosity
of private support.
Tanya Krieg, an elementary education student at the University
of Minnesota Duluth and a student teacher on the Fond Du
Lac Reservation in Cloquet, loves telling stories to her
second-graders at Little Black Bear Elementary School.
We gave one little boy some seeds to scatter in his yard
like Jack in "Jack and the Beanstalk," he handed
them back to her. His family, which lives on the reservation,
does not have a house with a yard, he explained. As Tanya
listened to him describe his life and culture, she realized
that "Jack and the Beanstalk" might be the wrong
type of story for this class. "I went to the public
library to look for Indian stories, but all I could find
there were a few really outdated and inappropriate books," says
Kreig.
However, thanks to a generous gift from Rosemary Ackley
Christensen and her sons, Barry and Dane, Krieg now has a
wealth of quality American Indian materials to share with
her class.
The Christensens donated their personal collection of more
than 700 American Indian books, video and audio tapes and
original documents on culture, language, history, religion,
sovereignty, legislation and education to the American Indian
Learning Resource Center (AILRC) at UMD. Their gift has made
Duluth home to the second-largest American Indian library
in the Midwest, and a superior resource for educators.
"The people who use this library most are student
teachers who will integrate what they learn here into the
curriculum when they teach," says Rick Smith, director
of AILRC. "And this will help make the Indian community
stronger." |
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Learn more about
the impact of giving on:
Recent gifts
supporting outreach at the U |
