FEATURE
College of Professional and Global Education
By Cassie Myers
It All Starts With a Book
With Reading Nation Waterfall, SJSU faculty and students work with Native American tribes and other organizational partners to increase access to books and foster a love of reading in Native American children.
Anthony Chow
There’s nothing quite like the joy that comes from reading the right book at the right time: a moment or series of moments where you feel warm, recognized, entertained and maybe even enlightened. The joy of a child reading a book can be even more meaningful, since it sets them on a path of lifelong learning.
But a lot has to happen to get the right book into the hands of a child, particularly a Native American child living on tribal lands. And that’s where Reading Nation Waterfall comes in, a $1.4 million, three-year Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant that focuses on “increasing access to literacy and libraries for Native American children across the country.” The project, a collaboration among SJSU and five tribal partners in New Mexico, North Carolina and Montana, is headed by Anthony Chow, professor and director of San José State’s School of Information.
Chow works with MLIS (Master’s in Library and Information Science) students on the project, along with other partners, including Head Start, Little Free Library, Unite for Literacy and the Kiwanis Club. Involved students take a special topics course and receive credit for their work with the program, as well as invaluable hands-on experience.
Participants in the Reading Nation Waterfall Program with Anthony Chow. Photo courtesy of Anthony Chow.
“I want that book”
The main thrust of the project is to get books in Native children’s hands – and not just any books, but culturally relevant ones. “There are very real barriers for children on tribal reservations to access books and libraries,” Chow says. The three major ones are cost, access and convenience. Books can be expensive, and buying them can take a backseat to purchasing other necessities. And on tribal lands, there often aren’t nearby libraries, or books in the home, or easy transportation options to get to the nearest libraries.
Reading Nation Waterfall has partnered with Little Free Library to install Little Free Libraries (small wooden sharing boxes filled with books) in front of Head Start educational centers, which cater specifically to children and families experiencing poverty. These libraries are stocked with free, culturally relevant books for children from ages 0-10 and “placed where children and parents already are,” as Chow describes. Children can read stories that reflect their lives, with Native American and Indigenous characters and other culturally relevant stories.
“We need to offer children a buffet of choices and let them take the independent act of ‘I want that book,’” Chow explains. “That connection, when a child thinks, ‘I'm going to grab this book because it’s informing me about the thing that I'm interested in,’ is one of the first steps to a love of reading.”
Children in the Reading Nation Waterfall program show off their books. Photo courtesy of Anthony Chow.
Reading Nation Waterfall gets books into the hands of Native American children. Photo courtesy of Anthony Chow.
Getting books in the boxes
The logistics behind this project are complicated and daunting — who chooses the books? Who stocks them? Who delivers them? Who coordinates with tribal leaders and partner organizations to make things happen?
As it turns out, each local school or tribal librarian helps select the book titles along with a shared book list compiled by all participating tribes. Books are ordered through stores and publishers and stocked in the Little Free Libraries by the school or tribal librarians.
“It's not easy,” Chow acknowledges. “There are cultural differences in communication, there are disagreements, there's bureaucracy. But we have a saying in Reading Nation Waterfall: ‘Do it for the children.’”
He also sees the program as a wonderful way to give his graduate students a chance to take on projects and leadership roles that give them a sense of the world beyond the university.
“The students are applying what they've learned in school and learning a heck of a lot more, because the work world is uncontrolled and there are a lot of things that should happen that don't happen,” he says.
Chow’s student collaborators perform a huge number of tasks for the project, but they agree that it’s worth it. Sophia LaMonica Fernandez, ’20 MLIS, ’23 MS Informatics, came to the project as a graduate student assistant in 2022, and segued into a co-manager role as time went on. Her work involved regular meetings with tribal partners, the core team, and student interns along with presentation preparations, trips to conferences and communications.
She calls the project “beyond rewarding. Not only does it bring joy in a tangible way, but it also advances early literacy in ‘book deserts’ and the positive impact of the project reverberates out into the community.”
She adds that even though she graduated in the fall, she hopes to continue with the program, which she now considers a “passion project.”
“I'm grateful to be a part of the project. I've learned a great deal and met so many wonderful people, both within the team and with our community partners.”
— Leah Choi
A chance to grow
Leah Choi, ’24 MLIS, who has served with Fernandez as co-project manager since May 2023, also works with interns, the core team and project partners. “I'm grateful to be a part of the project,” she says. “I've learned a great deal and met so many wonderful people, both within the team and with our community partners. Our partners all have other jobs and have taken on the work of this project because they believe in our mission and want to support the children and families in their communities.”
Over a year with the program, she says the challenges and rewards of working on the grant have “affirmed my belief in the importance of prioritizing relationship building and communication.”
Reading Nation Waterfall Program staff at the 2022 Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM) Conference in Temecula, California. Photo courtesy of Sophia LaMonica Fernandez.
Other career options
Amber Stewart, ’24 MLIS, has been working with Reading Nation Waterfall for a semester, and took over as co-project manager in December of 2023 when Fernandez graduated. She discovered the project after a search for an opportunity that would help her enhance her presentation and publication skills.
“As a single parent who homeschools a child with special needs, I prioritize educational equity, equality, and inclusion,” she explains. “I really wanted to find a project that matched my personal values and goals.” And she found it.
Like Fernandez, she’s taken on many tasks within the project, including managing the grant budget, attending and coordinating meetings with partners, collecting and organizing data and presenting at the 2023 International Conference of Indigenous Archives, Libraries and Museums. Beyond her love of the project, she’s grateful for Chow’s mentorship and the opportunities she’s had to present and grow her leadership skills. The experience inspired her to pursue Google’s Project Management Professional Certificate program, and she plans to apply the skills she’s learned to her future career as an academic librarian.
Building momentum
The project continues to grow, sparking new initiatives like Reading Nation Waterfall Sunrise and Seeking Immortality, which uses virtual reality to help preserve and share Native American languages and cultural artifacts. But it all starts with a book.
“Access to books at a young age is a big game changer,” Fernandez says, “and perhaps one the most important ways we can make meaningful change. I've learned so much from this project. I hope I've given it as much as it's given me.”
Want to learn more?
Top photo: Robert C. Bain.
Washington Square: San José State University's Magazine © 2024. All Rights Reserved