ALA's Peggy Barber Tribute Grant Winners: Brookings Public Library (SD) & Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Library (MI)

Brookings Public Library (SD) and Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Library (MI) were two of the recipients of the Peggy Barber Tribute Grant, an annual grant of the American Library Association (ALA) that recognizes, promotes, and supports meaningful programs in libraries that have limited and/or no access to budgetary support for programming. 

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Through the grant, the Brookings Public Library created the VisABILITY Initiative, which offered programming focused on disability outreach and education. The BPL began by offering accessible programming that encouraged community members with disabilities to engage with the Library. The educational phase, aimed toward Brookings residents as a whole, worked to bring awareness to disability issues and bring the voices of those with disabilities to the forefront. Through partnerships, events, and connections with area resources, this 2-year initiative set a precedent for disability programming and relations at the BPL.

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The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Library, with support from the Peggy Barber Tribute Grant, presented the program Kna-dwen-mi-go (You Are Needed), at which Native women elected to non-tribal office shared their experiences and encouraged attendees to consider running for office themselves. 

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

• Become confident in cultivating community partnerships and gathering input to build successful programming for underserved communities, especially those with disabilities.
• Come away with multiple disability-centered programming ideas.
• Feel more knowledgeable about Native representation in non-tribal elected office in the United States.
• Learn about resources available to support Native people running for non-tribal elected office in the United States.

Accommodations:

This webinar will be presented online via Zoom. Closed captions will be enabled during the presentation, and we will email a copy of the chat transcript to all attendees within 48 hours of the webinar. We will also share a copy of the presenters' slideshow at least 24 hours in advance. If you need other reasonable accommodations, please reach out to us by September 25, 2025, via email at publicprograms@ala.org or by calling 312-280-5045.