 Please ask host to give you permission to speak. Karen, can you record? I know that I can do it. Yeah, it's recording right now. Oh, it is? OK. Great. Well, thank you, everyone. I am honored to invite to welcome Mariah Kip, the Yakama Nation tribal librarian, library administrator. Mariah, I'm going to let her say more about what seems a very dynamic library. But I want to open it up by recounting some of what some of you may know already around TechSoup and tribal libraries. And in a quick story, I happened to join. I got to know an organization called ATOM, the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums, and met their CEO and some others. And they were having a meeting. And so I joined just out of interest. I am a former archivist myself and recovering archivist. And I was on the call. And they were talking about technology and a number of things. And I said, hey, my name's Kyle Reeve. People were introducing them. I said, my name's Kyle Reeve. I work at TechSoup. And let us know how we can help you, if there's any way we can help you. And Mariah reached out to me privately on Zoom and said, what are you doing here? TechSoup, we're not eligible for TechSoup. And we've been trying to get you guys to provide, to allow us to be eligible. And I said, really, I didn't know that. Let me see what I can find out about that. And there was a long history and I won't go into that. But I think for almost 10 years now, ATOM and Mariah and others had been hoping that TechSoup would support tribal libraries. And I'm pleased to note that we worked through a number of issues. And there are several people on this call and others at TechSoup who really did a great job to get us to the point where we now are able to support ATOM members. And unsurprisingly, Mariah was the first person to sign up for TechSoup for tribal libraries. And she's here today to talk a little bit about really her story. And we'd love to hear more about the Yakama Nation Library, what you do around technology. And really to help us understand what you feel are the needs of tribal libraries in a way that maybe TechSoup can also help out in other ways. So I will turn it over to you, Mariah. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. I'm Mariah DeKipp. I'm the library administrator here at the Yakama Nation Library. We're located in Tapinesh, Washington, in Washington State. We're not too far from Yakama, so we're probably about 20 miles away. We still are kind of in the rural area. So some of our issues are internet access, computer access, I guess, job opportunities for technical jobs, like information technology and things like that. We don't have all... While there is a college heritage university, it's about five miles away. It's a little private college that has grown immensely to help support the community members. I was a computer science intern at Heritage and then I had an internship here at the Yakama Nation Library to help set up their computer lab. And then it just evolved into a career here at the library where I was a computer specialist and then eventually promoted to the library administrator. But as the computer specialist, just working with the community, I would see that people would not be confident in applying for jobs, thinking they didn't have computer skills or they didn't quite know the terminology on the job descriptions. Like they were saying, well, I have to know word processing, some old terms that I don't think you would see on a job description anymore. And I was like, well, you do that every day because they come in, use a computer, type letters and things like that. So that's some of the things that I would assist people setting up their email, typing resumes, just all kinds of technical support. But we had a grant through University of Washington that helped set up the computer lab here. When I started, they had four computers along the wall and we called them the Gates computers because they were, you know, that was when the Gates Foundation was giving computers to all the public libraries. And so we had four of them. And so as a computer specialist, that was one of the things that I had to figure out how to shuffle people along those computers while at the same time the University of Washington grant was being implemented in the little corner of the library where we were setting up the computer lab. So as we grown, that's what I've tried to meet the demand of our community. So now along that wall where we have had the four computers, we have about 20 computers now and then we still have the computer lab. And then, so I taught computer classes to computer, like computer basics and things like that. I'm trying to get going to stop that. And then we had we had TechSoup for a little while through Washington State Library and then it stopped. So I was getting really spoiled by the having access to TechSoup and it was just for a little while. Then when it stopped, I didn't have access to the Norton Antivirus, the Adobe software, the Microsoft Word and different things like I was using for the class. So that's where my struggle with TechSoup began because I was trying to get software, different things and I couldn't get it. And it's been years because there was some kind of verification that they had to do to get on TechSoup. So as a tribal library, we were not defined as a public library. So there's some kind of technicality that even though we are a public library but each tribal library is funded by their tribe. So we're not funded through the tax dollars that everyone pays. So each tribe funds their tribal library. So all the tribal libraries, you'll find them at different levels where they're at with technology. I'm in a little digital digital inclusion cohort with ATOM. And we have, there's four of us in there and we're trying to help tribal libraries create a playbook so they can get ideas how to set up a computer lab, different things like that. But there's some things that have came out of the pandemic. They have