LMC library honors Native American Heritage Month and Veterans Day

With an online database and in-person resources, librarians are providing students with detailed guides.

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Photo courtesy of Catt Wood

The Native American Heritage Month display inside the LMC library lobby features Native American literature.

Sarina Grossi, Editor-in-Chief

At Los Medanos College, including different identities and groups is as important as ever. With this month being Native American Heritage Month and including Veterans Day, the LMC Library is celebrating these different groups by highlighting curated research guides.

The first guide highlighted this month is the Native American Studies guide. Originally created by Librarian Christina Goff in collaboration with the English department, the guide showcases Native American history and writings by Native American authors. There is also a recent addition of a highlighted tab for local Native author Beth Piatote. 

For Veterans Day, the library is highlighting the Military and Veteran resource guide. This guide includes topics such as enlisting, deployment, military history, families in the military, transitioning into civilian life and minority representation within the military.

The guides are very visual and feature print books, eBooks, streamable videos, related library databases and recommended websites for further research. They are usually inspired by LMC coursework, other college research guides and local resources as well.

Though the guides have a large variety of information, they are meant to serve as starting points rather than detailed research.

“The main idea is to provide a starting point for their research,” said Roseann Erwin, the LMC Brentwood Center librarian. “So, if students were researching Native American history, they could come to the guide and see which databases would be best to search, and also get ideas for topics to research by seeing what we have in the collection.”

At the physical library space, Senior Library Technician also created a display for the lobby that displays print books for Native American Heritage Month. The display spotlights photographs of Indigenous people from various Native cultures along with nature photos of traditional territories of these cultures.

“When I curated the accompanying photographs, I wanted to include a broader spectrum of native peoples than are usually represented in media and show present-day faces as well,” said Wood. “Native Americans are modern-day people as well as historical figures.”

By highlighting a broad array of high-interest materials on a variety of subjects, we hope these guides spark curiosity in our students and employees, drive them to delve deeper into all the materials and services that the library has to offer.

— Kimberly Wentworth

Kimberly Wentworth, the Electronic Resources librarian who curated the Military and Veterans guide, said the purpose of the guides are to inspire students and staff alike.

By highlighting a broad array of high-interest materials on a variety of subjects, we hope these guides spark curiosity in our students and employees,” said Wentworth, “drive them to delve deeper into all the materials and services that the library has to offer.

With the inclusion of the Military and Veteran guide, the library hopes to honor those who have served on campus.

“Our student veterans and employees enrich our college community by bringing their life experiences to our classrooms and campus discussions. We want them to know that the LMC Library honors their service and has materials to support their academic research and transition from soldiers to scholars,” said Wentworth.

Erwin said the featured Native American Studies guide is featured to represent an underrepresented population on campus and to give more insight on history.

“It’s important for all students to feel seen and reflected in our Library materials,” said Erwin. “I often hear people say that the history of indigenous people in the US was overlooked or undervalued in their previous educational experiences, so I think that’s the point of pulling out and highlighting the perspectives and contributions of indigenous peoples— for us to educate ourselves.”

With both featured guides, providing a safe space to educate is vital. The library celebrates diversity through these guides, giving all students and employees a seat at the table.

“Everyone comes to the table with their ancestors, their heritage, and their whole identity to help us build an authentic community where we learn from each other and help one another succeed. We want everyone to feel welcome and seen and supported at LMC,” said Wood.

The LMC Library’s research guides are available all year round, with the online database rotating featured guides with a large array of topics often. If you are interested in either of the featured guides this month, visit the Native American Studies guide or the Military and Veteran guide. The library is also open in-person Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. if you would like to access physical resources.