Jonas is co-PI on ‘Creating an Indigenous Pedagogy Collection’ project, alongside others from School of Education


UW-Madison’s Jim Jonas is serving as a co-principal investigator (co-PI) for an initiative titled “Creating an Indigenous Pedagogy Collection,” which aims to fill gaps in the university’s library holdings.

Jim Jonas
Jonas

Jonas is the manager of library and instruction services with the School of Education’s MERIT Library. The principal investigator is Larry Nesper, a professor of anthropology and director of American Indian Studies. Other co-investigators on this project from the School of Education include Omar Poler, American Indian Curriculum Services Coordinator with the School, and Kaitlin Younger, an information assistant with the MERIT Library.

This endeavor will enhance the UW-Madison American Indian Studies collection, with an emphasis on indigenous pedagogy. The School of Education, American Indian Studies, and MERIT Library are creating an indigenous pedagogy collection to support research, teaching, and learning. This collection will be valuable and timely in light of UW–Madison’s recent acknowledgement that it occupies Ho-Chunk land and institutionally-supported, campus-wide efforts to increase the teaching of Ho-Chunk history, culture, and sovereignty. Additionally, the School of Education recently created a committee focused on indigenous on indigenous education.

The campus library system has also extended borrowing privileges to members of First Nations and members of the Ho-Chunk Nation have expressed interest in using the collection. This collection will be one of a few collections in the United States focused on indigenous pedagogy.

This project is one of 12 to receive funding through UW–Madison’s Library Collections Enhancement Initiative, an Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education pilot program to strengthen campus research capacities by providing university libraries with flexibility to address critical and emerging collections needs.

“As rising journal and database subscription costs put increased pressure on academic research library collections budgets, demand for a wide range of library materials – historic and contemporary – by faculty and students alike remains high,” says Florence Hsia, associate vice chancellor for research in the arts and humanities. “We are excited to support campus libraries and fill significant gaps in scholarship and diversity by supplementing existing library holdings.”

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