the emergency connectivity fund, affordable connectivity where they can get a subsidy to help pay for their internet. And so there was another, there's another tribal library in the cohort and I was like, yeah, you should do this. We have our patrons, they're signing up and they're getting connected. And then she said, they can't even do that. They don't even have internet access. So they're like a little further behind with getting infrastructure and internet set up in their building, to their community. And I was like, wow. So that's where we're at different levels. So like TechSoup, they couldn't even take advantage of it yet because they're still beginning to get the ball rolling with the technology. But what we've done, we have support with Washington State Library. So they supply us with Microsoft certification info, the access to the curriculum and then we can also proctor exams. There's other things included with that like the Adobe Certified Associate. So that was, we also service the tribal school and the tribal head start. So even though we're not in the same building as our tribal school, because the tribal school doesn't have a library. So we also service them and then we also service the tribal head starts. And so the tribal school, the accommodation tribal school, they're trying to eventually become like a K through 12 tribal school. But right now they're eight, grade eight and 12, and then we have the head start summits. So as a part of being a part of the tribal school, they come here every Tuesday and Thursday. And then our multimedia specialist teaches that helps them with their photography in the yearbook class. So through having that connection to the tribal school, we were able to get them the Adobe Creative Suite at the education of this count and then they can have access. So each of them have an account to that. But that was kind of a workaround. I would have liked to initially just from the start, been able to get that from TechSoup, but I wasn't able to. But I have to still look into what we're going to revisit obtaining from TechSoup. So we've been working on getting certifications for the community, helping them with their technology skills, like helping them be employable, helping them gain more confidence. Washington State Library, they're providing LinkedIn learning to all the public libraries here in Washington State. So one of the things that, why we couldn't do that immediately is because our library software, we weren't able to authenticate with our library cards. We just kind of had an internal system. We used to have destiny, but now we're transitioning to Kohak. And that's hosted by BiWater Solutions. And so that's kind of been a whole process too, because they do a lot of customizations because Kohak is open source, but all the tribal libraries, we just can't grab it, because we don't know the specifications, the technical things we need to have to host Kohak and to customize it, because it seems like they do a lot of programming, things to customize. So we're just in the beginning phase of getting that set up and then authenticating our LinkedIn learning to Kohak. So we won't have to send our patrons to go to one of the Yakima County libraries to get their library card so they can access LinkedIn learning, because we tell them, well, if you go there, get your library card and then get the pen and anywhere you have internet access, you can access the eResources. So that's what we're trying to expand on our eResources, because we have a lot of, and it's partly because there's not a lot of internet access outside of the city limits, and if they are getting internet access, it's not like the fast speed that you would get in town through your local cable company. So we have a lot of patrons, they still prefer like the print books, they don't really like the eBooks, the audio books and things like that. So we try and think of ways to get people, to get on the computer. There's still a lot of hesitancy there and older community members across the street from us. We have elderly housing, and so sometimes they come over and they take our classes and we had like some things going on. We had like, coming out of the pandemic, we had our roof was leaking, but luckily we were able to obtain a grant to get that fixed. So eventually, hopefully the community members will start coming back to take our in-person classes. So right now we're offering the online classes that we're getting through Washington State Library through the Microsoft certifications, Adobe certification. Oh yeah, Mobile Beacon. We had a little advocacy from Washington State Library to talk directly to Mobile Beacon so that we could get some hotspots. I think it was what, 11? So the representative at Mobile Beacon, he was able to talk directly to TechSoup to say, yeah, we authorized the Accommonation Library to get these hotspots through Mobile Beacon. So that's kind of where we started, like I was telling Kyle how we did that, because I was saying, I'm not sure if all the TechSoup vendors are aware of that they are eliminating tribal libraries from access, because it seems like we're way beyond, we're on the wrong side of the digital divide. And that's what we're trying to get. Because a lot of people, they still just like to use their mobile phones and we try and get them on the computer and say, oh, I got, you know. We are working with Washington State University some digitization projects to digitize, you know, some of the historical stuff with the Accommonation, culture, history, language, and things like that. So we got a grant where we were able to fund a person to come in and work full-time on organizing stuff. And Washington State University, they have the Plateau People's Portal. And so a part of their land acknowledgement for the surrounding tribes is they help assist with gathering things from different archives to put on the portal. And so that's one of the other things that we're working on with technology. A lot of