The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Ojibwe-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
Claire Settee
Who are you? Claire is an Indigenous Librarian Intern at the University of Manitoba Libraries (Nov 2023-Nov 2027).
Where are you from? I am from Winnipeg which is on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. I am Anishinaabe from Hollow Water First Nation (Wanibigaw) and Swampy Cree and Scottish Metis from Fisher River Cree Nation (Ochekwi Sipi). Both of these communities are on Lake Winnipeg.
What are you doing in school? I have finished 4 of my 13 courses in my Master of Library & Information Sciences degree from the University of Alberta. I will graduate in Spring 2027.
What do you want to do after graduation? I want to serve my community and be a proud Indigenous person!
Shirley Delorme Russell
Who are you? Shirley is one of the Indigenous Librarian Interns (Sept 2022-Sept 2026).
Where are you from? I am a proud Métis woman from my momma (Delorme). I am from the heart of the Red River Métis Nation. My home territory is Winnipeg and I am proud to live and work in my own territory. I am a humble Anisinaabekwe from my dad (Russell). My dad comes from the land of the Sleeping Giant by way of Blind River First Nation. I was raised in my momma's territory, as a Métis woman, but I always remember I am also my dad's "mygirl" (not a spelling error, in my family we are myboys and mygirls).
What are you doing in school? I have finished 6 of 13 classes in my Master of Library & Information Sciences degree from the University of Alberta. I will graduate in Spring 2026.
What do you want to do after graduation? I hope to create a library for my nation or work in my local city archives. I am also considering a small public library.
Photo: Shirley & Claire at University of Manitoba Elizabeth Dafoe Library. May 2025. Copyright Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee.
Why do we visit:
Gaudet, J.C. (2019). Keeoukaywin: The Visiting Way- Fostering an Indigenous Research Methodology. Aboriginal Policy Studies. DOI: 10.5663/aps.v7i2.29336
Promoting ebooks with QR code displays
Fiction books to support student wellness
Assiniboine College student study rooms were given names of local plants in local Indigenous languages. This room is called Wiigwaasaatig- the birch room.
By adding a simple piece of art or painting in addition to the sign outside, Assiniboine College has added Indigenous knowledge to the space.
This is the interior of Wiigwaasaating- Birch room.
Assiniboine College worked Indigenous community and named their Indigenous collection Elders. As sources of knowledge, books act as teachers like Elders do.
CMU serves a small population of under 1000 students. In their new library they installed rolling shelves for half of their shelving. CMU told us that it saves their space but can be a challenge if more than one student wants to be in adjacent rows.
CMU has smartly created magnetic labels for filing cabinets. Here is an example of one for music.
CMU is known for their music program. It was interesting to see their music scores (not including oversize) in filing cabinets.
As CMU is a Mennonite university, they have a very large collection of Mennonite resources. Mennonitica is the study of or writing about Mennonites.
BU has a beautiful, open atrium space over the stairs with natural lighting made the library feel very welcoming.
It seemed like a place the community can have pride in and a place where students would love to spend their time.
BU had a prominent poster promoting reference librarians in the entrance.
We also forgot to take photos at Red River!
At RRC Shirley was excited to see the back end of the library she used as a student! (Aboriginal Languages, 2007).
She learned about:
Photo from: https://www.rrc.ca/library/2020/09/16/rrc-library-the-ideal-study-space/
We forgot to take photos at UW!
UW was one of the first academic libraries Shirley visited. It was the site of her undergrad (BA/BEd 2010) and it was informative to see the back side. Shirley had met a UW librarian at an event and she asked them for a tour .
It was during this tour that Shirley met Danielle! (Danielle Bitz, Indigenous Engagement and Liaison Librarian)
Photo from https://library.uwinnipeg.ca/collections/index.html
UM Libraries is requested by Vice President- Indigenous annually to participate in Indigenous Student Orientation.
Photo: Indigenous Student Orientation 2023 with:
UM Libraries are asked by Vice President- Indigenous to participate yearly in Louis Riel Day activities.
Shirley was asked to be on the organizing committee.
Claire was asked to provide a pop up library.
Photo: Louis Riel Day event 2024.
Lyle Ford, Indigenous Studies Librarian and Indigenous Lead for UML, has supported Shirley and Claire as Indigenous Librarian Interns as they learn about working at UML, earning their MLIS and being Indigenous people in large academic systems.
Photo: Louis Riel Day event Feb 2025
How to find a library to visit:
Be intentional when you visit:
Tim from MGRSC saw Claire & Shirley present at Manitoba Library Association conference. Because Claire & Shirley put out an open invitation to visit libraries, Tim answered!
Claire & Shirley invited Grace - Geology Liaison librarian from UM to come with.
Photo: Tim (MGSRC), Grace (UML librarian), Shirley, Claire (UML Interns), Peggy (MGSRC).
MSGRC collects maps produced by cartographers at Manitoba Geological Survey. These maps are made of mylar and hanged in cabinets.
The MSGRC also had numerous folding papers maps.
As per Grace, the UM Jim Peebles Science and Technology Library also has all these resources.
