'You tell us': indigenous students talk to a tertiary library

Jan Novak and Gail Robinson

j.novak@qut.edu.au

Abstract
A Queensland University of Technology Equity Grant provided an opportunity for the QUT Library to engage Indigenous students in a dialogue. This was facilitated by an experienced storyteller whose brief was to focus on cultural and motivational issues which might impact upon the relationship between the students and the library. A series of recommendations was generated from the findings, with ensuing activities still taking place. Immediate benefits from the project included: insight into an unusual technique for exploring the needs and experiences of the library's clients, an appreciation of the diversity Indigenous students bring to the general student body, an understanding of the significance of networking when relating to Indigenous students, a strengthened relationship with the University's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit, and the realisation that far more effort must be placed upon the nature of the interaction with Indigenous students as opposed to the extensive focus upon content which has characterised the library's efforts to date.