people, they still like to search through our old newspapers, but they just like to look through the boxes instead of, you know, getting online. So we thought maybe that might be kind of like in between to say, oh, well, get on the computer and you can see all the newspapers all at once. So that's a, so we're getting that going. I think that's kind of all. And we just recently obtained some Google certificates. So we're going to start marketing those and handing out those certificates. We had to apply for them as I'm on the digital inclusion cohort that these, what we're doing here at our library. That's what I'm gonna share with the tribal libraries and then probably inform more about what's going on with TechSoup and how to use it, how to apply different things like that. But we're in the beginning phases. I'm not sure if any other tribal libraries have applied for TechSoup, but, you know, I'm willing to help them apply for TechSoup. And that's kind of what we're doing right now. So I don't know if you have any questions for me. Yeah, thank you. I will open it up for questions. I'd love to have a little bit of back and forth. I know a number of folks on the call are always thinking about the one, we're hoping that this is just the opening, making some of the products and services available to tribal libraries. But TechSoup also does a fair bit of what we call digital resilience, digital transformation. So training and support for either cohorts of organizations or sometimes individual organizations. Like you said around things, like how do I figure out specs in order to be able to, you know, have, you know, upload a certain product or service. And so that's one of the things that, you know, maybe think about a little bit and see if there's other questions about what would be the kinds of needs that you see either with the Yakama Nation Library or with some of the other libraries that you've heard. And, you know, it would love to hear a little bit more about the cohort as well that you're working with ATOM on. But do others have questions they'd like to raise? We'll be shy. This is James. Hi, thanks so much for joining us. I'm curious to know, have you ever availed yourself of other, you know, besides the products that are available on the website? Have you ever used webinars or search forms participating in blogs and that sort of thing? Or is it mainly just about the products that you come to TechSoup for? Well, it's been a while. So I haven't checked out like the blogs and the information. I know what I did use in the past from TechSoup was. I think it's the the instructions on how to install. Office 2019, because it was a lot different than, you know, they changed it a little bit. I don't know if anyone's ever installed Office 2019, but those instructions that were on TechSoup, those were very, you know, they helped. They helped me get through it. And it was, you know, if you didn't understand how to install Office 2019 and then how they broke it down and said, oh, OK. But yeah, I need to get back into TechSoup. And that's that's the thing. We've been out of TechSoup for a while. And I was, you know, kind of every now and then I would revisit it with different TechSoup reps. I'm the last question that my brain says, hey, why aren't we, you know, we need to get eligible for TechSoup. But it wasn't until me and Kyle started talking again, because I did. I kind of forgot about TechSoup for a while, because we weren't eligible. And then so I wasn't referring to it. But somehow I got the instructions. I think that's just open, right? Those blogs and those webinars and things like that. That's right. That's partly why I asked, because you don't need to be, you know, qualified basically to access all those other services and things like that. So I'm glad to hear that was helpful for you. Yeah, yeah, it was. We have other resources, like I think Web Junction. Things like that we refer to also. But yeah, that's TechSoup. That's what I have to refamiliarize myself with all the resources and then probably share that with the cohort. So the ATOM cohort, there's four of us and we're all at different levels of where we're at with computer labs. But we're just designing a playbook to try and help other tribal libraries, like seeing what, like how far I've come and then how far, like the other one in the cohort, like I said, they're just at the beginning trying to get their internet and their computers and things like that set up. And then they have a consultant that's going to come to each of our libraries to do. To do like a like a needs assessment. One of the things here, what I've noticed is, you know, how we have public computers. We're not all of our public computers, we're not really like on servers or anything. They're just like individual stations. When I first started here, we had the Norton antivirus from the TechSoup and it would help roll it back to like the original settings. So like people couldn't change like the printer or like have their things automatically log in like their Facebook and different things like that. But that's one of the things that I think we need to work on at our library is figuring out how to actually set up our computers in a public library setting, you know, because we go around to all of them, then, you know, we run all the maintenance individually. But I know there's got to be an easier way like maybe using the server and then just, you know, running it through. We did get some computers through. Another grant through ed lab, I think, and they had deep freeze on it. But the computer specialist at that time, she just kept saying that she was hitting roadblocks when people were trying to get on different things and she didn't really understand it. And then she ended up taking it off of the computers. And so I thought deep freeze is going to be the answer. But I haven't really went back to deep freeze to see, you know, if deep freeze, you know, just because I don't have time, you know, I used to be the