Photo: Hanging maps. Copyright Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee
The Manitoba Legislative Library is in two locations- one on Vaughn Street with the Manitoba Archive and the Hudson Bay Archive (Library), and another at the Manitoba Legislature (Reading Room).
Their is public access to the Library, but not the Reading Room. Both locations serve Members of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
Photo: Shirley and Claire at Legislative Library, Feb 2025. Copyright Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee
As we walked from the Manitoba Legislative Library to the Legislative Reading Room we approached the enormous Canadian flag. This was installed at the Manitoba Legislature as a response to the US President called Canada the 51st states.
The Legislative Reading Room is in the Manitoba legislature.
Photo: Manitoba Legislature with Canada Flag, Feb 2025. Copyright: Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee.
The Manitoba Legislative Library serves both MLAs and the public. It is located one block from the Manitoba Legislature in building shared with Manitoba Archives and Hudson Bay Company Archives.
Librarian Stuart is showing us one of many biography and local history scrapbooks that are at the library. Librarians today still create vertical files. They don't glue newspapers in scrapbooks anymore, but they do print newspaper pages and collect them.
Photo: Stuart, Manitoba Legislative Library, Feb 2025. Copyright: Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee
The library provides finding aids for all the scrapbooks. They come in a binder as well as in card catologue.
The library maintains their card catalogue collection up to 1989. After 1989 the catalogue is electronic. The librarian told us that their card catalogue is very well used.
This is the card catalogue for the scrapbooks.
We had a brilliant tour of the City of Winnipeg Archives. They are in temporary location while their original building is being renovated.
The archive is part of the city clerk departments and includes records from the city. The city also has a library (Winnipeg Public Library) so this archive is very aware of what they do not need to collect.
This building permit was pulled in an example of work archivists are asked to do. In order to pull this permit, archivists had to consult current city plans, then work backwards through fire insurance maps, city amalgamation maps until they arrived at this permit.
The archive includes all city records from the original city of Winnipeg and the 13 cities, towns and rural municipalities that it amalgamated with in 1972.
This section includes records from the rural municipality of East Kildonan. The area and year are written on the fore edge/ bottom of the book.
Sections like this exist for every community that amalgamated in 1972.
The archive includes item like cornerstone time capsules. This cornerstone contains lead which is clearly noted.
The Manitoba Archives includes the Hudson Bay Company Archives
Both archives are open to the public.
This was a visually pleasing scroll and map storage wall.
This is a section of finding aids which remain but are no longer updated.
We visited the HBCA vault. Because Manitoba Archives and HBCA are located within a historic auditorium, the vault is located under the stadium seating. The vault is also built as a "box within a box" to support archival quality storage.
This page as seen through the display windows is an Ininewmowin (Cree) to English dictionary that a Hudson Bay Company fur trader created.
The vault display includes windows, foreground and background displays.
We learned that:
All Libraries
Library staff shared:
We learned about:
This branch is within a very busy mall in a former Payless location. Some of the things we learned about this library includes:
It's shopping for free at the mall!
This branch is in the space of a former department store and as a result has generous floor space as well as generous equally sized basement for storage.
Some things we noticed in this library included:
This is the 2nd largest branch in Winnipeg Public Library (WPL). Drew showed us around the library. Some very interesting things to note included:
Photo: Feb 2025
Millennium is the central and largest library of the Winnipeg Public Library (WPL).
We were given a generous 2.5 hour tour of the entire system of Millennium.
Some of the interesting things we learned:
Photo: Feb 2025 in front of Untitled public art by Cliff Eyland
Millennium offers lots of social support and in our generous 2 1/2 hour tour we learned about some of them, including:
Photo: Millennium lobby Feb 2025
Harvey Smith branch is located within a recreation centre. We really liked that the library, rec centre and skating oval are all named for important Winnipeggers.
Because Harvey Smith is within a rec centre they do not have washrooms within the library, they are in the rec centre. They do not have booking rooms, the rec centre does. They have instant maintenance from the rec centre. When they need to ask patrons to leave, they are welcome to be in the lobby rec centre.
Harvey Smith had excellent and well defined areas for children, youth and adults.
The youth section (also called YA- Young Adult) included:
Assiniboine College Photo: Skoden/Stoodis (2023) by Val Vint, University of Manitoba Libraries, Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Copyright Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee.
Western Manitoba Regional Library
Photo: Claire & Shirley at Westwood Library Feb 2025. Copyright Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee
Special Libraries
Photo: Claire at Manitoba Legislative Library and newspaper stacks. Feb 2025. Copyright Shirley Delorme Russell & Claire Settee
International Indigneous LIbrarians Forum (IILF) is an internatioal bi-annual meeting for Indigneous librarians.
The 2025 Forum is being held in Toronto, Canada in June 2025.
Information about the 2025 Forum can be found HERE.
Information about previous Forums can be found on the Unversity of Hawai'i at Manoa Library website.
This presentation (Visiting) was previously delivered at the 2025 Manitoba Libraries Association Conference in person with a Powerpoint slide deck.
This Poster presentation at IILF 2025 includes the Poster along with this Guide.