Allyson Carlyle established an endowed fellowship for MLIS students whose goal is to become a librarian in a tribal or rural library. Those wishing to honor Allyson at this time can make a gift online to the Sherman Alexie and Lethene Parks Endowed Fellowship in Tribal and Rural Librarianship in Allyson’s memory.
Allyson named her endowed fellowship for Sherman Alexie because he regularly celebrates the role of storytelling and libraries in his work. Among librarians, he is particularly remembered for his 2001 speech at the ALA conference in which he described the importance of the reservation library in his childhood as a connection to a world outside the reservation.
She also chose to name her endowment for Lethene Parks, a 1963 graduate of the UW School of Librarianship, because of her decades-long advocacy for library services for those not traditionally reached by the library. During her career, Parks was the librarian for the Patients Library at Western State Hospital serving the mentally ill and the head of outreach services for Pierce County Library, advocating for services for the homebound, the developmentally disabled, the mentally ill, and the incarcerated. After moving to rural Stevens County, Parks helped establish a library – the first new library in Washington State in decades – to provide library services for all of Stevens County.
Gifts to this endowed fellowship will support future tribal and rural librarians.
Fellowship Recipients
Former recipients of the Sherman Alexie and Lethene Parks Endowed Fellowship in Tribal and Rural Librarianship
Lillian Curanzy, MLIS ’20: 2018-2019 Recipient
Lillian Curanzy is the Cataloging and Outreach Librarian at the Newport Public Library in Newport, Oregon. In addition to cataloging, Lillian provides library materials, reference services, and technical support to seniors and homebound residents. Her interest in technical services began when she worked for the Lincoln County Library District, a rural library district that ensures library services for residents in the unincorporated areas of the county including those living on the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians’ Reservation. As her Capstone project, Lillian is completing a community profile and needs assessment for the District. The goal of this project is to expand library services to meet the needs of the most remote residents of the county.
Anastasia Tucker, MLIS ’17: 2016-2017 Recipient
As a graduate student, Anastasia Tucker, a recipient of the Sherman Alexie and Lethene Parks Endowed Fellowship in Tribal and Rural Librarianship, worked as a Junior Fellow at the Congressional Research Service, wherein she assisted analysts in researching and writing a report on behavioral health resources available to American Indians. Upon completing the Junior Fellowship, she traveled to Guam to study Indigenous Systems of Knowledge among the Chamorro people. In 2018, Anastasia accepted a position as an Education and Outreach Archivist at Washington State University’s Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation (CDSC). In this role, she provides support for several ongoing projects administered by the CDSC. Primary duties include coordinating content on the Sustainable Heritage Network, a repository of resources with a focus on the preservation of cultural heritage items in tribal archives, libraries, and museums, as well as planning and orchestrating the Tribal Digital Stewardship Cohort Program, which provides training in a Collaborative Curation model, and stewarding digital cultural heritage to tribal representatives from across the United States. Other roles within the CDSC include designing and implementing curriculum for workshops focused on digital scholarship, providing classroom instruction, and organizing special events.