computer specialist. I tried to, you know, not, you know, be involved with all the computer stuff, but I do, you know, because I, you know, I make sure that we're signed up for the Microsoft and the Adobe and the Google and things like that. I have to just try and let my computer specialist do that. That's that's one of the main things that I want to figure out right now. Is to simplify maintaining our computers, but at the same time, not putting roadblocks for our patrons because we have after school students that like to get on the computers, play roadblocks, different things like that. And, you know, I don't want to block them from that and behind some kind of security that we set up on the system. And that's kind of that's kind of the main thing where I'm not, but other other tribal libraries, you know, like I said, the one that I'm thinking about in the cohort, she's at the very beginning, just trying to set up her Internet infrastructure. We were on a grant for TV white space. Um, but we got we I I got a grant through IMLS are to get my TV because the project what we found was they made it sound simple, like it was just something we put on top of our building, like setting up a Wi-Fi. But then we had a height requirement. So it wasn't something that we could just get on the building and sell it. So I had to get it installed and I got that TV white space set up. But the person who came and helped me install it, he was saying that we're already beyond TV white space. And I told him, well, what it's supposed to do was be able to shoot the trees. And there's a housing community about seven miles away. He wanted to provide Wi-Fi in the basketball court, but he said that it's probably they're going to be able to have access, but just like basic access. And then there's a homeless community that we were going to put our other antenna. And so we're kind of in the waiting for him to come back to install those antennas at those sites to test to see how TV white space would do in our community, just to make sure that that project is implemented because we have the equipment. We just hit some bumps before the pandemic. And then, you know, so we got it up and now we're trying to see if we can, you know, solve anything with TV white space. But from what I hear from the guy who installed it, he's like, yeah, it's not going to be, you know, like what I'm thinking, like Wi-Fi where they can get on and, you know, watch a video, stream, different things like that, do their homework. I'm not sure how it's going to work. But that was another solution that I was trying to do with providing internet where people do not have internet access. Um, it the our reservation is there's different towns where we don't have where we don't have tribal libraries. There's just us. There's White Swan. They have a public safety issue and the public library there ended up closing. So and then there was a computer lab out there and they also closed. So I don't know. So now they don't have access to Wi-Fi and computers out there. And I think they're the ones with the most need. We did get the emergency connectivity fund grant. So right now, the accommodation, they do have the internet service. It's like a wireless service where you have to be able to see the tower to get a connection. So from this. From that grant, we're able to funds how different they don't have to be tribal members. They can be funded to get their equipment, installation fee and their monthly service through June to get on that. To get on the internet. So this started about a year ago. So I have three hundred and fifty homes I can do that for. And they come, they fill out an application when they can get on their internet. And so that's about to come to an end. In another month. So I still probably have about a hundred slots where I can get people connected to the internet. So I think people are just hesitant about getting here. But but there are some transportation issues. So that's what I was saying. There's that people, they have to ride a bus to get here. And the bus doesn't, you know, look around like in the biggest cities, like every 30, 15 minutes. So when I talk to people, they'll say, also, just ride the bus, come to a lab or just ride the bus. And they're like, you know, it'll take me like two hours for me just to ride the bus just to get there. And, you know, and if you drove, it would maybe take you, you know, 15, 30 minutes and it's. It's just kind of, you know, it just creates barriers. And I'm like, I don't understand, you know, we need to improve that. So I was trying to jump on surveys and different things like that, too. And like, people say, well, what do you think about the transportation? And I'm like, well, you know, it should go around a little bit more. We need more buses, things like that. But yeah, that's some of our other issues is transportation. And my white space, I guess, that's to be continued. My antenna is up, but I just need to get it installed at the other sites now. I'm not sure if you following in the in the chat, but a couple of ideas that came up, one is, you know, and again, I know you actually did that, that one webinar, but the major mark, we have what's called the major markets team where we'll work with the groups of of organization, which in this case would be, you know, tribal libraries and then also a customer success team. And I think what one of the things I get a sense of is that, you know, there we'd love to learn more about the needs and ways in which tech suit because one of the things I think, particularly in the last few years is we have been really, you know, understanding the needs of our customers that we support that, you know, a lot of some of it is just getting access to technology, software, hardware, services, but also some of it is just trying to integrate it all. Like you said, to think about, you know, all of your computers, you know, not having to individually put that on and also with the move to the cloud. How do you understand