Library & Reference Services
The IPCC Library holding contains a targeted collection on the culture and history of the 19 Pueblo communities in New Mexico and various indigenous peoples of North America, including dissertations/theses, magazines, journals, vertical file, and biography/people file.
The library accepts book donations with the understanding that they will not necessarily be added to the library’s collections. Book donations will be evaluated using the same criteria as applied to the purchase of new materials. Once a gift is accepted, it is clearly understood that it becomes the property of the library, to be used or disposed of in accordance with the library policy.
Donors will be made aware in the donation agreement that any materials not added to the IPCC collection may be distributed to other Pueblo libraries or other partner libraries.
Selection Criteria for Libraries & Archives
The following criteria are used in the evaluation and selecting of materials for the IPCC Library collection:
- Subject relevance to the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico and indigenous peoples of North America
- Relevance to the educational needs of the IPCC Museum Staff.
- Positive representation and reviews of the 19 Pueblos and Native American communities.
- Provides Pueblo and Native American perspective and analysis.
- Timeliness and accuracy of the material.
- Authority of the author.
- Anticipated demand for the item.
Materials Collected
The Library & Archives will gladly accept the following types of materials in accordance with the selection criteria:
- IPCC/IPMI organizational events (e.g. photos of gala events, museum exhibitions, book clubs, grand openings)
- Audiovisual
- Architectural and landscape plans
- Artistic prints
- Books
- Historical postcards
- Newspaper and magazines
- Memorabilia, scrapbooks
- Oral history tapes and transcripts
- Personal papers, diaries, memoirs
- Photographs
- Theses and dissertations
However, the Library & Archives will not accept the following materials:
- Artifacts (Contact museum Collections)
- Classroom posters
- Educational posters
- Financial & personnel records
- Textbooks
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Library & Archives provides reference services to meet the needs of library researchers (public and staff), within limits of time, staffing, and resources.
The Library & Archives accepts reference questions in-person, by phone, or IPCC contact form.
- Reference Desk Services are offered during all hours of library operation; see library hours.
- Phone Reference assistance is available at 505-314-8207 for simple reference questions. After library hours, researchers are welcome to leave a voicemail. Messages will be returned the following business day.
- IPCC Contact Form: Reference questions with no time frame are encouraged to use the IPCC Contact form and will receive a response via email. The turnaround time for library staff to respond is 3–5 business days. Responses that may exceed the turnaround time will be notified via email.
Priority of Services
References services are provided on a first-come, first-served basis. In-person references will take precedence over phone and email.
Types of Services
The types of services the Reference Staff will assist:
- Suggest appropriate titles or resources.
- Clarifying research topics and developing good search strategies.
- Navigating the Library & Archives website and catalog.
- Provide directional information regarding the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center facility and events.
Limitations to Reference Services
Reference staff will not:
- Provide research which requires library staff to evaluate and interpret materials for researchers.
- Request or interpret political, legal, financial, medical, or tax information.
- Perform genealogical research. Please see Native American Genealogical Research Guide under Research Guide link.
- Compile or check bibliographies. Generally, five suggested book titles will be provided from the IPCC Library collection for reference questions from IPCC contact form.
- Appraise or identify antiques, collectibles, rare books, etc.
Referral to other libraries
The Library & Archives tries to meet the needs of researchers, however, there are circumstances where the library staff will be unable to answer your reference question due to unavailable materials, or library collections do not reflect research topic. Therefore, the library staff will refer researchers to another academic, research, or public library to meet the researcher’s needs.
