Mari Russell Becomes New IAIA Director of Library Programs

By RAMONA CROFOOT

SANTA FE—In March IAIA gained a new director of library programs and valuable resource with Dr. Mari Russell, member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe enrolled at Leech Lake.

“Coming here ties all my interests together – books, art, and Native American culture,” stated Russell, the proud grandmother of five young children whose photographs are clustered around her desk area.

Although new to Santa Fe, Russell has been coming to Taos, N.M., for two to three weeks every summer for the last twenty-five years to paint. She describes her art as expressionist or abstract with use of a lot of symbols. She works with either watercolor or mixed media collage that combines watercolor, cut paper, monoprints, pencil, and relief stamping. Her work includes a series on petroglyphs and a series on Indian women representing the elements of earth, air, fire, and water.

The vivacious Russell is excited to be at IAIA. She feels very welcomed by all the IAIA community. Many staff, faculty and students have come up to her and told her they are glad she is here. Russell describes General Librarian Jennifer James and Library Specialist Grace Nuvayaestewa as great people to work with.

“I love being here. IAIA is an interesting place to work. There’s high energy here, maybe due to the progress IAIA is going through. I feel fortunate and honored to be a part of that progress.”

A Scholar and Librarian

Russell enthusiastically described a proposal for a joint paper with the IAIA Building Project Coordinator Paul Fragua. The proposal has recently been submitted to the International Indigenous Library Forum III that will be held in Santa Fe in November – the first one to be held in the United States. Entitled “A Physical Translation of Native American Philosophy into the Learning Place,” the paper deals with the issue of sustainability for the campus and how the library plays into that.

This paper is just the latest in a list of papers and proposals numbering over twenty-five for Russell. In the last eight years she has been presenting and publishing on contemporary Native American art. Prior to 1995, her focus was critical thinking and learning, teaching and research styles.

Russell has extensive experience as a librarian. She has been active with the Art Library Society of North America since 1987, serving as the chair of the organization’s diversity committee for approximately three years. For the last twelve years, she was the fine arts and humanities librarian at the University of Minnesota in Duluth (UMD). During the last eight years, she has also been a professor at UMD in American Indian Studies and in the art department.

Russell returned to her birth state of Minnesota from Kansas where she had worked as the fine arts coordinator at the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library for four years and as college art instructor at Johnson County Community College in the Kansas City area for ten years.

A Librarian “By Fluke”

The majority of Russell’s own education has taken place at the University of Kansas. She received her BFA in graphic design and her MA in visual arts and education. In 1981, she received her Ph.D. in visual arts and education. A post-baccalaureate fellowship with the University of Kansas allowed her to do her doctorate. During this period she also had three sons.

“I became a librarian by a fluke,” Russell shared. “I just kind of fell into it.” While working on her dissertation for her doctorate in 1984, Russell spent a great deal of time at the Kansas City library. During this period, the librarian left and a friend encouraged her to look into the position. Russell had always been interested in books and was a prolific reader, so she spoke with the director and was hired that day. Russell found herself back in graduate school and received her Masters in Library Sciences from the University of Emporia in Kansas in 1990.

Coming to IAIA during a period of growth, Russell will play an instrumental role in moving the library into the new building and weeding out the collection to see what is no longer needed.

She will also be kept busy in developing a curriculum for a new course on contemporary Native American at the request of Interim Dean Maxx Stevens and Indigenous Studies Chair Ed Wapp.

Russell stated, “I see my role at IAIA as being the library director and also a mentor, particularly to women.”

Copyright © 2003 IAIA Chronicle