that in a way that also protects, you know, insures that you have privacy and security. And that's particularly, I know, particularly important with libraries where you have so many different users on the same computer and you want to have, you're striking a balance between having a certain experience for everybody similar, but also like it's be able to come in and have fun, right? They shouldn't be blocked from doing fun things, you know, and so, you know, I think they're, I know that there is a lot of desire within TechSoup, a lot of the folks who've just really been energized by this opening up to want to do more and learn more. And so, and that's something that you and I and Susan and others can follow up on, but, you know, I'm guessing that even as different libraries that are in different places in their technology journey, your story is probably similar to many others in other parts of the country and in other tribes. And so, so we'd love to just have this beginning, the beginning out, you know, the start and any other other other questions that folks have? Hi, I have. Hi, Mary, thanks so much for being here. I was listening to the sorts of things that you were saying. My name's Sarah, by the way. And I used to work on the library program here. And before that, I actually worked on the program of the Gates Foundation that put computers into tribal libraries way back. And so I'm very familiar with that original program and the program that put computers and internet access across the country. When you were talking about deep freeze, I just wanted to let you know that that is still used in libraries and, you know, it was the resource that was created after the Gates Foundation staff, you know, created the way to lock down the computers so that the public could access and do what beat on the computers. And still you could, you know, flip a switch and they could use in the next day. Deep freeze is still a thing. It's made by Pharaonix. It's not, I don't, it's not a product that TechSoup has. But I think if you search around and look for just on the internet for information around how to set up your public computers, I suspect you'll find something that can help you. And if not, I think you should talk to your connections at at Washington, at the University in Washington, because there's definitely people there, I would imagine, who are thinking about this because it's such a huge part of keeping public computers safe. And it's such a huge part of how public libraries in particular operate that I would suspect you'd be able to find somebody who could help you. And if not, come back to us. I know that we have written extensively about keeping public computers safe and using things like deep freeze. But unfortunately, our content is not very it's pretty old. At this point, I was just looking to see if I could find anything that had been updated in a way that I would feel comfortable giving you. And I didn't, but stay in touch with us about that, because that is such a big piece. And also, it's something for us to keep in mind as far as new product donations, because I, as you were talking, it reminded me that that's something that is really useful for such an enormous group of libraries, not just in the US, but outside of the US as well. So I hope that's helpful. And please stay in touch with with folks here about that, because I think, you know, we can do some searching and try and find some resources for you as well. OK, yeah, and that was like, well, we're in the middle of this digital inclusion cohort. And so what HM is doing, they're supplying some funding for each of the four libraries in the cohort to, you know, purchase new computers and to, you know, get it set up just so, you know, we can show how it's how to implement it. And so that's one of the things that, you know, as we get new computers, that's what I want to have integrated before we, you know, get a whole new set of computers and then start doing because they ask for like your like personalization, you know, once, you know, an email, and it's like, well, these are public computers, you know, but I just want them just to, you know, serve whatever they need to do on them and then roll it back to the original settings. Yep. Yep, that's right. Yeah. And I think, you know, Mariah, we, Susan and I have also been talking and about ways in which we can also build on the digital inclusion cohort work and possibly even go out to try and get some additional funding to support a larger group and maybe even continue on, you know, if there are things that still remain outstanding items you want to work on, that may be something that the TechSoup could assist with as well. Other questions, comments? Okay, well, we had a great turnout here for eight in the morning for you guys a little bit later for me, but thank you so much, Mariah. I really appreciate your time and really just great work that you're doing and really, you know, as you said, there are so many, not just the library, it's really just, you know, a vessel for the entire community, including the surrounding community to do a whole lot of things. And it sounds like, you know, when you're thinking about, you know, Wi-Fi connections for homeless people and for the elderly and computer, I mean, I think that is all really exactly why libraries are such an important part of our community. And we, I think this was really helpful for everyone here to hear more and we will go back and put our heads together and see if there's ways in which we can continue to work and support, work with and support the Occamination Library and tribal libraries generally. Awesome. Well, thank you all for listening to, you know, our conversation. Kyle made it easy, he said I didn't have to, you know, do any preparations of PowerPoint and things like that. So there's probably some things I forgot, but yeah. Now this is spot on. All right, thank you everybody enjoy the rest of your day. All right, thank you. Bye everyone. Thank you, Mariah.