Background

The Skawenni:io Tsi Iewennahnotahkhwa Kahnawake Library began as a grass-roots initiative in 2002, after a letter from 13-year-old Skawenniio Barnes appeared in The Eastern Door newspaper, in which her heartfelt words reminded us of the considerable value of public libraries and how the lack of this basic service is disadvantageous to a community, particularly for students like herself, who were studying and working towards a brighter future through education.
The letter sparked a movement to move forward and establish a temporary library to serve an immediate need, while laying the groundwork for the establishment of a permanent facility. Many people from Kahnawake and beyond responded - planning, fundraising, and collecting books - no small feat, as thousands of book donations poured in from a CBC Radio-sponsored book drive in Montreal. It has been a long journey, which has proven to be quite challenging, but inspiring as well.

Present Situation
For the past seven years, we have relied mainly on donations and fundraising to operate and to buy books and other materials. Volunteers, generous donors and community support have been crucial in keeping the library afloat. In spite of working with shoestring budgets, the library has grown by leaps and bounds, which demonstrates that there truly is a need for such a facility in our community. Some of the services currently offered at the library include:
• After-School Book Clubs for children
• Summer Book Clubs for children
• 6 public computers with Internet
• Book borrowing
• Indigenous book collection, including Kanien’keha learning materials
• Photocopying, printing and fax service
• Inter-library loans
• Bounded Eastern Door issues by year

Immediate goals
• Expand the Children’s reading programs inc. homework help, Kanien'keha reading programs and French reading programs
• More current titles / best sellers
• Genealogy center
• Book clubs in French
• Book clubs for adults and teens

The library moved to a newly renovated community building in May. Library membership has grown steadily to more than 1,140 patrons and our collection holds more than 13,000 books. The Kahnawake Library’s new location is a tremendous asset to its growth and development. Located on the Old Malone Highway its visibility and accessibility will encourage new membership and allow us to expand our programs and to develop others, such as tutoring, teen book clubs, homework help, and adult literacy programs. The potential is challenging, however, feasible.

Future Expansion Goals
With the establishment of a permanent residence, our long term goal for the Library is to position itself in the realm of education as a place of learning within an atmosphere of leisure, which caters to the inquiring minds of all Kahnawakero:non. Within the next 5 years we would like to accomplish the following:
• To solidify the Library Committee constitution, bylaws and policies
• To develop a 5 year program plan to include:
• Develop a documentation center housing all economic, social, and political and health studies conducted about Kahnawakero:non by Kahnawakero:non and others. Include all thesis’s, dissertations, documents and papers from Kahnawakeronon
• Showcase our artists, our writers
• Expand the children’s program as a permanent program
• Develop cultural exhibits with access to all complimentary research materials
• Network with universities to access library facilities.
• Develop a center for genealogy, birth records, death records, cemetery records.
• To research, contact and prepare proposals for sources of core funding internally and externally.
• To determine the Library’s potential to operate a small business to partially support the library.