iSchool alum Gene Joseph receives honorary degree



Gene Joseph, the first Indigenous librarian in BC, and an iSchool alum, will be receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws from Vancouver Island University next week. Joseph was the first head of UBC’s Xwi7xwa Library – Canada’s only post-secondary Aboriginal library branch, and is a longtime advocate for Indigenous information professionals.

“I always felt I was working for First Nations people. When I saw the language used to describe First Nations, I found it ethnocentric and demeaning to us. It didn’t describe us how we describe ourselves,” she says.

Congratulations, Gene on this achievement!

Read the full press release on the VIU website.

Interested in supporting the next generation of Indigenous information professionals? Visit our Giving section to learn more about the Gene Joseph Scholarship.



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